Why is my hen suddenly lame?

[sparky1]

Have a 5-6 month old araconna hen from a rescue. She has been with me for almost 3 months and very friendly and seemed healthy. She still eats and drinks and eyes are clear. But, last week she started stumbling and falling over. I isolated her for the last 5 days and she is worse. She just falls over when trying to use her left leg. She sticks the left leg out in front of her to balance while sitting and eating in a carrier.

Any possible suggestions???

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

Hello sparky1. Symptoms unfortunately sound suspicious for Mareks Disease, especially the way she holds her leg. Here is a link to an article on Mareks. Are her other symptoms similar? Perhaps someone with more experience than I will come along and offer some advice. Awfully nice of you to rescue her - good luck to you. http://extension.unh.edu/Agric/Docs/mareks.pdf

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Agree with the above it does sound like some red flags for Marek's.


But good to rule out other possibilities of vitamin defficiency, toxins from bad feed or other enviromental toxins. Symptomes of these can look alot like Marek's too.

 

[Highlander]

I have just finished typing a response to a very similar question in another thread. I will copy and paste what I wrote in there, hopefully it will help.


"There is a possibility it may be poisoning from mould - I had this issue a few months back. You need to check every square inch of your coop for mould spores. When I did this I found a very tiny amount under the waterer, this was enough to bring 6 full grown brahmas down - it really is that dangerous. Once i discovered what it was I had to clean and disinfect the coop within an inch of it's life. I was told by an extremely knowledeable person to give them selenium and vitamin E capsules. Pierce the capsule and dispense the contents onto a piece of bread or similar. One capsule per chicken per day. I think the selenium dosage is 50mg but I will check that and get back to you. Activated charcoal tablets are also useful - crush a couple and mix in with some mash or porridge.

All but one of my birds recovered in the end - I had to cull one sadly. About 3 months on some are still not laying however so be prepared for full recovery to take some time. Good luck."