# Progressive Limb Paralyssis!?



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

I cannot wait to move in a year or so. There have been so many weird illnesses on this property it freaks me right out. Right now I have a little Serama rooster, hathced March 2 of this year, who I transferred into a new bigger tractor about a week ago. Everything was going well until maybe 5 days ago I found him dust bathing in his food bowl. Nothing too weird about that but later on that day I found him still in the food bowl. I sat down next to the tractor and fed everyone treats and he seemed content where he was but I noticed something odd... his leg was dangling outside the food bowl. So I took him out to see what was up. I played with his leg, moved it, felt it up to see if I could feel anything wrong. He didn't seem to care at all I was doing this. I put him on the ground to see if he could walk. Nope. He insisted on having this leg splayed out behind him but he could still move his other leg fine. I thought at first he must have fallen off the perch (as it was the first enclosure he's had with perches) but it seemed unlikely... I've only heard of that happening with large fowl not a bird whose only about 15 ounces in weight with a perch sitting only two feet in the air. So then I thought maybe nerve damage? I pinched his toes to see if he'd pull back.. I had to pinch them REALLY hard for him to finally respond. His good leg responded normally. 

So I put him in a cage by himself. He's eating and drinking like a hog, has not lost any weight, and is bright-eyed as usual. This morning nothing had really changed but by afternoon I found him fully on his back, both legs splayed out behind him. I thought he was dead but he wasn't, just napping. I picked him up and put him back on his feet, this time instead of having one bum leg he has two. He still ate and drank when I moved him towards the food and water but he's no longer able to move with any efficiency whatsoever. None of the other chickens in the tractor are showing any signs of anything... it's just this one rooster and I know now it wasn't an injury because there's just no way whatsoever he could have bummed up that second leg while sitting in a small bunny cage. What is wrong?? What could have possibly caused this over the span of 4-5 days?? I do not use chemicals or pesticides or anything on the grass or plants here, he was just on grass, no weeds, nothing weird. His food has been the same. I'm perplexed and I am not sure there is anything I can do for him, it seems a hopeless situation. Keeping a hawk eye on the rest hoping this is some sort of freak thing. :-/


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

I had the same thing happen to 3 of my chicks hatched in May. They were happy healthy babies. Then one by one they started with the one splayed leg. Then hardly moving to neither of their legs working. Slowly they died. I think they had Marecks. Our ones we ordered from McMurray are fine. They were vaccinated though. I hope no more get this. I felt useless, just watching them go. Sorry to hear this is happening to you.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

It does sound like Mareks...


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

I thought Mareks was a chick disease? This rooster's sisters are laying eggs, I'd say they're pretty well grown.... I mean I suppose it's not beyond possibility. My laying hens are all vaccinated but none of the Seramas are as I bought them as hatching eggs for the most part and I have two neighbors behind me with chickens which I have spotted loose and wandering the woods on my property twice now. Perhaps I could look into doing home vaccination for future batches that hatch. I just wonder if Serama chicks being so much smaller than the average chick would still require the same dosage? 

Thank you for your help. So far everyone else is looking just fine. I hope it stays that way.


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