Chicken off legs

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daniel1005

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Yesterday I saw one of our hens sitting in the bush at around 12noon after they had just been let out from their pen into the garden. The chicken had ran out the pen and had been active so we just thought that she was dust bathing. When it came too shutting them away she was still in the same position she had been all afternoon. Then I noticed that she seemed almost paralysed not been able to use her legs and seems to just fall over when you set her down. We bought her in and she's been in a box overnight and still is in a box now, not moving but she has quite an appetite and her head's up etc. The other symptoms she are some froth in her eye and yesterday she laid two eggs in one day! one soft shelled, one normal. I would like people's advice. I have looked up some conditions which it could be such as Marek's but her pupils aren't discoloured etc. and she is 3 years old. Could it be botulism? I am just looking for advice, she doesn't seem in pain or distressed, she just can't get up. Thanks in advance...
 
We had a cock went off his legs for no apparent reason and was ultimately PTS. I know for ducks it can be due to worms. Froth in the eye is Myco. All very confusing and I'm not being helpful at all Daniel1005 as I don't know the symptoms for Botulism. Have you fed her maggots?
 
It sounds neurological to me. I think that, if she were mine, I would isolate her from the others, as you have done, and then either take her to the vet. for diagnosis, or see how she gets on and consider culling her if she didn't improve within 24 hours.
 
chrismahon said:
We had a cock went off his legs for no apparent reason and was ultimately PTS. I know for ducks it can be due to worms. Froth in the eye is Myco. All very confusing and I'm not being helpful at all Daniel1005 as I don't know the symptoms for Botulism. Have you fed her maggots?
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She doesn't have live maggots. She has dried worms from the supermarket.
 
Sometimes if laying is disrupted ie two eggs in one day and one being soft shelled, this can have a detrimental effect on the nerves running down through the legs causing them to go off their legs temporarily.
Keep a close eye on her for now, keep her nice and warm, encourage fluids and maybe tempt with chopped boiled egg and meal worms.
Regarding Mareks this can hit a bird at any age..discoloured or misshapen pupils are just one symptom of neurological Mareks, and Mareks can affect other part of the body leading to paralysis.
 
foxy said:
Sometimes if laying is disrupted ie two eggs in one day and one being soft shelled, this can have a detrimental effect on the nerves running down through the legs causing them to go off their legs temporarily.
Keep a close eye on her for now, keep her nice and warm, encourage fluids and maybe tempt with chopped boiled egg and meal worms.
Regarding Mareks this can hit a bird at any age..discoloured or misshapen pupils are just one symptom of neurological Mareks, and Mareks can affect other part of the body leading to paralysis.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I'll continue to keep a close eye on her, we have brought her inside today so she's warm. Last night I noticed that she seemed to be straining a bit around the vent and I put gloves on etc. and felt around the inside it seems very "contracted" if you know what I mean. Today when I massaged around the vent she seemed to be passing gas and then all of a sudden a lot of faeces came out as if she was struggling to do it. I'm not sure if this is because the muscle's around her vent have taken a battering laying two eggs in one day?
 
Hi Daniel. I've been reading a excellent post about Botulism on the backyardpoultry.com forum. This was because of a strange problem with one of our TNN's, which now may be stress from a partial prolapse. Anyway the essential about Botulism is that it causes all the muscles to relax and can be fatal quickly or recovered from quickly (with some possible brain damage). So your hen would go off her legs, her wings would relax with her head and neck. Even the muscles that hold the feathers in relax so the feathers come out easily. So you haven't got a case of Botulism. Seems the risks are from meat fed maggots and compost beetles, as it thrives in airless conditions. Foxy's diagnosis sounds right.

Hope she is improving.
 
Hi everyone, we took her to the vets this morning and the vet said something major was going on internally and her stomach was wrong so it was a PTS job. Thanks for all your help over the past week or so.
 
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