Chick Limping

[Goatgirl47]

Yesterday I noticed that my broody hen's chick, Jubilee, is limping (she is almost two months old now). There are no scratches or bruises, she is just limping. I don't know what caused it, either.
This has happened to a few of my other chickens before, and they eventually got crippled and we had to put them down.
So my question is, should I put a splint on her leg? Is there anything else I can give her that will help?

Thanks in advance!

 

[babsbag]

Crippled as in not able to walk at all? Do their legs stretch out like they are doing the splits? Don't want to be the bearer of a false alarm but have you heard of Marek's disease? Google it if you don't know what it is. I have it in my flock and every so often get crippled chicks.

 

[Southern by choice]

I too would be looking at Mareks- although it usually hits closer to 15wks to time of first lay.

Vitamin deficiencies can cause issues as well. Commonly called "rickets".
Choline along with manganese, folic acid, and biotin is necessary for the prevention of slipped tendons in young chicks (perosis).

Seeing this has happened before there is something going on within the flock.

 

[Goatgirl47]

Yes, they look like you described. Do you mean that the chicks are hatched crippled? All the ones that got it previously were full-grown, past egg-laying. Actually right now I have a rooster (he was born at the end of February) that has the same thing.
I've heard of Mareks disease, but never read about it.

I can take pictures of Jubilee (the chick) or a video if you want.

 

[Goatgirl47]

Also, are chickens effected with Marek's disease crippled forever?

 

[Southern by choice]

This is a good read.
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/mareks2.pdf

It will explain a good deal.

As far as the vaccine- the big issue with Mareks and the vaccine is that they really are not able to keep up. Mareks mutates quickly ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15757475
This one explains the issue with the mutations
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18773529

Once you vac for Mareks it is now on your property.
Mixing unvaccinated with vaccinated birds has it's problems...

be back... family beckoning.

 

[Latestarter]

Not sure if you're a member of BackYardChickens.com (a sister site), but if you go over there, there's all kinds of folks that speak chicken exclusively. They have a medical help section as well.

 

[Southern by choice]

... ok so anyway long story short I spent a great deal of time with the manufacturers of the vaccines, the state vet, NC State Poultry experts to answer a few questions.... We are a large poultry farm and one of the cleanest in the state... so on the BYC sister site you will get conflicting answers about whether it can be given to
un-vaccinated poultry by birds vaccinated and how long the shedding of the virus is.

Most people read stuff and quote all kinds of junk but do NOT actually deal with manufacturers, state vets, poultry experts etc... bottom line is it IS MODIFIED LIVE. Which means it does shed... NUMBER ONE ISSUE- how long does it shed???... NO ONE knows definitively.

For us we never had Mareks but the state vet had given me a heads up that Mareks was in the region and they were seeing a lot of it... thought we may want to to protect our farm... after lots of research, phone calls etc and I talked back with them it was decided it WAS NOT in our best interest to do so.

Not all birds that contract Mareks will die from Mareks.
If you have Mareks disease then you should probably start getting birds only that are vaccinated.

I would take your bird to your state lab and get a definitive answer for what is happening.