Are you finding your chicken drags down his legs suddenly, as if they’re too weak to walk? Well, you gotta observe it carefully, whether it’s only for temporary or not. If it goes on, you gotta immediately check on your veterinarian, because there are 7 causes of paralyzed in chicken legs.
That’s why it will be hard for you to determine what the treatment suitable for them without professional help. Sometimes, the clinical signs are kinda over-lapping one to another. So, the careful examination is necessary. Any of chicken’s disease need careful examination, like eye worms in chicken. Without consultation with the veterinarian, we can mistreat them.
1. Marek’s Disease
Marek’s Disease (MD) is pretty common among chicken, but it doesn’t mean you can underestimate this disease. Apparently, this kind of disease can lead into death, so it’s important to prevent this. Why do I underline the preventive way? Because there’s no treatment possible for this disease. All you have to do is to wait whether the antibody of your chicken will be strong enough to fight it or not.
However, you can always take preventive ways. Firstly, to provide a healthy and clean environment. Ventilation is playing an important role, too. Secondly, you gotta really be careful if you want to add new chicken to the existing flock. You don’t know how the sellers treat and raise the chicken, but you can avoid this by buying only from the perfectly trusted seller. Or any source that may get you a chicken. Remember, you need to check any source of getting new pets, for instance you need guide to buy healthy rabbit before you actually take him/her home.
Another way to prevent the disease is vaccination. But, you need to remember that vaccine is the way we introduce the viruses with the antibody. To fight the viruses, this antibody will play the most significant role. Unfortunately, viruses always mutate and evolve that sometimes man-made vaccine can’t catch up to it. But, vaccination is always a good start.
2. Calcium Deficiency or Phosphorus deficiency
Calcium or Phosphorus deficiency is one of 7 causes of paralyzed in chicken legs. We all know that both calcium and phosphorus are supplements for the bones. It’s also true for birds, not to mention chicken. Aside of playing roles in synthesis of bones, these substances are also useful for nervous system, blood clotting, and muscle contraction. Deficiency in these substances can lead into abnormal skeletal development, or rickets in the growing chicks, and osteoporosis in older birds.
One of the clinical sign of calcium and phosphorus deficiency is lameness that later can lead into leg paralysis in chicken. Moreover, it can cause death. So, how to treat this deficiency? You need professional help to get therapeutic diet for your paralysis chicken. After the diet is provided, you might want to encourage exercises for them by simply let them wander around the yard.
Anyway, it’s much better to prevent the deficiency of these supplements before anything happens. Don’t rush into giving your chicken many calcium and phosphorus supplement, they need balance instead. Usually, you can avoid this deficiency by mixing all the foods, because the nutrition contained in them will complement each other. Or you can provide your chicken soluble limestone grits or oyster shell grits in the balanced amount.
3. Mycotoxicosis
In short, mycotoxicosis is diseases that is caused by the toxins from the molds. Usually, these diseases happen with chicken lived in the place with high temperature and high humidity climates. High humidity grains can also cause the molds. Besides the humidity, a damage because of insects and poor storage condition can trigger the infection.
To treat this, simply remove the sources of toxins and then give your chicken anti fungal feed preservatives to prevent another fungal infection. You can also increase the protein level in the feed. Remember to consult with your veterinarian about this. Usually, soluble vitamins and selenium (0.2 ppm) with finely divided copper sulfate in the feed 1 kg/ton for 7 days can also helpful. Of course, with the approval of your veterinarian.
As the owner, you need to understand when to take your pets to the veterinarian, and how soon. Sometimes, there’s a symptom that you can learn on your own, but there are things that’s just beyond your control. As in other animals, you need to recognize warning signs to take your pet to the vet, such as dogs.
4. Peripheral neurophaty
This condition is because of damage to the chicken’s peripheral nervous system. The damage later will disrupt the function of the nerve impulses between the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body, including muscle movement. One of the result is paralysis in chicken leg. There are 3 kinds of this nerve damage, which is motor nerve damage, sensory nerve damage, and autonomy nerve damage.
The only treatment that you can do if this happen is to contact your veterinarian right away and let them do their job.
5. Newcastle Disease
Just like Marek’s Disease, virus is the main cause of Newcastle Disease. The clinical signs that follow this infection are respiratory distress that makes your chicken’s voice becomes hoarse, then after 1-2 days your chicken can become paralysis in legs and wings. In adults, it can make the loss in production.
Unfortunately, this disease is caused by virus, so really the only prevention is by vaccination. So, you better give your chicken vaccine before they get infected by the Newcastle virus.
6. Kidney Problems
Just like us, the kidney in poultry helps maintaining the electrolyte balance and water balance. Besides that, kidney in chicken can eliminate metabolic wastes, especially nitrogen products of metabolism, except for carbon dioxide. So, the problems which occur in kidney can cause neoplasia. Neoplasia itself is the abnormal growth of tissue that can later put a pressure on few nerves in chicken. This pressure may result in lameness or leg paralysis.
The abnormal growth of tissue can mean tumor, too. And we all know, the treatment of tumor still not really effective in human’s world, moreover in poultry world. Chemotherapy is too toxic for chicken, so it can’t be much of the use.
7. Trauma
Paralysis is not always caused by diseases or other physiological problems, but chicken can get psychological stress, too. Sometimes, chicken’s leg can be temporarily weak when they just met the predator and simply get scared. To calm them down, you can put your chicken in their coop or the safe area to relieve them from stress. Of course, you need to examine their body first whether there are wounds to be treated. Of course, it’s not only happen in chicken, even much bigger animals, like cows face this problem, too. But, it’s okay, we can always learn to treat the cows that can’t stand up, right?
Now, you know 7 causes of paralyzed in chicken’s legs, you can always take a preventive ways, so the chicken don’t get any of the disease. Sometimes, those diseases can’t be treated, it will break your heart to see them suffering!