My hen seems perfectly healthy in every way except..........She cannot stand up all the way.....

Princefarms12

Chirping
5 Years
Sep 5, 2015
16
0
65
About a week ago I was checking on my chickens to make sure they had water and make sure they hadn't laid anymore eggs. I heard a lot of commotion as I was walking off and I went back to check it out. I noticed a rooster just being a rooster...lol But then I noticed that the hen he was after couldn't walk on her feet, but could move around by having he legs on the ground and walking that way.

When we took her out of the coop we noticed that she seemed drunk. When she would try to stand on her feet she would stumble forward. On Sunday, I was told that it appeared that her craw may be to full so it was causing her to be off balance. I was told not to feed her for a couple days but make sure that she had water. So after a couple days I noticed that she still couldn't stand, still stumbling, and not really moving around a lot.

Last night we went out to check on her and she appears to be a normal chicken with the exception that she cannot stand on her feet. She will "crawl" around the cage I have her in but not stand.

Oh yeah, She is a 6 1/2 month old Rhode Island Red.

Is it possible that she may have a back injury or something?
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It sounds as though she is walking on her hocks or elbows. That can be a sign of riboflavin ( Vitamin B2) deficiency, but also can be a sign of possible Mareks disease. Mareks also could cause the imbalance, stumbling, and a slow emptying crop, but that doesn't mean that she has the disease. Mareks can affect young chickens about her age and younger. When suspecting Mareks disease, it's always best to rule out an injury first, and other diseases such as eating moldy feed, lead poisoning, vitamin deficiency, and botulism. Poultry vitamins including riboflavin would be good to put in her water. Here is a link about Mareks: https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
 
Where would I get the riboflavin at to try? Also if it is Merkes, is there anything we can do for her? But yes she is walking on her elbows, I just didn't know if that was the proper way to put it. Sorry, this is my first time raising chickens and all went fine until the last month. I have lost two to a sudden death and now my sweetest hen is doing this. ugh.....It is very frustrating. But I thank you all for helping us out.

This is a wonderful site.
 
There are several brands of poultry vitamins at feed or farm stores that can be added to the water. Do not use Poultry Nutri-Drench, though, since it doesn't contain riboflavin. Here are some poultry vitamins, and you can also use B Complex, and just dissolve it into the water or food.

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