Muppet81 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Last week I acquired 2 new ex batt girls to join my small flock of 4. I am as certain as I can be that at that stage both were fully mobile. I day in a separate pen and they looked fine. I then spent 4 days introducing the newbies and stayed outside all day to make sure there was no excessive bullying. Each evening when the existing girls were settled, we added the newbies to the roost to sleep. There did not seem to be any real aggression after the first day. I thought all was well. Two days ago I noticed that one of the girls was missing a claw. No blood, it just was not there. She seemed tentative about putting her foot on the ground and kept extending her wing to steady herself. She walked with an exaggerated high stepping motion. I let her let for 24 hours but things were no better, in fact worse. She is eating and drinking fine and her droppings are normal. She is very alert. She seemed bad when I opened the roost yesterday, stumbled over the threshold and fell over. She then steadied herself with her wings and started to walk albeit with a sort of "goosestep" motion on both legs, lifting each leg very high before putting down. Occasionally flopping down to rest and biting at her foot occasionally. Rang the vet this morning and took my poorly to see her. Wonderful vet, seeing her on a Sunday. She examined her for ages Temperature Fine. Weight good. Condition good. No apparent sign of breaks or dislocations (which was my first thought). Apparent full mobility of limbs No obvious signs of distress when being examined. In fact seemed very content. She gave her an injection of pain killer and I am to ring her tomorrow to see how things are. She asked me not to separate her from the others and to try to allow her to move as normal with the other girls. All the hens have been out in the garden all afternoon and she has been with them. Sometimes, she walks with the high stepping motion, occasionally she looks almost normal in her walk, then suddenly she stops and brings her bad leg up under her. She then stands with the whole body looking to be trying to put her foot down again but it just won't go down. After a while, she does get it the ground but pecks at it. She then manages to walk again, sometimes for a few minutes, even having a little run, but then the leg is up again. Can anyone suggest any possible things to consider? I did ask the vet about neurological damage but cannot see it being an existing damage as she seemed OK on arrival. Will discuss this with her when I ring tomorrow to say that the pain killers do not seem to have an effect. I think ex batts are usually vaccinated for Mareks???? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want this lovely girl to have a happy retirement but I am worried that she might not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Didn't want to just read and run but seems like you and your vet are doing all you can. Although wonder if she has strained her leg having been confined to a cage and then having freedom. My bantam orp limped for a couple of weeks, settled with cage rest and an injection from the vet although can't remember what the injection was. I hope she gets better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet81 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Thank you Mollyrippkim. I hope my girl improves as your did. I suppose I am just hoping people with experience, such as yourself, could suggest any possible avenues which I can discuss with my vet. I did some reading earlier and read that a wobbly hen could be down to Vit B deficiency. I tried her on cat food tonight but she was not impressed. definitely a pellets girl at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 It could be an on-off trapped nerve or other nervous thing. Not a chicken but I had a really weird thing in my leg a couple of years ago. Every few hours I'd get an incredible stabbing pain in my calf for about 30 seconds. It woke me up at night and was far and away the worst pain I've ever experienced (I haven't given birth but have had stitches in my face with no anaesthetic). It made me take my weight off it and clutch it shrieking, and driving was really dodgy for a while. The doctor never figured out what it was, and after a few months it just stopped happening. I wonder if your girl has something like whatever this was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I think you can give them marmite for a Vit d deficieny, not too much because of the salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Commercial hens are vaccinated against meraks but the vaccination isn't 100% effective so I wouldn't rule it out. see what the vet says today or maybe give her a few days to see how the symptoms go. If you call BHWT they will email you a list of what the hens have been vaccinated against and it's usually helpful to have a copy for future reference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixieDust Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Yes gavclojak is right. I had a hybrid die with suspected Mareks. She was vaccinated too. The vet told me a great deal of these vaccinations are not effective because they rely on the chick drinking enough water on the day it is administered. Plus they can be live vaccines meaning the chick is given a small dose which can flare up with stress. I hope it's a sprained leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Sounds like a hip injury Muppet and the missing claw is co-incidental? Ex-batts have very weak bone structures because they have always been restricted in their movements so bones and joints don't develop properly. If they have been allowed to perch the injury could be caused when they jumped down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet81 Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Thank you all for your replies and apologies for not responding earlier. I have spent a lot of time outside with my poorly. Took her back to the vet today as she was still bad on her right leg in particular. After another really good examination and watching her walk around the surgery, my vet is confidant that it is not a break or a dislocation. As sure as she can be that it is a nerve thing. Does not think it is Marrecks as she was OK on arrival. The advice was to keep her with the others, make her keep moving and just hope the damage will improve in time, she thinks it will. Feeling more confidant that she was not in great distress I brought her home and made her walk about the garden with the other hens. Felt cruel not allowing her to flop down but she did walk on both legs, albeit raising the right one very high. She stops a lot and bites at her foot but the vet said this is probably because she is just not understanding why it does not work right. She does seem to have full movement and even climbed into a shrub at one point which involved putting a lot of weight on her bad leg. Seems I will have to be patient and hope for the best. I always struggle to have patience when one of my girls is not right. I just want them to having a lovely time, all the time. Thanks again all and I will post an update in a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
