2 year old hen can barely walk, 1 week into treatment - other suggestions?

[mlholmquist]

I'm going to try to provide as much info as I can using the questions from the pinned post - just wondering if others have suggestions for what else to do to help my hen. Sorry this is so long! Thanks for whatever insight and thoughts you might share!

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Dottie The Black Knight is a 2 year old Black Sexlink hen that we got as part of an assortment of 8 day-old chicks in 2020. One died on day 2, and one has been rehomed with her chicks to a friend who has room for them to free range, the other 6 are mostly healthy with occasional bumblefoot and one impacted crop last year. Dottie has always been the largest - we haven't weighed them since they moved outdoors at about 2 months old, but she's always had giant dino legs and has always weighed the most by a good pound. She now weighs significantly less than even our smallest hen - our Easter Egger. Her eggs have always been very large, with very thin but solid shells. Until about 6 months ago, she laid VERY bumpy eggs with tons of calcium deposits. We increased the availability of oyster shell, and trimmed her butt feathers, and her eggs are much smoother the last several months.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
I typically spend an hour or so with the girls for "field trips" a couple times a week, if not more. The last month I haven't been letting them out at all. (My mental health? I'm not sure. But I just haven't.) 7 days ago I sat outside with them for several hours. The girls all stayed closer together than usual, and closer to me. They've been molting since the end of September, so they all look a little ragged. By the end of the field trip, I noticed that Dottie was really limping, and eventually pretty much stopped moving around at all. Then I noticed her comb was "deflated" and pale. When I picked her up, I was shocked at how light she was. We have had several bouts with bumblefoot among our flock, and Dottie is one who seems to be particularly susceptible (probably due to her size from what I've read) so that was the first thing I checked. Yes, she had the telltale scab on the bottom of one foot, and some suspicious smaller spots on the other. Also, one leg is visibly thinner than the other. You can see in the Day 4 feet picture - the larger foot isn't even close to as large as they used to be. She was our thunder thighs!
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
See above.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
The rest of the flock seems to be ok. Just recovering from molting.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No bleeding. Yellow tint to both feet/legs - visible in the pictures. A few missing scales on one leg, but they've been gone for several months. Bumblefoot scabs as noted above. I'm not sure how to check for broken bones. No other obvious signs or symptoms, other than she was very jumpy when we touched her feet. (Our flock is very socialized - they all happily jump up into our laps and sit with us for long snuggles and naps.)
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Not sure?
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Since we brought her inside 7 days ago, she has had free access to her crumbles, and ACV water. I have supplemented with a scrambled egg a couple of times, which she snarfs up. And she gets mealworms as a treat, in her food dish to encourage her to eat her crumbles too. It seemed like she wasn't eating her crumbles, so the last 2 days I've been making up a mash of crumbles, warm water, with additives (see #9 below). She has not laid an egg in 8-9 days. She is coming through her molt, and her tail feathers are visibly longer as of today.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Poop is very runny. No blood. Dark green contained in lots of clearish fluid. She has always had a very poopy butt. We clean her off occasionally, and this spring trimmed away all of the feathers on her bum.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Foot baths every other day: warm water, epsom salts, 5 drops CBD oil, and 5 drops VetRx for 30 minutes
Wrapped feet: packed with triple antibiotic ointment, wrapped with non-stick gauze and self-adhesive wrap
Oral treatments: 2-3 drops of CBD oil + 1.5cc Nutridrench + 2-3 drops of VetRx mixed in mash or with scrambled egg. The first couple of days we syringe-fed the Nutridrench
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?
We will do whatever treatment is necessary. We cannot afford vet treatment for our flock. We have strong stomachs and have tackled impacted crop surgery, bumblefoot surgery, and recovery care over the last 2 years. Never knew we were this capable, but I'm very proud of all that we've been able to do for our flock!
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
See attachments.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Our 6 remaining girls (Black Sexlink, 2 Barred Rocks, Easter Egger, Red something, and Brown/Black something) have an 8'x20' run and 4'x8' coop, both with sand as the base. We have stairstep roosts that are 2x4s laid flat (wide side up), about 6-8 inches apart. Nesting boxes have natural nesting pads in them. Hanging feeder. Hanging nipple waterer. In our "hospital cage" inside the house, Dottie has shavings for bedding, a box for snuggling, free access to crumbles and an open water dish.

 

[coach723]

What do her droppings look like? Since it's winter and she's molting, I would not expect her to lay. Molt can be really hard on them sometimes, they don't always eat well, lose weight, can get vitamin deficiencies, and weak. You can give her a super B complex tablet or capsule once a day (human ones, any pharmacy, grocery store, or box store should have them) see if that helps. The B's are very safe to give, I often give them to birds having a hard time during molt. I would continue to do what you are doing, treat the bumblefoot (it doesn't look real bad, so as long as it's improving I would continue the topical treatments). Make sure her crop is working normally, and get a look at droppings.

