Silkie with Leg Issue

[Appytaz]

Hi Everyone! I am a Newbie here - to the board and to chickens in general.

A little background here: I "rescued" a pair of black silkies from the feed store. I have no knowledge of chickens! Infact I am scared to death of chickens, well, until these 2 came along I was.

Last Thursday my hen was standing in the pouring rain. This is not normal "Lucy" behavior. She is usually on the porch when it rains. I went out and picked her up and brought her in. (BIG step for me - i do believe this is the 1st time I have ever held a chicken)

Friday, I went to put her to bed and she was leaning against the house. When I got her to her pen she wasn't able to stand and was throwing her wings out for balance. I moved her to a small laundry basket. She seems like her left foot is sliding forward and she backs up until her butt is resting against something. She is still eating and drinking ok. A man at our local feed store said it sounds like she had a heat stroke. (We are in Central FL)

Where do we go from here? I put her outside in her cage for the first time today and she was moving alittle better - but not by much.

Thanks, Kellee & Lucy

 

[dlhunicorn]

First off welcome to BYC! My silkies also stand in the rain (silly birds) ...
These are neurological symptoms you are describing ... they can be caused by many things see here:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1160928615
and with silkies often a head injury is involved and you can see a video plus an article on treatment for that here (it is also in the link above but here is a direct link to the thread:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=casestudiesemergencies&action=display&num=1160927052

what you can do RIGHT now though is to give the bird three drops of Polyvisol Enfamil (which is a childrens liquid A-B-D vitamin) in or along the beak once a day for a week and see if that brings any resolution (altho when you start the vitE/selenium you can better use only a vit B supplement as too much A can interfere with the E causing it to be less effective (the vit E helps prevent permanent neurological damage but both vit E and selenium are interdependent >need each other to work sufficiently >make sure when you get the (human) ivitE/selenium combo tab that the amount of selenium in the tab does nOT exceed 50 MICROgrams)

How old is the bird...what do you feed it?
Can you post a photo or (better yet) a video?
There is also a disease called MAREKS and this is typified by one leg out in front and one way to the back... there is no treatment and following the vitamin treatment or that for head injury will not make anything worse (the bird either pulls thru or it doesn't)

 

[Appytaz]

Thank you for the information, boy there was alot to digest! I got her the vitamins, thanks.

I watched the video and that is not what she is doing. She doesn't have any neck problems. She seems to be going backwards to try and take the weight off her Right leg (I thought it was her left leg that was going out) Once she backs until she gets that left leg under her she is ok.

Boy, there is alot to learn with Chickens