limping chicken - getting worse

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And thanks, I will keep that in mind about her position in the flock. We have a BBB turkey that is the only reason I am keeping her up here. I am afraid it will step on her right now (kind of a bull in a china shop, that turkey). If she starts recuperating and doesn't show signs of illness, I will put her in with the six week old chicks for a while if necessary. With her crossbeak, she cannot hurt them. And she is an easy going pullet.
 
Lucy is still staying put for the most part. And it is still just that leg, not wanting to put full weight down. I soaked it in Epsom salts today, and it seemed to really peel a lot around that spot that looked like a ruptured blister. I put ointment on it and bandaged it with cotton ball and medical tape. She seemed to ba a little more weight on it after that, but is still mostly staying put. When I took her inside to soak her foot, she was really alert, keeping and eye on my cat the whole time. She is alert out in the garage too, but she is very tame, so she doesn't get startled or worked up by people being around. I mean, she is the same pullet that a week ago jumped from the ground to the top of my head in my avatar just to get on me. She stayed there long enough for me to take that picture with my DSLR camera, not the easiest feat. Normally she jumps up to eat her mash from her bowl while you are carrying it in your hand. Even when I soaked her foot, I was able to soak it for 25-30 minutes without her fighting me once. I had her wrapped up in a towel, and she was calm but very alert.

Red pullet keeps visiting her to steal her mash.
 
Now she is putting her wings/tail down to balance herself. She'll eat, but not voraciously. Cannot tell if she has lost weight. Being a crossbeak, even with mash, she has never had an extra ounce of weight on her.
 
I am working on uploading a video of Lucy to show what stuff is going on with her. Waiting to get it loaded to my photobucket account first though.
 
She looks very weak. The way she is acting reminds me of something that was wrong with one of my chickens. It isn't completely the same, as my chicken was fine one day and then suddenly was not alright. However, here is what happened with mine...

About a month ago, I went out one morning to check my chickens, and saw that my White Wyandotte bantam cock was still lying down in the corner where he slept. At closer inspection, I noticed that he could not stand or walk. When I put him down on the ground, he would just lay down, with his wings partially out and his head near the ground.

I brought him inside and placed him in a cage with nearby feed and water cups. Later that day, I found out that he could still stand, as he would stand up to eat and drink. He was very weak, though.

As the day's progressed, he got weaker and weaker. He stood less, and spent more time lying down with his head on the ground. Thinking it could be botulism, I gave him a molasses flush for 24 hours. This made him a bit perkier, temporarily, probably because of the sugar energy in the molasses. By the next day, he was just as bad as before, if not worse.

He still would not get better. I wormed him, just in case it was worms, but there was no improvement. It had been about six days. By this time, he could not eat or drink standing up. Instead, I fed him about six times a day with a spoon. I would mix crumbles and water together until it was a very thin soupy mixture. Then, I would tilt his head up, and place the spoon beneath his beak. I would lift up slightly with the spoon so that he, just barely, opened his beak enough that he would swallow some. I probably gave him 10-12 spoonfuls of this mixture a day. Mixed into the soupy mixture were some probiotics and electrolytes. About once a day, I would give him a spoonful of applesauce with lots of probiotics and electrolytes mixed in, as well as some poultry vitamins.

Meanwhile, another one of my birds was sick with a respiratory disease, so I had Tylan200 antibiotics lying around. I started him on a 4-day course of the Tylan. I administered .3ccs of the Tylan for the first two days, but dropped it to .2ccs for the last two days.

Halfway into the Tylan treatment, he began to show some improvement. He acted stronger, and began to try to stand. At this time, I was still feeding him by spoon six or more times a day. Over the next few days, he improved greatly. Maybe four days after the Tylan ended, he began to eat and drink on his own. I continued to spoon feed him a bit until I was sure that he was eating enough. Now, he is completely fine, just as perky and active as ever. I'm not sure why he got better. Maybe the Tylan200 helped, or maybe it was me feeding him and making sure that he didn't get weaker.

I still don't know what was wrong with my White Wyandotte bantam cock. I share this story because the way your bird was lying down and acting reminded me of my cock. I'm not saying that they had the same thing, but it is a possibility. Maybe you can try some of the same things that I did.
 
Where would I get meds? Murdochs only has Tetracycline that is dosed for chickens. The rest of their stuff is for cows/horses etc....I am in southeast Wyoming, so if I have to, I can head down towards Fort Collins/the front range in Colorado to find stores. I had much more luck in the south finding feed stores with decent vet supplies for birds.
 
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I just had a thought like an hour or so ago - I switched them 2-3 weeks ago from medicated grower feed to non-medicated layer feed when my same age RSLs started laying. Could this have had an impact?

In the meantime, I put her on Duramycin starting yesterday. I added it to her wet mash feed, since she was eating it readily, but not drinking her water.

She is alert, but not getting up, not even to eat. She lays there and eats. Her weight has always been low, due to the crossbeak. However, she is normally very active.
 

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