Nerve injury from large rooster? Hen losing function of legs. Please help.

[Hannahnic14]

I recently had to put 1 of my crevecour girls down, she progressively lost function of her legs at the hip joint. She went from fine, to limping on the right side and a hanging wing, to no leg function all within 2-3 days. The right leg felt disconnected at the joint, it just hung

I don’t think it's mareks but wanted to get others opinions. Both birds have been vaccinated and the newest birds we added were also vaccinate to my knowledge. We haven't added birds in almost 2 months.

My other crevecour hen is now stumbling around. (She is also a crossbeak) We have a brahma rooster and I think he's injuring my smaller hens. My crevecours are the smallest girls I have. I realized the first hen was visibly over mated once I started looking her over. Missing feathers on her back.

 

[nchls school]

Any reply you get are guesses. Viral arthritis. For a definite answer you'd have to have the bird tested by a vet or lab.

 

[Myrshine]

Without testing, you can’t really go based off the symptoms alone, however, what I CAN do is suggest possibilities of what it COULD be.

Slipped Tendon/Pulled Muscle or Broken Bone — If your chickens are active and have places where they can jump off and to that is high (such as a tree branch), this can most definitely cause a loss of function of the legs or even a possible break. Most chickens will put weight on the sore leg, but will not walk very far or will limp. However, a slipped tendon or a pulled muscle usually affects one leg rather than two, but anything is possible. Same thing here— especially if your chickens can jump on and off from someplace high, they can break one or both legs from the fall. This isn’t very common though— especially with both legs, but as I’ve said, anything is possible with chickens!

Vitamin Deficiency — Since you mentioned that she’s a vault-headed breed of chicken (ones with a largish crest), I go into thinking that this could be from a vitamin deficiency, specifically vitamin B-12. Treat with vitamins or a vitamin B-12 complex for a week or 2 to see if she seemingly recovers.

Marek’s Disease — I’m aware that you mentioned that you don’t think that it could be Marek’s Disease because they are vaccinated, however, this is not true unfortunately. The vaccine for Marek’s Disease DOES NOT prevent the viral infection from affecting your birds, it just slows down the progression at which the tumors inside form, giving the birds a longer life than those without the vaccination. This is still a possibility, even though vaccinated. Only a necropsy or testing can tell you wether your birds will have Marek’s Disease or not.

Avian Leukosis Virus — Just like Marek’s Disease, Avian Leukosis Virus (ALV) is a viral infection of chickens that causes internal cancerous tumors to form, causing neurological issues, mimicking Marek’s Disease as well as other existing diseases. ALV does not have a vaccine available and infected birds can recover, but always carry the virus for life as well as passing the virus through eggs in the embryos, making any chicks that hatch, already infected with the virus. The only way to know if ALV is what is ailing your birds, is to get testing done to confirm.

Botulism — This is a serious bacterial disease of anyone and anything, in chickens and other poultry, it can cause neurological symptoms, nerve damage or even death if not treated. Most birds that are infected, will die within 2-3 days after initial infection, making it difficult to find and treat it right on the spot. This bacterial infection can come from moldy feed, dead carcasses and other objects. Aggressive antibiotics are needed for birds to fully recover from the disease.

I hope my small list and small descriptions of them, help you in any way. I still suggest to you that you get testing done as soon as possible.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My other crevecour hen is now stumbling around. (She is also a crossbeak) We have a brahma rooster and I think he's injuring my smaller hens. My crevecours are the smallest girls I have. I realized the first hen was visibly over mated once I started looking her over. Missing feathers on her back.

I'm sorry that you lost one.
How old is the one in the video?
What do you feed?

If you think the Brahma is injuring them, move him or them. I'm not a fan of removing hens from a flock when a rooster can be managed separately. Roosters seem to do much better separated out instead of hens, but do what you feel is best.
A crossbeak bird may not be eating enough - are you checking that she's going to roost with a filled crop?

I would focus on her eating and drinking well, give her supportive care of vitamins. I would give her 1/4-1/2 tablet B-Complex daily or if you have Poultry Cell, give her a direct dose of 1 cc per 3 pounds of weight orally once a day for 3-5 days.

IF it's injury and she's not being pestered/mounted by the rooster, then likely you will start to see improvement after several days.

There's numerous causes of limping and being unthrifty. Vet care is best, but not always possible. Start with managing the rooster and vitamin support, see what happens. Do check her over for anything else -swelling of joints, bruising/tenderness, lice/mites, etc.
If you lose her, then getting necropsy through your state lab will give you the most information.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.

 

[Hannahnic14]

I'm sorry that you lost one.
How old is the one in the video?
What do you feed?

If you think the Brahma is injuring them, move him or them. I'm not a fan of removing hens from a flock when a rooster can be managed separately. Roosters seem to do much better separated out instead of hens, but do what you feel is best.
A crossbeak bird may not be eating enough - are you checking that she's going to roost with a filled crop?

I would focus on her eating and drinking well, give her supportive care of vitamins. I would give her 1/4-1/2 tablet B-Complex daily or if you have Poultry Cell, give her a direct dose of 1 cc per 3 pounds of weight orally once a day for 3-5 days.

IF it's injury and she's not being pestered/mounted by the rooster, then likely you will start to see improvement after several days.

There's numerous causes of limping and being unthrifty. Vet care is best, but not always possible. Start with managing the rooster and vitamin support, see what happens. Do check her over for anything else -swelling of joints, bruising/tenderness, lice/mites, etc.
If you lose her, then getting necropsy through your state lab will give you the most information.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.

The one in the video is 10 months old. I separated her today with 3 other hens that are about her size so she isn't alone.

We feed a mixture of all flock pellets, layer pellets, and I have added feather fixer pellets to add extra protein during the cold weather.

I have nutridrench on hand so I can use that for her tomorrow. I checked thoroughly for mites/lice and didn't see any signs. I will check her joints over again tomorrow, I didn't feel anything noticeable but I wasn't really really looking if that makes sense.

If we lose this one then we will definitely get a necrospy. I feel so bad for her, she was thriving with her crossbeak. I'll feel so bad if my thoughtlessness kills another one of my babies. I didn't realize that big bodied roosters shouldn't be mixed with small hens, I guess it should be a no brainer but no one tells you that as a new chicken owner.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sometimes a large rooster does just fine with smaller hens so don't beat yourself up over that! I'm hopeful that this is injury and nothing too serious.

The PND is fine to give, direct dose is 1 cc per 3 pounds of weight given orally once a day. The only thing I wish PND had was B2 (Riboflavin) but it's very good for giving a boost, so go with that.

Good that you separated her with some buddies so she has company.

I love roosters and I do love my hens too. I've had hens injured by a rooster before, so don't think you are the only one. Let's see how she does over the next few days

 

[Hannahnic14]

So I checked on Herky Jerky, (the crevecour pictured above) today and she is walking much better! She is still walking gingerly but not stumbling anymore. So hopefully she will continue to improve!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So I checked on Herky Jerky, (the crevecour pictured above) today and she is walking much better! She is still walking gingerly but not stumbling anymore. So hopefully she will continue to improve!

I'm glad to hear you're seeing some improvement!
I would continue offer the vitamin support for a few more days too. Hoping that she makes a full recovery.
Please keep us posted.