- Jul 20, 2011
- 4
- 9
- 9
I am posting this to give hope and encouragement to others with the same problem.
On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.
We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.
I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.
My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.
We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.
A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.
After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.
The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.
By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.
We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.
Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.
A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.
Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.
Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.
It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.
Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.
On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.
We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.
I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.
My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.
We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.
A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.
After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.
The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.
By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.
We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.
Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.
A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.
Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.
Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.
It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.
Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.
