Osteopetrosis or something else?

[Lyranonamous]

Hi everyone
as I posted a few months ago, two of our girls had deformed legs and the vet (and some poultry experts from Cornell) were pretty sure it was osteopetrosis. But leg X-rays of the more affected chicken did not show any enlarged bones, so the vets thought maybe I caught it before the bones enlarged and that would happen later. However, it's been 2.5 months and both girls are acting like normal chickens. They jump around like all the others and show no signs of discomfort.
What would the other signs of osteopetrosis be? Would I have seen something by now? If anyone has lost a hen to this, what were the signs?

BTW it appears the swelling is going down little by little.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How old are these hens? I haven't heard of chickens with osteoporosis. Can you share pictures? Chickens can get rickets, and can get leg deformities from vitamin deficiencies.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hi everyone
as I posted a few months ago, two of our girls had deformed legs and the vet (and some poultry experts from Cornell) were pretty sure it was osteopetrosis. But leg X-rays of the more affected chicken did not show any enlarged bones, so the vets thought maybe I caught it before the bones enlarged and that would happen later. However, it's been 2.5 months and both girls are acting like normal chickens. They jump around like all the others and show no signs of discomfort.
What would the other signs of osteopetrosis be? Would I have seen something by now? If anyone has lost a hen to this, what were the signs?

BTW it appears the swelling is going down little by little.

That’s great your girls don’t appear sick and it seems like they are getting better. Are you talking about osteoporosis, the bone disease? As long as you give your girls enough calcium, that shouldn’t happen. Your chickens need calcium if they are laying eggs, otherwise they will take the calcium from their bones. I just sprinkle egg shells that I have crushed up and oyster shells on the ground and they eat it every evening before they go into roost. You can also just put it in a bowl, but mine only eat it off the ground.

 

[Eggcessive]

Osteopetrosis=marble bone disease, a type of avian leukosis.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pictures again would be helpful. This is your previous thread where I felt that your chickens were suffering from mycoplasma synovitis, not osteopetrosis (marble leg disease)—see post 35:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...fter-death-of-another-in-flock.1288202/page-4

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Osteopetrosis=marble bone disease, a type of avian leukosis.

Thanks for clarifying that.