HELP!!! Here's my chicken problem. I have a light brahma who is 8 months old. She's been laying down in the coop, tail tucked since Monday. But she could walk. Then Wednesday-Thursday my husband said she never moved from one location. I went out Thursday to try and get her up and check on her and she can't stand. Just kinda flops with her wings to steady herself. We brought her in, eye droppered her water with calcium in it. Gave her a warm bath, checked to see if she was egg bound. Found nothing. She's passing hard round balls of poop that are very dry and now green. (What I've read suggests green poops like these are just bile because they haven't been eating/drinking so it's the last of the stomach as they're wasting away...) She's not laying. She's in the basement in the dark. Still can't stand but she finally ate apple, scrambled eggs, she drank on her own, she ate some oats. Now I need to see if she'd eat feed. She's still not standing and she's still doing green poo. Only thing I can think is she's got an internal infection or Marek's disease (she shows no other symptoms: tumors, Grey eyes) and her legs aren't splayed out like mareks, they're just tucked to the side and not working. She can move them some but not stand. If it is Marek's I'm afraid the whole flock will all get it. My husbands not too happy to have a sick chicken inside because we have a 3 weeks old newborn. We're in Michigan so the next options the garage which will be cold. We almost put her down last night but then she perked up and was eating so we gave her another shot. Any ideas?
Welcome to BYC. At her age it could be Mareks, but hopefully she has just injured herself, or perhaps has a vitamin deficiency. Mareks can cause eye changes, tumors, or nerve involvement, as well as skin lesions, but each chicken is different, and may only show one of the symptoms. Botulism, a disease from eating decayed animal or vegetable remains, lead or heavy metal poisoning, and moldy feed poisoning could be other possibilities. Put some poultry vitamins in her water or feed containing vitamin B2 (riboflavin.) Nutri-drench does not have that. Keep her in a basket or crate close to food and water, and you may want to prop her up with a rolled towel or use a chicken sling. Offer her some egg or tuna in addition to her usual feed. If her lameness progressed to paralysis with no movement of her toes, then that would look more like Mareks. Here is some reading about Mareks and chicken slings: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1080311/my-8-week-old-chicken-cant-stand-up (see post # 4) https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
