Temporarily lame chicken- what was it?

[Manedwolfy]

Hello everyone!
Long time lurker, first-time poster here. I was browsing through the forums when I saw something about a lame chicken, which reminded me of a question I've been thinking of.

A while back, I had just moved a new flock of chickens into my coop with 2 older chickens also living there. I was going out to feed the chickens when I noticed one of my australorps was sitting in the corner of the run. I was expecting for her to be dead, and when I got to her, she sure seemed like it. I picked her up, and she was acting like she was close to death with a pale comb, eyes closed, limp, and I THINK there may have been labored breathing but my memory isn't the best. Eventually, after petting her she got much more alert and alive with no odd breathing.
Here's the thing- she couldn't stand. If I tried to set her on her feet, she'd just fall down. Her legs were basically useless. I gave her some food and I'm pretty sure she ate a bit.

I was a chicken noob back then and didn't even take her out of the coop for the good of the other chickens. Stupid, I know
I came back the next day expecting for her to be dead, but... She was completely fine somehow! Drinking, eating, and hanging out with the rest of the flock like nothing ever happened.
It was spring, and nicely warm out. She also isn't the flighty type. She wouldn't try to fly or jump up to any ledges or over the fence and hurt herself. She wasn't picked on by any of the other chickens either (except for the older ones, but they never hurt any chicken to the point of bleeding/being hurt.) There was no visible blood or swelling. And though it kind of seemed like Marek's, I doubt it heals overnight!
I suppose she could've injured herself jumping to the roost as she was quite small, but how would she then wander all the way over to the corner of the run (which is awfully big and far away from the roost). I doubt any sprains/breaks as there was no swelling, cuts, and she was fine overnight!

She currently isn't alive (unrelated predator attack), but I'm still wondering. New flock is in perfect health.
Sorry, this was long, but does anyone have any guesses?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Manedwolfy Welcome To BYC!

Nope, no guesses! Since it happened long ago and you've never seen anything like it since - there's just no way to know.

 

[Saaniya]

Welcome to BYC

 

[Cragg Klefor]

Hi @Manedwolfy and welcome
Interesting scenario!! No ideas here either though sorry. Certainly an odd one though. I would love to hear if anyone had an explanation for it, it seemed all so sudden. Both the decline and the recovery. Strange.

 

[Manedwolfy]

Yeah, it was pretty weird.
Nothing is wrong with my flock now though and hasn't been since this incident, so I was just curious. Thank you for the warm welcomes though

 

[kimspangrude]

This is so timely because over the past three days my little pullett Maren hen has basically started to do the exact same thing. She’s about four months old, and at two months I had to treat her for coryza (antibiotics, removal of hard exudate in eye socket; see my December posts about this) and since then she has thrived. But this week she started favoring her right leg and now barely puts any weight on it. I checked her foot and I didn’t see anything that looks like bumble foot; no swelling, no deformities, she’s eating and drinking well, no cough or wheezing or other upper respiratory symptoms. It doesn’t seem as though her foot/leg has a problem but her thigh does feel warm. She is still in her own space apart from the other chickens for a couple more months so I can make sure she doesn’t have anything infectious. It’s a warm space with lots of straw and a heat lamp overhead. Any thoughts? She has feathers on her outer claws both feet which makes me wonder if she has a genetic defect involving her feet.

 

[Manedwolfy]

Interesting. Well, I hope you get answers soon