What makes chickens limp?

[nicurn7]

One of our two-year olds started limping a couple of months ago, and it has slowly progressed to the point that she has limited her movement. She will still limp around sometimes, but spends a lot more time just sitting. She still eats and lays, and the other girls are not picking on her.

The issue is somewhere around her tibial-femoral joint, and the muscles of that leg have wasted. I have ruled out bumblefoot. The earliest vet visit I could get is for next Friday, so I'm trying to figure out how to treat her in the meantime.

What could be causing this?

 

[azygous]

What could be causing this is an inflamed sciatic nerve, and the inflammation of that nerve can cause lameness and eventually paralysis. This is "could" be causing her leg issues. Marek's is usually behind this, but lymphoid leucosis can also cause it.

Another cause can be from her body assimilating B-vitamins poorly and causing lameness from a deficiency in B-2, 6, and 12. You can try a B-complex to see if it can help her. Quite often a Marek's scare turns out to be a B-vitamin deficiency. In that case, everyone lives happily ever after.