3 Month Old Naked Neck Chicken, Loss of balance, inability to stand.

Murphydog

Chirping
Jan 29, 2016
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1) What type of bird , age and weight. NAKED NECK, 3 MONTHS OLD
2) What is the behavior, exactly. SUDDEN ONSET OF LOSS OF BALANCE, CAN'T WALK, RUFFLED UP FEATHERS, FALLS DOWN
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? SINCE THIS MORNING
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? NO
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. NO
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. RAIN AND WIND LAST NIGHT
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. ACE-HI 22% CHICK STARTER MASH, WATER
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. RUNNY
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? SEPARATION FROM OTHER HENS, TOWEL TO INCREASE BODY TEMPERATURE
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? TREAT MYSELF
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. HOUSED WITH 8 OTHER PULLETS IN A CHICKEN RUN.

Last night we had some bad rain and relatively heavy winds, this morning I found one chicken dead and flattened in their boxes and another unable to stand or walk. The dead chicken had been having trouble standing due to developmental issues and I think she may have suffocated under the weight of the other 7 while huddling together last night. Another chicken was found on the ground unable to walk or stand, she was cold so I covered her in a towel and have been unable to find what to do online. Please help.
 
I am afraid it might be nervous damage. Some of the most frequent signs of this are, chickens laying down because they are unable to stand, walking with difficulty or looks like in pain, necks twisted to the side, staring into the air and shivering. If your chicken has these symptoms I would highly recommend taking her to the vet and I will try to help you find a cause for all this.

Wishes,
Diana
 
Her neck is totally intact and she has complete control over it. She doesn't seem to be in pain, just unable to balance. If stood upright she will tend to fall over to the right, as though her legs aren't strong enough to support her. She has started eating and has warmed up significantly, yet she still can't walk just yet. She seems much better than she was this morning. As it is now do you think I should isolate her from the other chickens? In the run are 2 Jersey Giants, 2 Araucanas, 1 Speckled Sussex and another Naked Neck. Is it likely that she will give whatever she's got to the other hens?
 
The other hens would not attack her, at least not intentionally, as I said before there was another pullet in the run that had developmental issues which rendered her unable to walk entirely, the other hens mostly left her alone and she was totally fine until this most recent rain during which she died in a single night. Since they didn't attack her for over 2 months I don't think they will attack this one either.
 
Update: She doesn't seem to be moving around the cage at all, each day when I check on her she is in the last place I moved her to. I am having to move her to water and food manually, but when she is moved to water or food she will eat and drink. I have ordered nutrient supplements but they have not yet arrived. Today I noticed a patch of red skin on the inside of her left leg.





I also noticed that on the her other leg that area is covered in feathers (Though since she is a naked neck she is missing feathers in many areas normally) I included an image of the other leg for comparison.





I didn't notice any discoloration under the wings but I did take images of that while I was taking pictures in case they might be helpful, if you would like to see them, say so and I will post them too.
She isn't clean, since she can't walk she was laying in shavings and her rear feathers are covered in her feces.
 

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