[lindaball1961@gmail.com]

Hi everyone. A few weeks ago I had a hen suddenly 'go off her legs'. She was unable to walk without tipping forward onto her face, and would just stand there if I lifted her up. I was very worried, fearing the worst. She's a first year layer and a good one. I feared something like Mareks, but she didn't seem poorly- her comb nice and red, and eating/drinking as long as I took her to the feeders. Panicking, I brought her indoors in a large cage for the weekend while I figured out what to do, hubby offered to euthanise, but I was unwilling to just yet. I did some research and found it could be neurological, but could also be anything from injury to vitamin deficiency. Her legs seemed fine to me, no apparent injury and she resisted when I gently pushed/pulled. I put a vitamin tonic in her water, made her some porridge with honey and left her in the cage in my conservatory. The next day she laid an egg but was still just sitting there. I kept up the vitamin water and gave her usual feed and left her again.
I was go smacked the next day when I found the conservatory floor covered in shavings from her cage!! She was scratching about like crazy, had upturned her feed bowl having eaten the lot, and busy looking for more!! I was overjoyed, in 3 days she made a full recovery and is now back with her friends. The moral of this story-don't give up too early, don't automatically assume the worst. Sometimes with a little TLC, they will be ok!!

[Marches Farmer]

Glad your story has a happy ending.  Maybe she was scared by something or had a fall, showing no other effects....?

[lindaball1961@gmail.com]

The only possibility I can think of is maybe she had hurt her leg somehow. I even smeared a large dollop of Vaseline around and gently into her vent in case she couldn't lay her egg and it was causing her pain. She did lay the next day, which was probably just coincidental. I'm baffled, but she's ok now, and that's all that matters!

[shygirl]

had she got cold and wet at all. we had one who responded to tlc after looking close to death after being shut out of the coop in bad weather.
glad shes better 

[lindaball1961@gmail.com]

Not as far as I know. They have a 8x5 ft sandbox with a lid which they go in when it's wet, other than that there's lots to shelter under in the garden during the day, and at night I always do a head count when I shut the houses up. It's a complete mystery!!!