Limping chicken, vaccinated?

[newchknmama]

My hen started limping while I was gone over the weekend and my husband was watching her. I came home and on Sunday noticed she was limping, I looked her over and cant see any signs of injury. She was bought at a hatchery and vaccinated for Mareks. Can a hen still get it if they are vaccinated. I have 7 hens, she is about 6 mths old. Thy have a small coop with three nesting boxes but a whole large corner of our yard to range in all day. Thanks for any advice.

 

[ReikiStar]

It could just be an injury. She jumped off the perch funny, got into a squabble with another hen and had to run for it and sprained her leg. Give her some time...about a week to see if it heals up. If she's still limping just as badly, then I'd worry about Mareks or some other disease. In the meantime, watch her behavior and monitor her weight. If it's Mareks, there will be noticeable weight loss.

 

[barbieszoo]

Not much help here, other than to tell you that one of my silkie girls limped for two weeks over the summer, had me all scared it could be Marek's, then gradually got better and better and now there is no limp at all. I would put vitamins in her water, try to keep her from jumping off high places or being bombarded by any aggressive /big roos, and hopefully she will get over it.

 

[mom2sevenhens]

My 3 wk old Australorp is limping tonight. We had her vaccinated, too. Do pullets often run into problems with getting off their perches and hurting their legs? We saw that some of the other pullets were stepping on her. For now, we've separated her to prevent further injuries. Is this a bad idea? She's still has access the warmth of the heat lamp, food and water. In case it's not obvious, we're new to raising chickens and injuries.

 

[seminolewind]

I've had a hen limp for a month and one for 3 days. If it was Marek's, it would go from a limp to total paralysis pretty quickly, like a day or two.

 

[newchknmama]

Thanks everyone.. she is still limping but seems to be improving, and she is still laying regularly so hopefully she just strained her leg. Good luck to those of you who also have limping hens.