Adult hen with bent neck, hunched up...any ideas?

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SIMZ

SIMZ

Crowing
10 Years
Apr 29, 2011
2,168
234
281
Northwest Indiana
I have a two year old Dark Cornish hen that sometimes has a few days where she stands hunched up by herself. She snaps out of it in a few days - and also snaps out of it when I offer treats.

On Saturday, she wasn't doing well, so I separated her. She stands hunched up and I notice she has lost a lot of weight. She was eating well and drinking, but seemed to have liquid poop with chunks in it - not the usual well formed dropping.

It's 4 days later and she's not eating well. I also notice that her neck feels bent - not twisted, but s-shaped. She's also standing very hunched up and her wings are a little droopy.

So far:
Scrambled eggs and chick starter with diluted Nutri-drench. She's no longer eating this.

Wormed with Valbazin on Monday


Could this be wry neck? Is it something that will just show up in an adult hen? Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
She sounds like she could have kinky back or scoliosis, which I believe that may be hereditary or due to a mineral deficiency. It also sounds like she could have a reproductive disorder.
 
Eggcessive said:
She sounds like she could have kinky back or scoliosis, which I believe that may be hereditary or due to a mineral deficiency. It also sounds like she could have a reproductive disorder.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'm wondering if her neck feels bent because she keeps scrunching up and pulling it in. She's actually 2 1/2, so it seems something like that would have shown up sooner.

She has lost more weight this week and is as light as a feather - she has gone downhill just in a few weeks. Dark Cornish should not be able to be held with one hand.
sad.png
I'm kind of thinking there is something more going on and a reproductive disorder could be it. She's one of my favorites, so I'll keep offering her favorite treats and try some vitamin therapy and hope she perks up. If not, it may be time. Ugh.
 
Update: After several days of decline, we decided it was time to cull.

It was discovered that about half of her intestines were completely bloated and her liver was very pale. This seems like coccidiosis to me. I considered that, but it didn't seem likely with as old as she was and that it's the middle of winter. I wish I had tried some Corrid.
 
SIMZ said:
Update:  After several days of decline, we decided it was time to cull. 

It was discovered that about half of her intestines were completely bloated and her liver was very pale.  This seems like coccidiosis to me.  I considered that, but it didn't seem likely with as old as she was and that it's the middle of winter.  I wish I had tried some Corrid. 
Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss. Did you open her gizzard or crop? I did a necropsy on one of my birds last week, and she had similar intestines, but I found her gizzard was blocked. Your hen could also have had enteritis or capillary worms, but cocci would also be a possibility.
 
I didn't think about opening her gizzard since it didn't seem that unusual to me - I wish I would have! How could you tell it was blocked?

There are lots of things I wish I would have looked in to more after I came in and started researching. I really thought I'd find that she had been internally laying and that was the problem. Then I would have known there was nothing I could have done. It wasn't that at all.

She was such a character....tried her best to get into the house. I'll miss her and will probably be beating myself up for a while about not doing enough to help her.
 
Well I also felt bad about my hen. She had been going outside with the others all day, and never acted standoffish or sick, but was always skinny and low in pecking order. But she just dropped dead, and when I felt of her, she had no meat on her anywhere. Her gizzard was completely blocked, and that in turned caused her crop to back up. It contained a little scratch that she had just eaten the day before, so she literally starved to death. The reason I had looked at her gizzard is that I necropsied a hen a couple of years ago, and hers was blocked with sunflower hulls.
 
That's very interesting and it must not be that unusual since you've seen it twice. Yes, this hen was a pig and always had a huge crop. She was also skin and bones - no meat and it happened very quickly. It makes me wonder...especially since her favorite foraging places were under my bird feeders.

Thanks so much for your responses. I'm sorry for the loss of your hen, too.
 

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