Chicken cannot use her legs! Please help!

[Lea Atlas]

Im new to this forum but Im hoping someone here can help me.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)

Up until recently I only had two roosters and then my neighbor wanted to trade for one of them. I was reluctant but agreed and came home with two hens. They are mixed breeds but probably came from common breeds found at hatcheries. One is an adult brown in color. The other, is much younger and grey in color with black specks in feathers and SHE IS THE SICK ONE. (will post pictures below)


2) What is the behavior, exactly.

I got her from a neighbor several weeks ago. Since I had only one rooster that I was joining these two hens to, I did not quarantine. I closely monitored their behavior. She was picked on a little by the other two at first. Things started to get better and then suddenly worse again. The pecking started up again but not really harmful, just some chasing away from the food. I spread food out all over.
In the evenings I would go out to make sure they went into the coop and when I would pick her up, she looked dead. Her head was alert but her body limp like it fell asleep. I was worried but she still got around just fine during the day and was eating and drinking.

The day before Thanksgiving I was putting out some treats and she was laying down. Something just seemed off so I got into the pen and she didn't move when I got close or made noise so I picked her up and put her into my brooder box with food and water and a heat lamp. Her legs are partially paralyzed with some movement, but splayed and toes curled inwards. She was extremely lethargic but perked up dramatically when we got her to start eating. She has lost weight and is so thin. My first thought was the others were not letting her eat enough.

Shortly after that, I moved her into the house to keep a closer eye on her. I got her medicated chick feed(for extra vitamins and minerals), I got an electrolyte supplement to add to her water and she had a good appetite the first few days. Since yesterday, its been a struggle to get her to eat. I entice her with meal worms or whatever I can to get her to eat. I had read somewhere that her symptoms lined up with a vitamin B12 deficiency and Ive been giving her a liquid B12 supplement for three days now with only slight improvement in appetite.

I don't believe it is Marek's disease which is the first thing suggested in every similar post I found. Both of my other two chickens and my neighbors flock are all fine. Her eyes are fine. She still tries to move her legs but has not stood on them in a few days.


3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?

A little over a week


4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?

Not at all.


5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.

There is no sign of injury. Nothing feels broken. Even her feathers look excellent.


6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.

Maybe stressed from recently moving to my yard. Maybe she was already malnourished.


7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.

She barely drinks, I put meal worms in her water to get her to drink. I got her to eat some chick feed at first, some scrambled egg once. If she sees meal worms or bread nearby, she will refuse to eat anything else.


8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? Etc.

Her poop actually looks fantastic as far as poop goes.


9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?

Liquid vitamin B12 for the last 3-4 days. And I added Rooster Booster vitamins & electrolytes powder to the water.


10 ) 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 till you can get to a vet?

I cannot afford a vet. I want to do whatever I can to help her myself.


11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

(see below)


12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

Pine shavings and sand inside the coop. I was going to completely change to sand when I thought the brown hen was sneezing from the pine shavings.

Her feet have been curled more than this, but this is what I could capture.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Why don't you think it's Mareks? Many birds can carry it and be fine, stress will often bring it out. It sounds like her life has been very stressful. One other option could be botulism from eating moldy feed, but I personally think it's Mareks, which will continue to worsen. Sorry.

 

[Lea Atlas]

I guess my main reason for not believing it was Marek's is that its highly contagious when activated and none of the other chickens appear to be sick at all. I have read that most chickens are carriers and can show different to no symptoms. Given all of the symptoms a chicken can show with Marek's, she shows only leg paralysis and weight loss and none of the other more specific symptoms. Maybe I just have hope because leg paralysis and weight loss could mean other problems and I don't want to give up just yet.
All that said, if she dies then I guess I can do a necropsy to find out for sure.
Thanks for the input!

 

[rebrascora]

As someone who has Marek's in their flock, that looks and sounds like Marek's to me too. She is the prime age for it, she is under stress from the change of home and being picked on which is a common trigger. She is wasting away which is another sign (I appreciate that you feel she may have been kept from the food by the other two) and that leg stuck out behind in the second photo and toes curling is pretty classic for the disease. Marek's is such an incredibly widespread and common disease and one of the top killers of young chickens along with coccidiosis. It is by far the most like diagnosis.
Sadly it sounds like she is entering the final stages of the disease, if she is losing interest in food, but as long as she is still eating there is hope. I nursed one for 4 months and twice made my mind up to euthanize her if she didn't improve by a set deadline, but each time the deadline arrived, she was still fighting it and I didn't have the heart to do it. She eventually made it back to free ranging with the flock and even laying 3 eggs a week, although she didn't totally lose her limp.