 

[mlholmquist]

What do her droppings look like? Since it's winter and she's molting, I would not expect her to lay. Molt can be really hard on them sometimes, they don't always eat well, lose weight, can get vitamin deficiencies, and weak. You can give her a super B complex tablet or capsule once a day (human ones, any pharmacy, grocery store, or box store should have them) see if that helps. The B's are very safe to give, I often give them to birds having a hard time during molt. I would continue to do what you are doing, treat the bumblefoot (it doesn't look real bad, so as long as it's improving I would continue the topical treatments). Make sure her crop is working normally, and get a look at droppings.

Thanks for that info about B complex vitamins - I will get some tomorrow.
Her poop is very liquid - dark green mash-consistency in lots of clearish liquid. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. It makes the most pleasant (hah) sound when she poops. I believe we called them "hershey squirts" when I was a kid. LOL!
Oh, and her crop is functioning normally.

How do you give tablets or capsules?

 

[coach723]

You can either just put it in her beak and she'll swallow it, or you can empty or grind it up and mix it in a bit of moistened feed, if she'll eat that.

 

[mlholmquist]

Relatively fresh dropping from this evening at bedtime. She's still hanging in there, and fairly perky still. No change from yesterday. Tonight's dinner included a scrambled egg, some wet crumbles, Nutridrench, CBD oil, VetRX, and a Super B Complex tablet. She was skeptical, and kept shaking her head at it (always makes me laugh), but she eventually ate much of it. Nutridrench has such a strong odor, I'm not surprised she doesn't love it!

 

[mlholmquist]

And today's pic. <3

 

[coach723]

Have you ever wormed her? Could be a reason for runny droppings.
I know you said she feels thin, does her abdomen feel normal, or does it feel bloated at all, either firm or water balloon like? Compare with others if you aren't sure.
Reproductive problems are not uncommon in hens over the age of two.
I would give the vitamins some time to work. The VetRX is basically vicks vapor rub, and I don't see much advantage in giving that, personally I would stop that. The nutri drench is good for a few days, beyond that it can cause diarrhea. Likely no harm in the CBD either, and it's helpful for a lot of things.
Pale combs and floppy or shrunken can happen during molt, but also with illness. That she's eating is a good sign. You might keep her on clean towels or puppy pads to get a better look at the droppings, sometimes in shavings it's hard to really see it well.

 

[mlholmquist]

Have you ever wormed her? Could be a reason for runny droppings.
I know you said she feels thin, does her abdomen feel normal, or does it feel bloated at all, either firm or water balloon like? Compare with others if you aren't sure.
Reproductive problems are not uncommon in hens over the age of two.
I would give the vitamins some time to work. The VetRX is basically vicks vapor rub, and I don't see much advantage in giving that, personally I would stop that. The nutri drench is good for a few days, beyond that it can cause diarrhea. Likely no harm in the CBD either, and it's helpful for a lot of things.
Pale combs and floppy or shrunken can happen during molt, but also with illness. That she's eating is a good sign. You might keep her on clean towels or puppy pads to get a better look at the droppings, sometimes in shavings it's hard to really see it well.

Thanks for the additional thoughts!
Day 10 update:
We started CEH cream on her legs yesterday after her epsom salt/CBD footbath. I rubbed some triple antibiotic ointment on the sores first, then the cream all over both feet and legs. Things are looking much better (the yellow tint to her skin is almost completely gone) so I decided not to wrap her feet. She's been standing a lot more today, and seems slightly more steady on her feet - see video:

I stopped the VetRX and Nutridrench.
I picked up some Super B Complex yesterday too - crushed one and smeared it on top of half a cucumber. Which she had devoured by bedtime.
Today I took her outside for a field trip with her sisters. The sisters were not pleased and went after her immediately, but I was able to shoo them away and they did their thing while Dottie hung out with me. Will for sure have to reintegrate her with the flock very slowly.
She's back in her crate out on the deck sunning herself. Today's Super-B-Complex-laced cucumber half is partially gone.
She pooped 3 times while outside - the first one was almost all liquid (no pic), 2nd and 3rd each were progressively more solid. Pics attached if ya like that kind of thing. LOL! (I can see a worm in the last one for sure.)
I have never wormed our chickens. Is it something we should be doing regularly or as a preventative?
Thank you for generously sharing your experience and insight! I really appreciate it all!!!!

 

[coach723]

Worming frequency depends on the kind of worms and the worm load in your environment. Some can worm once or twice a year and that's enough. Some need to worm more often. I have to worm every three months for roundworm in my flock. I can't see a worm in the pictures, if you can get a picture that would be good. If you don't know what kind of parasite then you can use Safeguard Liquid goat wormer, Safeguard Horse paste, or Pancur, .23 ml per pound of bird weight 5 days in a row, or you can use Valbazen .5 ml, treat twice 10 days apart (actual math for valbazen is "weight in lbs / 2.2 X 20 / 113.6"). Those will take care of most common worms except tapeworm.
The B vitamins often help things immensly, it's a pretty common thing, and can sometimes seem miraculous! Glad she's doing better, hope it continues.

 

[mlholmquist]

Here's the worm I saw in the pic...