Stiff feet, recovering from respiratory issue

[MightyMama]

I have a new hen (about 7 months old) who was given to me sick. She was taking injectable Tylan orally for an upper respiratory issue.

When I got her she was sneezy and had a little bit of balance issues. After her 6 day treatment, her sneezes seem to be gone, her balance has returned, but she still has stiff feet...the toes just remain flat while walking or scratching and she doesn't seem to be able to grip my arm if I try to put her in that position. So imagine placing your hands open wide and flat on the table and walking them forward/backward without bending them...that's what it looks like. Because of this, she does struggle on the corn cob bedding I have (which I hate and am just using up before replacing), but she seems to get around well enough on the grass. She can scurry without having issues remaining upright.

Is this just a normal process of healing or is there something else going on? She is separated from the others and will remain like that for a while longer.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Doesn't sound good to me. I personally wouldn't have taken in a sick bird unless my purpose was bird rescue and had ability to properly quarantine.

It sounds like MS, with the joint and respiratory involvement. I'll link info below.

Mycoplasma synoviae
Synonyms: MS, infectious synovitis, synovitis, silent air sac

Species affected: chickens and turkeys.

Clinical signs: Birds infected with the synovitis form show lameness, followed by lethargy, reluctance to move, swollen joints, stilted gait, loss of weight, and formation of breast blisters. Birds infected with the respiratory form exhibit respiratory distress. Greenish diarrhea is common in dying birds (see Table 1). Clinically, the disease in indistinguishable from MG.

Transmission: MS is transmitted from infected breeder to progeny via the egg. Within a flock, MS is spread by direct contact with infected birds as well as through airborne particles over short distances.

Treatment: Recovery is slow for both respiratory and synovitis forms. Several antibiotics are variably effective. The most effective are tylosin, erthromycin, spectinomycin, lincomycin, and chlorotectracycline. These antibiotics can be given by injection while some can be administered in the feed or drinking water. These treatments are most effective when the antibiotics are injected.

Prevention: Eradication is the best and only sure control. Do not use breeder replacements from flocks that have had MS. The National Poultry Improvement Plan monitors for MS.


You can see other possibilities on the full article below, but MS is my first guess.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[sourland]

Understand that when dealing with respiratory diseases some apparently 'recovered' birds may remain as carriers for the rest of their life with the potential of infecting your flock.

 

[MightyMama]

Thanks, for your concern. There's more to this story but the long and the short is that she's here and it was a risk I was willing to take. She is not showing any other symptoms of MS.

Her only current symptom is the foot thing. She's otherwise acting fine. She started laying eggs 4 days ago and has given us one each day even though she's only been with us a week.

Good appetite, eager for treats, scratching and turning over leaves, she dug up a good patch of grass where I penned her in, she can run even with her feet being weird.

 

[MightyMama]

Am I allowed to bump? Because I have not found any answers on google or in the Chicken Health Handbook.

 

[Eggcessive]

It may or may not help, but I would try a poultry multivitamin in her water or food. Make sure that is has riboflavin on the label, as well as othe vitamins. Let us know how she progresses.

 

[MightyMama]

I have some poly vi sol. I'll give that a try. Thanks. Do you know how much I would need?

 

[Eggcessive]

Dosage of PolyVisol without iron is 2-3 drops daily.

 

[MightyMama]

So she's starting to use her inner two toes, the outer ones are still stiff.

She is having very very slight "sneezes", more like just clearing her nose, and not very often. I mostly notice it when she makes the egg song.

How long do I wait to see if it clears up before trying treatment again? She's still not with the other chickens yet. I want to wait until I'm sure that she's better.