Problem with Black Star hen

[brownstoneranch]

I have a problem with a chicken and I am hoping your expertise can
help me figure out what is wrong. Last Tuesday, one of my Black Stars
did not want to walk on one of her legs. I posted on all the chicken
forums I belong to and was told to put iodine on her legs and then
mineral oil and wait. I am guessing they thought she was at the
beginning of Bumble foot and that was to take care of any cuts if she
had any that I could not see.

She can move her legs fine when you are holding her and when she is on
the ground (on her side) but she will not use her feet. When holding
her, she can stretch her toes out, but when you try to put her down to
see if she will stand, she curls her toes and will not support her
weight. There does not seem to be any problems with being egg bound
and she has zero swelling, no cuts, no scrapes. I have had my hands
all over this chicken and she seems fine. She will eat and drink and
pops her head up when we go out to take care of her. She flops around
and positions herself near the food and water. I put antibiotics in
her water as a precaution. Now, I am using vitamins in her water.
Someone suggested a vitamin deficiency. Other than not wanting to
stand on her feet, she does not act sick at all. She is eating and
drinking. She is separated from the flock in a crate.

Do you have any idea what is wrong with her?

Kim

 

[dawg53]

Try putting her in a container with warm water in it, enough to cover her bottom. Gently massage her bottomside for about 10 minutes. Then put on a plastic glove and lube her vent area with some kind oil (olive oil, KY or vegetable oil) and put some on your finger and gently stick it up her vent. Gently feel around for any obstructions (cracked eggshells,soft shell.) Good luck.

 

[geebs]

Possible Mareks. Try putting a cranberry gelcap down her crop with a garlic clove once a day and see if there is any improvement.

 

[brownstoneranch]

She was vaccinated for Mareks. She is not exhibiting any other signs of being sick. She won't support her weight on her feet, but moves her legs very well to get around the crate. We can try the gelcap and garlic. At this point, all the chicken people I have consulted, don't have any answers. One of them is going through this with two of their chickens.

Thanks!

 

[write2caroline]

I have a chick that hatched 8/2 that is doing something similar. She won't stand up. She seems fine but I thought maybe her leg is dislocated or broken but it looks fine.
Caroline

 

[OregonChickenGal]

It's possible she hurt herself jumping down from her roost. Mine did that. She hurt her leg. One time I had one hit part of the wall when she jumped down. She was loopy for awhile, but eventually got better.

 

[brownstoneranch]

My bird is right at 20 weeks old. I am going to try what the previous poster said about putting her bottom in warm water and massaging it. I have to see if she is egg bound. I have 9 Black Stars and only one of them has started laying. Someone else suggested a vitamin deficiency and said to use TriVisol or PolyVisol without iron and put 2-3 drops in her beak a few times a day. For a little one, I would try the vitamins.

Kim

 

[brownstoneranch]

How long did it take before your bird got better from the fall? This bird has been like this for just over a week. She moves around the crate flapping very well. Her legs are working fine. We do have a chicken condo they can climb up to and some do fly down. We considered an injury, but she lets me touch her feet and legs without indicating any pain at all.

 

[OregonChickenGal]

The one that hurt her leg, injured it around a month ago. She's getting much better. I have had her separated for a month now. Since she's getting better, I let her out of her crate a couple times a day to stretch and take a dust bath if she wants to.

The one that hit the wall, was like that for a couple of days. She would just lay there, and when she would try to get up, she would wobble and lay down again, usually on her side. She's fine now.

Hope yours gets better soon.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
I too have a Black Star hen that had an accident and she's crippled. She hops around on one leg and does just fine, including laying eggs. This happened about a year ago. When the accident occured, I bought some vitamin B complex tablets at the pharmacy, crushed them into a powder and put it in her feed for about 1 week. I gave her a couple of drops of poultry nutri drench orally as well. It all seemed to help some, but the damage was more severe than I thought. I had to permanently seperate her from the others because she was being picked on relentlessly. I keep her in a hospital cage in the garage and let her out into a seperate pen daily to do her chicken things. She throws a fit letting me know when she's ready to lay an egg and I bring her back to her cage to lay. I've had complete success using vitamin B complex/nutri drench combo on a Salmon Faverolle pullet that used to sit on her hocks all the time. It took 2 weeks of treatment, but it eventually worked. I had to stop the nutri drench after 3 days, it caused diarrhea. It takes a long time to heal these type of wounds if that's what it is. Seperation and a quiet place for her is best, to relax the muscles,tendons etc...to let them heal.