Unknown illness :(

[MrsKaty]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping you can help!

I'm desperate to find out what's wrong with one of my maran hens.

She appears to temporarily lose the use of her legs. It's happened 3 times now and after a day or so of TLC, she perks back up. Every time it's happened, I've walked down the garden in the morning and she's lying on the floor with her legs stretched straight out behind her. I generally move her somewhere quiet and comfy, offer her a dish of water and some tempting food. She will generally half-heartedly peck at the food, but then will often just lie with her eyes closed. After a day or so, she manages to stand again and gradually gets steadier. A few days later, she's sometimes a bit wobbly but goes back to normal until it happens again about 2 weeks later. My 5 other hens that she lives with are unaffected.

She seems to be a bit bullied by the others and has a bald neck where she is pecked. I have checked her thoroughly for mites etc, and can find nothing. She's a lovely, friendly and seemingly happy hen otherwise. Breaks my heart to see her like this.

So, any ideas?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the rambling!

Katy

 

[Akrnaf2]

Hi to you and welcome to BYC
The situation that you are describing could be a cause of some potential reasons.
1. Is a nutriment deficiency reed thus links maybe it suit your condition.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/123/rickets-hypocalcaemic/
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/4/146.full.pdf
2. It could be a expression of Marek's disease
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0021997589900285
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/3/977.short
So I think that you need to provide some more information.
Like: what you give them to eat? Die's she get enough to eat? Does this paralyzation occur after stressful experiences? What are the stress level your chickens are exposed to?
For the min time give her som vitamins and electrolytes in here water, give her some high quality food= crushed boiled egg, some tunafish, some code liver, and separate her from the outers.

 

[MrsKaty]

Thank you for the advice.

She's got access to layers pellets all day and I give the girls any suitable leftovers/kitchen extras as and when.

She seems to get enough, I often see her eating with the others.

She's not generally exposed to any stress as far as I'm aware. She's generally a very laid back chicken. They're in an enclosed run all the time but are let out in the afternoons onto the lawn/gravel for a few hours most days. The episodes of leg paralysis doesn't appear to follow any pattern.

She's managing to bear a little weight on her legs now, so has improved from this morning but still sat on the floor and unable to walk.