What's wrong with my RIR's legs????

[Taylor]

maybe she has paralysis or something similar, lloks like she got herself into a bind and her legs cramped up, just a thought. bless its heart!

 

[Minniechickmama]

sgall - I think Chris09 has good info here, and you should listen.

Also, the Poly Vi Sol with NO iron has worked for me on younger chickens when they have had this issue. In a young chick under 8 weeks, I only give a drop or two, depending on size. Exercise the legs and feet too. I just had an LF Cornish do this about a month and a half ago as a 4-week chick and thought I was going to lose him. I used the vitamins and kept doing therapy with him and he was up and walking on his own again in a couple of days.

I hadn't heard dog food being a good thing to give chickens, but I have heard of cat food in limited quantities due to the salt content.

But, like I said, I think Chris09 has enough experience that you have a good answer to go with there. I like the liver and spinach idea, it seems much more natural.

Oh, and as for the poop thing, you may want to look up the "chicken poop chart" there are many different appearances of chicken poop that are in the normal range, and it sounds like what you are seeing is a normal appearance. Just look up on here or Google, "chicken poop chart".

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

what about checking the feed you were giving them? could it have gone bad? i believe botulism can have effects like that on a chicken if the feed could have gotten any mold in it. i do agree that Chris could be right with his diagnosis. he has lots of knowledge on this stuff.

eta: the poop site link http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[Chinchilla2]

Quote:
You might want to back off on the molasses. It can cause runny poop. Not sure if it would cause the poop to smell more than normal but it has been my experience that molasses makes all animals a bit smellier in the poop department, including kiddos and hubbies.

 

[sgall]

Thank you guys so much!! I got a vitamin supplement that has B2 in it and I mixed it with her eggs and mollasses this evening. She loves it as she sits and eats almost the whole bowl in one sitting!! I will back off of the molasses and I think I will take out the dog food. I have also been adding pellets to the eggs which I will continue. I noticed if I put the vitamins in her water she wants nothing to do with it.... I will definately keep you guys updated. I think just in this evening I have seen an improvement but it could also be my imagination because I want her to get better! She seems to be talking to me more also. I read this evening that the eggs hold quite a bit of B2 also so I will definately continue those. Thanks again for all your input and the articles. Updates to come!!

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Quote:
You might want to back off on the molasses. It can cause runny poop. Not sure if it would cause the poop to smell more than normal but it has been my experience that molasses makes all animals a bit smellier in the poop department, including kiddos and hubbies.

x2 including horses. they put it feed to keep their bowels moving. It's a good laxative.

 

[ILOVELEGHORNS]

Hmmmm, I was thinking more along the lines of Merek's disease( Nerves commonly affected include the brachial and sciatic plexi, celiac plexus, abdominal vagus and intercostals nerves. ), Lymphoid Leukosis (lymphoid leukosis, caused by a retrovirus, can cause paralysis. Tumors can form on the sciatic nerve or near the nerve and paralysis can come on slowly or within hours, like the other diseases mentioned above. THere is no treatment for LL and affected birds do not recover.), botulism. Also, Egg binding can also cause paralysis, but the latter I have stated are more common. I have included some informative sites for you to check out. Sure the Vitamin b complex is a deficiency, the Neurological diseases interfere with the nerve endings.... hence, blocking the important vitamin from doing their job causeing paralysis... Supplementing with Vitamin B complex may ease the symptoms. Perhaps the paralysis is hopefully only temporary. In any case, this is only a vague overview of paralysis.

Try giving your hen some anti inflammatories (either 1 x 81 mg aspirin, once per day for 5 days OR 5 x 325 mg aspirin in 4 litres water, given free choice all day for a week OR 0.1 mg/kg metacam (available from your vet) for 5 days. You can also give some immune boosters . Echinecea and north american ginseng (in the form of Cold Fx) to boost their immunity. Poultry spice is also supposed to help...



http://www.ruleworks.co.uk/poultry/Avian-Lymphoid-Leukosis.htm

http://74.6.238.254/search/srpcache...c&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=ZHxXdjNdZe9zBZbHcMb94w--

 

[Chris09]

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/mareks2.pdf

I don't think it is Marek's Disease (MD).
MD affects the leg differently and also will affect wings, neck, weight, and vision also the skin around feather follicles raised and roughened and the infected fowl has irregular pupil or grey iris's.

Chris

 

[Chris09]

Here are come images of riboflavin (B2) deficiency,

Chris

 

[sgall]

I am wondering, how come she is resting on her hocks? She is not trying to use her feet at all. Since I have began vigorous ribo supplements do you guys know when I can hope to see signs of some sort of improvements? Thanks!