**UPDATE- Young hen DYING!??? HELP!!** Worried sick-Injured foot..

[Xival Knievel]

***UPDATE: I THINK THIS BIRD MAY BE DYING! (2.5 MONTHS LATER) SEE NEW POST AT BOTTOM AND PLEASE HELP!***



1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Welsummer pullet, about 4 months

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
7/7/09 midday I first noticed: She is holding her left leg high in the air. The leg itself seems to be used still as she is able to pick it up. The foot however, seems limp and non-reactive. She shows no pain when I flex or press on any part of the leg or foot but I cannot detect any reflex either. No other part of her body seems to be effected, and she is using the left side wing at times for balance...

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Nothing that I can see, no sores on foot or anything else.

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
No clue, she was fine the day before yesterday.

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
About 1 week ago I switched her and the other 6 in the flock onto layena layer pellets and they have been on organic chick feed up until then. She is still eating and drinking normally (though I did have to move her out of the coop the first day to get to water... I'm not sure if she can really jump in and out) I also regularly give them kitchen scraps- strawberry tops, bread crust, lettuce as it starts to wilt. Lots of free access to grass and bugs.

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Not sure. Though I have seen no bloody poop.

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I have only given her a good look over and made sure she is able to access food and water. I need to know if this is something I should quarantine her for.. just now found out that it possibly could be marek's

8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I would like to do as much as I can myself.

9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I may be able to post a photo or video tomorrow

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Coop is 5' l x5' w x5' h and housing 7 pullets all about 4 months old. We are using Deep Litter method in the coop with pine shavings. They have free access always to a yard that is about 100' x 50'. This is the second flock that I have housed here, the other flock was massacred when they were almost 2, but were always healthy.


I need to know what to do next. I have a feeling I need to seperate her from the rest of the flock. I really don't want this to be what I think it might be... This is the most wonderful flock of chickens I have ever met.. they are all so sweet and friendly and I really love them.. I can't bear the thought of losing them all. Or having to cull one.. I don't know if I could...

I'm so sad and worried- please help me identify the problem and take the next necessary steps to keep my flock happy and healthy.

 

[SeramaLife]

HHHmmmmm. Sounds similar to https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=209625

 

[threehorses]

Well it's too quick really for it to be a nutritional deficiency. But I will say that I'd keep them on grower for another month until 5 months. Their reproductive organs are still developing. They continue to develop until the combs are full and red. When the combs start to get much fuller and turn red, THEN integrate laying feed. Until then, they need grower to help their reproductive organs and other bits to continue developing correctly to help prevent laying and reproduction problems later in life.

As for the foot, I'd suspect a sprain if you don't think she's broken it. If you take a little pin and barely gently prick the top, will she move it? That's how you can test if she can actually feel it.

I"d give her a quick nutritional boost to get her through this until further more clarifying symptoms occur. A boiled egg, a bit of yogurt, some direct-feed vitamins like Enfamil PolyViSol - 2 drops on the side opening of her beak a day. (Non iron formula, pls - apparently CVS sells it).

Maybe something will clarify, or this will help her heal through her mystery illness.

By the way, when the combs deepen/fill in, then start offering oyster shell in addition to their regular grit. Do it at about 5-5.5 months to start pre-loading them for laying. But again until you start seeing cherry appear in the combs, they need more growth ration.

 

[Xival Knievel]

Thank you very much, I will get them back on organic chick grower again tomorrow and start giving the mash of additional supplements that you suggested to her. I hope the food didn't hurt them.. I just switched them over because I thought after 16 weeks they might start laying and needed the switch... I hope she's ok.

I will try the pin prick in the morning too. I ave a bad feeling she may not react but then again it is plausable that my toddler or I could have stepped on the foot when leaving the pen without noticing as we walked away the other day.. I feel so sad for her.

Just asking because I have it on hand, for the yogurt, is plain whole milk with honey ok? Not sure if honey is a go ahead for chickens or if i need to go buy plain plain.

I really hope she makes it through this and it is just a sprain...

 

[threehorses]

Honey can work, but whole mild doesn't have the bacteria in it that yogurt does - that's our aim on the yogurt. In the old days it did.

But for the point for which we're using it now, you'd want yogurt. It's ok to wait til you can get some - it's not a big deal. It's an option that I think might be helpful. It's something I recommend any time a bird is stressed. The same with the vitamins.

And I doubt you hurt them at all with the food. The labeling is weird - and layer and grower is quite close, but grower just has a little more of some important ingredients for that last bit of growing in a well designed feed. Just watch the combs. They'll tell you what's going on in pullets. Once I see the face start to turn cherry, I start watching the comb particularly. In fact, I have a little Japanese bantam pullet whose face is doing that now at four months that I have to start watching for her comb to start filling out.

Really it's my favorite time in pullets - maybe even more so than the first egg because it's just a sign of some great things coming. So enjoy it.

I hope this morning finds her better!

 

[Xival Knievel]

Haha oops I can see how that was misread.. I meant plain whole milk yogurt with honey. It's what i feed my toddler. Ill go ahead with it.

 

[Xival Knievel]

She is about the same today by the way. And you don't seem to concerned that it may be Marek's or something else horrible?

 

[threehorses]

Mareks isnt high on my list because she can and is picking the leg up. In mareks, it's more of a "flaccid" floppy paralysis where they can't use something.

Technically it's possible that she just has foot paralysis by mareks, but it doesn't seem like it to me. Her holding the foot up indicates pain.

Any time I've seen any paralysis involving a foot, it involved a leg. And all those times and any time that I've yet to read about, it caused a drooping that might be picked up sometimes but usually wasn't. On the other hand, any time I've seen this symptom in my flock, they had some sort of accident - a break, a sprain, something on the bottom of the foot like a sore (which you've ruled out).

If any other symptoms happened like a drooping wing, then I'd be more concerned. BUt right now it's thankfully more on the "better" side than the "Worse" side.

 

[Xival Knievel]

Thank god...

 

[Xival Knievel]

Update: I need some help and insight, I believe this young hen may be dying today. Let me bring you guys up to speed: It took about 3 weeks before Fritatta (the welsummer pullet who had the injured foot) began fully using her leg again. It was a gradual process. During that time I would take her aside daily to give her some yummy slop and she was holding her own very well against the rest of the flock, always getting her share of treats etc. and didn't get picked on.

It is about 2.5 months later now and she has been getting along fine but she is quite a bit smaller than the rest of the flock and when I pick her up I have noticed that she is rather boney. Today I went out with some kitchen scraps treats for everyone and it was the first time that she ever didn't run up with the rest of them for her share. She was lying down at the base of the coop with her eyes closed and would just open them for a moment then close them again repeatedly. I went in to check on her and picked her up without her even really moving and she was very unreactive. She is definitely alive but not doing much. I dipped her beak in the water and she just kind of le me put it there and didn't drink but didn't pull it out either.

She was being her normal self yesterday and acting fine. The other chickens are not appearing to be picking on her and she has definitely been eating and drinking up until today. I cannot see anything physically wrong with her or any injuries. This morning she did come out for treats like normal but this afternoon she is acting as described.

I put her in the shade in the coop for now. What next? Help