A chicken sling can be helpful to keep them in an upright position when they can't keep themselves upright. A simple one can be made as below...

You can clip little empty yoghurt pots with food and water in them to the front of the box, so that she can reach them herself. I appreciate that she may have deteriorated too far already but she might just pick up with a good vitamin supplement.
Good luck with her

 

[Lea Atlas]

Thank you! Ive been propping her up with towels but I think your design looks better. What did you do to help nurse yours back to health?

 

[rebrascora]

I've nursed quite a few with it over the past few years. I've had some very fast and dramatic recoveries, some slow like the pullet I mentioned and sadly quite a few that didn't make it. The things that coincide with the recoveries are sunshine (not something you can go out and buy) and grass and the company of other chickens but in a safe environment (a cage) Having a companion in the sick bay was a real turning point for that pullet. They get depressed on their own and lose the will to fight. I was fortunate with mine that I had another young hen that also needed some tlc as she was getting pecked on in the flock and had lost her confidence. She had lost the use of her leg a couple of months before (probably Marek's), but had learned to pull it up out of the way and hop everywhere. The pullet I mentioned was at this point nest bound and unable to stand. When I put Hoppity in with her, there was an almighty and extremely ugly fight between the two of them.... both severely handicapped..... to sort out the pecking order in the infirmary. Hoppity lost but they became firm friends and rallied each other along. Putting them out on the lawn in a cage together in fine weather and scattering food in and around the cage so that the flock foraged around them helped to motivate them to forage and eat. Perhaps vitamin D is helpful since sunshine has been a significant common factor and grass. I would make them hobble back to the infirmary on a night rather than carry them and that helped them to learn to coordinate their limbs and figure out a technique to work around their disability.... I felt quite mean watching them struggle but it was an important part of their therapy. As the days and weeks went by, they slowly became more coordinated and focussed.
I've just had a 4.5 year old hen suffer her first attack of Marek's and I was psyching myself up to cull her but a couple of weeks of free ranging on the grass outside the pen and the removal of any stress and some nice fine sunny days and she is significantly improved and now back holding her own in the pen with the others again and first into the feed pan when I put it down.

The things that are easier to provide are warmth (especially if she is emaciated as she has no body stores to maintain her temperature.... consider a heating pad)good nutrition.... scrambled eggs, fermented feed, a bit of raw liver etc and a good quality vitamin supplement. Marek's compromises the immune system as well as affecting the neurological system so a broad spectrum vitamin supplement, but especially vitamin B complex and vitamin C. I tried St Johns Wort and Turmeric and black pepper but they got sick of it after a while and started to turn their nose up at their food, so I gave up on that as it was stressing them and me trying to get it into them. Keeping them happy really does seem to be the key...

 

[rebrascora]

I guess my main reason for not believing it was Marek's is that its highly contagious when activated and none of the other chickens appear to be sick at all.

The thing is that it is contagious but it doesn't exhibit until something triggers it.... usually stress of some sort .... often the unwanted attentions of a cockerel or point of lay when hormones are surging or moving to a new home. Until that trigger happens, it remains dormant.
My older girl's trigger was moulting this year.
I should also mention that if it is Marek's and your girl recovers, she will almost certainly have another and usually more serious (probably fatal) attack in the future.... that could be weeks, months or even, over a year away.

Some birds will be naturally resistant to the virus and others will succumb, but you don't know which they are until they have an outbreak. Just like people with the Herpes Virus look perfectly normal until something triggers them to get a cold sore. Sadly Marek's is usually significantly more serious than a cold sore.

 

[Lea Atlas]

I just wanted to update this thread. Thank you all for the help and suggestions! My young hen did die in early December. We had a dog pass away from old age shortly after. And then my grandmother on Christmas day. Needless to say I have been distracted.
I did not do an autopsy on my girl, but I did burn her body just in case to prevent further spread. I hate that her moving to my house so young may have triggered the stress that brought all of it on, but now I know better.
Moving forward I will do everything I can to make sure my chickens are getting optimum nutrition and I will be more cautious about excepting chickens from others.
Thanks again everyone!

 

[MLG1900]

I just wanted to update this thread. Thank you all for the help and suggestions! My young hen did die in early December. We had a dog pass away from old age shortly after. And then my grandmother on Christmas day. Needless to say I have been distracted.
I did not do an autopsy on my girl, but I did burn her body just in case to prevent further spread. I hate that her moving to my house so young may have triggered the stress that brought all of it on, but now I know better.
Moving forward I will do everything I can to make sure my chickens are getting optimum nutrition and I will be more cautious about excepting chickens from others.
Thanks again everyone!

So sorry for your losses!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm sorry too for all your loses. Thank you for the update.