Ongoing limp

[heatherlaw]

I've seen it a tractor supply. I'll get some for her. She's stopped limping entirely now but will still give her vitamins because she thin and I don't think she's been eating well

 

[chicknmania]

You probably need to deworm them all. Use a broad spectrum dewormer. Valbazen, Levamisole, Panacur, Strike 3. Very important to do regularly, and worms can cause lameness sometimes.

 

[heatherlaw]

I just wormed them 2 weeks ago. They had them bad this year so I've been worming regularly. The other gals are fat and sassy. It's just Maggie who's on the thin side though she seems to be gaining some

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Keep watching Maggie...hopefully between the aspirin regiment and a little TLC with booster, she'll be fit and fine.

One worrisome note, and I hate to interject it, but Marek's can have a slow wasting affect with only a slight limp. I've had birds over the years succumb to something I suspicion was a milder form of Marek's. They'll eat, drink, but slowly waste. If the tumor is located in a spot where it mildly interferes with the leg nerves, you have mild limping rather than the traditional one leg forward paralysis. If the bird's system is strong enough, it fights off the original acute infection, but will then slowly waste.

But good news is it appeared painful and aspirin seemed to help vs. weak from nerve damage.

She may have simply not been able to get to the food as quickly as the others with the limping and is thin from that.

I have a rooster who I am pretty sure got caught up in some weed-eater twine who has limped for about a month. He is slowly gaining strength and seems to be doing well. Again, no other symptoms like yours, just an odd limp....not present one day, suddenly severe, then slowly improving. He didn't like to put weight on the foot...would put it down and pick it up again like it hurt. I could never find any broken bone or anything that felt like structural damage so chalked it up to sprain.

Good luck. Hopefully Maggie is well on her way to full recovery. I enjoy my Marans...they are my "gun boats" of the flock...big and stately...with wonderful dark eggs.

LofMc

 

[heatherlaw]

Thanks for the heads up. I will watch for that. I'm fairly certain now it was an injury. Maggie is the daredevil of the flock and if there's something tall, she has to be on top. Also, she is my biggest hen by far. They are all from the same hatch but she dwarfs my other ladies. They are all different breeds (custom hatch from a local breeder) but Maggie is a giant. Possibly the largest hen I've ever seen. Is it possible that she wasn't gaining bulk because she was growing so fast? She's easily as big and some roosters. My others aren't exactly big breeds but they are still LF. Wyandotte, crested cream legbar, ameracauna/maran olive eggers.

 

[chicknmania]

It's possible, or she could just be taking longer to get over the worms. I like Zyfend to use after deworming. I just lost my black copper Marans mix pullet today.

 

[heatherlaw]

Sorry about your pullet Could be that she's still getting over worms. They had a horrible case this year. I live in California and it stayed over 100 degrees for weeks this summer and even with a fully shaded run I had to put misters out to keep them cool which kept the soil wet as well creating the perfect environment for worms. I don't have much choice though. A couple days it hit 113 and I brought the girls inside in boxes and ran the AC just too keep them from dying

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you. We have had an awful problem with Capillary worms, too. They are horrible to try and get rid of, and they can do a lot of lasting damage.