lame chook

[jimred]

one of my girls is limping quite bad, she was fine yesterday, could it be mereks?, i have been reading up, she is around 18 months old but it says mainly chicks and young birds catch it.

do they recover or is that the end for her?, she was one of my first girls

she is eating OK at the moment

[pdblake]

Have you checked her feet for injuries? Might just have had a knock.

[MaureenHall]

She might have jumped off the perch and jarred her hip. I'd just keep an eye on her

[HayleyB]

I had one went lame, had a stone suck in her foot

[Flummery]

I would definitely check out her foot and leg before worrying about Marek's. She might have strained a muscle.

[frias]

My mums neighbour had a chook with Mareks. It swayed not limped and was only 16 weeks old. I remember reading that it affected young birds. Mareks is contagious but I'd go with the injury theory.

[RichmondHens]

Hi Jim

Your chicken sounds like she has injured herself. If she can actually move around it cannot be too bad. If they are really bad they sit with the injured leg curled up underneath them.

Marek's is caused by a herpes virus and in the classic form presents as paralysis. The bird would be down with one leg stretched out behind and stiff, with sometimes the second stretched forward and stiff (looking from above a bit like a hurdler).

If your chook can get to the food and drink ok and is not being mobbed by the others then leave her be, she will probably recover on her own. If she gets worse, or if you don't think she is eating enough, you may need to put her in a separate coop or large cardboard box somewhere safe (shed/garage/your house!) where you can keep a closer eye on her.

By the way, I've got a lame hen too at the moment. She is really lame and unable to walk and in a box in my hallway, but being very good, and totally unfazed by the kids running up and down. My daughter has called her Hetty Feather, after the Jacqueline Wilson book!

[jimred]

Thanks for all the information, i try not to read the chicken health section unless i have to, as i seem to get a bit paranoid!

i will keep a close eye on her

[Scottishnewbie]

one of my ex bats has seriously swollen feet and can hardly walk. i think it's scaly leg mites so she's in the house in an unused cat carrier and will be having her feet dipped in surgical spirit just shortly and then smeared in vaseline.....once a day for the next 5 days which will hopefully sort her out....unless anyone knows differently.....

[frias]

Thanks for all the information, i try not to read the chicken health section unless i have to, as i seem to get a bit paranoid!

i will keep a close eye on her

I think the paranoia is just 'cos you're a caring chook owner.

[Bramble-Poultry]

DONT USE SPIRITS! Yes it does the job and will work - but imagine having your entire legs from hip to toe covered in tiny cuts. Now rub vinegar and salt into them! how would you feel?

Is it any wonder the birds flinch and complain when you do it?

By far the best treatment for scaly leg mite (or any other mite infact) is Frontline Spray (not the spot on it doesnt work). Get the spray that you would use on kittens and puppies from the vet (vet only i am afraid, tell them its for your kitten otherwise they wont prescribe it to you for chickens) and then spray the feet in that and rub it into the legs gently.

You can coat the legs with vaseline if you so wish afterwards as it will soften the scales and help ease any irritation from them.

we use frontline on the chickens for everything from lice, mites, red mite and scaley mite. All birds arriving at us for rehoming get a good dunking before being put in the quarantine units to try to keep our stock free from any bought in pests

our vet lets us have it for the chickens (he knows why we have it) but wont admit it as although the active ingredient is licensed for poultry, Frontline as a product is not.

[RichmondHens]

one of my ex bats has seriously swollen feet and can hardly walk. i think it's scaly leg mites so she's in the house in an unused cat carrier and will be having her feet dipped in surgical spirit just shortly and then smeared in vaseline.....once a day for the next 5 days which will hopefully sort her out....unless anyone knows differently.....

I would hold the legs in surgical spirit (you may need to do them one at a time depending on what size container you have it in) up to the hock and keep them submerged for at least 3 mins. This one-off treatment should be sufficient to suffocate the mites, but can be repeated a week later if you want to make sure. Vaseline slathered on will also suffocate the mites, but is a lot messier.

If you are 100% sure it is scaley leg mite, you should dip all other birds that have shared the same pen too as it is quite contagious (even if they show no symptoms).

[Scottishnewbie]

oh this is so horrible, so much conflicting advice! we studied her legs under a magnifying lens to see if we could see any cuts - weren't sure, so decided to quickly dip her feet into the surgical spirit and if she objected we could lift them out quickly to minimise discomfort. She didnt hardly move at all. so we kept each one in for the 3 minutes as suggested by RH. We then (well OH and son are) as i type smothering her legs in vaseline in the hopes that that brings some relief and continues the 'smothering' process. Poor wee thing, I feel so sorry for her and only hope we are helping and she gets some peace tonight.

Will also go andget the frontline stuff tomorrow if i can - i dont suppose we can overdose her by doing both things?

[frias]

Know what you mean. I regularly do the chooks legs with petrolium jelly in the hope they won't get scaly leg mite. If I ask the vet for Frontline for my kitten they'll want me to register the kitten. (Which I haven't got!)

[RichmondHens]

I was advised by a close friend who is a leading vet in this country NOT to use Frontline on birds. He said that if it was safe to use on poultry it would have been licensed by now.

I'm not going to get into a big debate on this. We all have a personal choice in these things. It is up to the individual whether or not you choose to use a particular product or not.