Hello, My little chicken cant walk we have cleaned the pen of mits and Cookie(The chicken that cant walk)is seperated from the other chickens and get better but when I put her back in with the others she get worse.She it still eating and drinking and has no mits or lumps on her.I talk her out every day and put her on the grass and her will eat it and walks a little but never fooly stands up.She is not skiny at all.We put tea tree oil on her feet every day cos I heard that it keeps the mits away and once aweek do the ather chickens in the pen.She is about 3 years and 6 months old to 4 years. She wos the only chicken with the proplem but about 2 weeks ago another chicken couldn't walk and 4 days later died.I dont want it to spred to the other chickens and I DONT KNOW WANT TO DO. Please Help. Emma-Lee
There are a few issues that can cause lameness. Mareks causes lameness and death. The bird will start with drooping the wings, acting drunk and eventually the bird can not walk. Eventually the bird dies. It is contagious. Botulism will cause lameness in chickens. This comes from bad, moldy, rotten feed. This can kill chickens. Eating something toxic will cause lameness as well and can be deadly. MS, Mycoplasma Synoviea causes lameness. The mortality with MS is not as high as these other issues, but can be deadly for very weak birds. All this being said, make sure your feed is good. (not old, smells good, no bugs, no mold). If this lameness is causing hot swelling in the foot joints of the left feet and hocks and progresses slowly, then it could be MS. Look closely into the eyes of these birds. You are looking for out of round or oval looking pupils. Pupils that just don't look right. A very common symptom of Mareks Disease. I would separate out this bird from the flock just in case. Give them a complete physical, looking for other clues. If you have an avian vet nearby, it might not hurt to have them take a look at this bird. Mareks has no cure once they have it. There are vaccines for babies and young birds. Good supportive care is about all you can do for a bird with Mareks. I am so sorry for your losses. I hope this bird pulls thru.
Hello and Welcome to BYC! Sorry about your chicken? How much/ what kind of tea tree oil are you using? Are you diluting it? There are threads/ links that it can cause problems if overdosed.
Hi, Emma Lee, welcome to BYC. Sorry about your chicken. Try keeping her by herself and see if she improves. Do a forum search on Mareks and see if that is what your birds may be dealing with. Good luck.
Thank you for the help!!She is quite old. I also have a chicken with its scal showing cos the other chickens pecked it so much and it is not healing.
