My young Leghorn is limping around....what's wrong with her?

[imq707s]

I’m having a problem with one of my young chickens. They are all going on 8 weeks old, and I just put them outside in the coupe around a week ago. They are all doing great, but I noticed last weekend that one of the Leghorns is limping around and not wanting to put any weight on one of its feet. I inspected her leg, and foot…and I don’t see any wound or anything else out of the ordinary. It’s been 5 days now, and she’s not getting any better. She’s eating and drinking just fine, but she mostly just sits in one spot all of the time…only hoping around every now and then. I also noticed yesterday that she’s keeping her foot clinched up in kind of a fist on her injured leg….the toes are not open and spread out like they should be. You can definitely tell that something is wrong, she’s not wanting to put any weight on the leg at all, and sometimes she will stumble when she’s hopping around and fall over. Any ideas on what’s wrong with her? She’s still eating and drinking…so that’s good. But I’m a little worried that it’s going on 5 days, and she’s not getting any better.

 

[Habibs Hens]

it may not be this but are your birds vaccinated for Mareks

Mareks is crippling

so the legs are first to go

check the eyes to see if it is or not



Normal on Left

Mareks on Right

 

[realsis]

not all Marek's disease chickens have eyes that turn blue. its quite possible to have mareks and not have the eyes turn. do you have a photo of the leg? that could help with the diagnosis. please post a pic and maybe that will help. good luck . best wishes

 

[Habibs Hens]

not all Marek's disease chickens have eyes that turn blue. its quite possible to have mareks and not have the eyes turn. do you have a photo of the leg? that could help with the diagnosis. please post a pic and maybe that will help. good luck . best wishes

yes very true

some chickens can even so no signs at all and just die

and some survive and are carriers for life

 

[imq707s]

I will post some pictures tomorrow. I noticed today that she is still hobbling around...not getting any better. When I first noticed her limping last week, it looked like it was just one leg.....now it's starting to look like she's not wanting to put much weight on either leg. She still makes it around the coop, and up the steps to the inside area...but she has a really hard time. I'm wondering if I should take her to a vet, or if that would be a waste of time and money.

I will post pics in the morning.

 

[AZ CHICK]

I have a 7 week old chick that is doing the same thing. She eats and drinks but is limping a little and not landing well when she flys. I dont see any other signs of Mereks disease . There are no signs of injury to her foot. She just lays around and wants to sit in our laps all the time. We are so worried about her. Should we seperate her from the flock?

 

[imq707s]

Here are some pictures. You can see how she is balling up her one foot, it's not spread out like it should be. She will hop around enough to get to the food and water, but then she just sits. When she's hopping around, sometimes she will loose balance and just fall over. When this happened last week, it was all of a sudden..she was fine one day, they the next she wasn't using her other leg. I'm thinking maybe something got pulled or sprained? It's going on 8 days now I think, maybe a little longer.

 

[goober hen]

Here are some pictures. You can see how she is balling up her one foot, it's not spread out like it should be. She will hop around enough to get to the food and water, but then she just sits. When she's hopping around, sometimes she will loose balance and just fall over. When this happened last week, it was all of a sudden..she was fine one day, they the next she wasn't using her other leg. I'm thinking maybe something got pulled or sprained? It's going on 8 days now I think, maybe a little longer.

I wish I knew if your chicken healed from this. My little girl is the same way. I can't find any info to help me with her.