Hen can't walk, shuffles, lays on belly. What to do?

[azygous]

One tablet per day. It needs to flood her system to be effective.

Let her rejoin her flock. It's better for her.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

One tablet per day. It needs to flood her system to be effective.

Let her rejoin her flock. It's better for her.

Done. Thank you again for the help. She spent some time this afternoon on a roost. Only 4" off the floor of her feeding shelf, but a roost nonetheless.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Update: No significant improvement yet, but she DID lay an egg a few days ago. I've been watching her behavior with the flock, and I'm almost certain her problem stems from a mental issue. Ever since she hatched, she's been fearful and shy, often hiding behind or under things. Obviously at the very bottom of the pecking order, and the rest of the flock mostly ignores her. She's no threat to challenge anyone. She just refuses to compete at the feeders.

This morning after morning chores, I found her plopped down at a feeder, eating (good!) - but as soon as another hen joined her, just eating, no aggression, she jumped up and started to run under the coop. I grabbed her tail and dragged her (gently) back to the feeder. Of course this caused the other hen to move away. She started eating again. I watched. Another hen approached, away she went. Grabbed her tail, dragged her back to the feeder, she started eating again. And this behavior was repeated several times as I waved other chickens away.

I only stopped supervising this activity when I noticed that I was surrounded by three roosters, pacing in circles around us and testing my personal space. Goldie, Roofuss, and Blackbeard. They've never been aggressive, not once - but I don't want to give them an excuse, either. I stood up, walked 'through' each one of them. Meanwhile, I saw scaredy-cat's fluffy butt disappearing under the coop. Sigh.

Even if I get her up and walking normally, restore her strength and health, I fear she'll still need isolation to feed, forever. In a practical sense, I'm not sure I want to commit to that need in exchange for a few eggs a week.

She'd be a PERFECT pet chicken for somebody. I think she's starting to enjoy being held and petted frequently, and doesn't resist at all when I pick her up now.

I'm undecided what to do.

 

[azygous]

I've had my share of chickens, both roosters and hens, with "mental issues". Even young pullets will deprive themselves of food when facing older chickens at the feeders. Some flock managers simply leave things to the pecking order to sort themselves out. But there are simple low effort strategies that can actually work smoothly so all the different temperaments can get adequate food.

You do need a "jail" or some sort of partitioned section of the run to accomplish this. It helps to have a gate that can quickly be opened and closed. It is also necessary to be able to call these special needs chickens and have them respond to you. I accomplish this when I am raising chicks. Having chickens trained to come to you when you summon them is so helpful in managing a flock, and you can even get many of your chickens to respond to their names.

With a special needs older chicken, I place a food bowl in the partitioned area and physically bring the chicken in there to eat alone without others hassling her. After a few days, she becomes habituated to expect to take her meals in this enclosure, and all I have to do is call her in as I dish up her food. Having a gate allows me to shut the others out as they try to take advantage of this source of food, chickens always believing food in an unconventional place tastes better than the regular feeders.

For young pullets and my shrimpy breeds, It's much the same. They get used to eating their food in the safe enclosure where they don't need to compete, and all I have to do is call them. They are fast and so am I, and as soon as they race into the enclosure, I slam the gate on the would-be competition hot on their heals. It really is the most beautifully choreographed marvel and deserves to be set to music. People have no idea how easy it is to train and manage a flock with just the tiniest amount of effort.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

My Dark Brahma is doing the EXACT thing. I have been doing the vitamin regiment as well. Although not corid or nutra drench. HELP
Bridgett is 1.5 years old

 

[BarnyardChaos]

My Dark Brahma is doing the EXACT thing. I have been doing the vitamin regiment as well. Although not corid or nutra drench. HELP
Bridgett is 1.5 years old

I wish I could. I don't think my girl needed the Nutri-Drench or Corid, since it seems to be a musculoskeletal problem, but maybe brought on by her fearful nature. How is she doing today? Are you feeding her separately from the flock?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I've named this girl "Scaredy-Cat." I forgot her afternoon feeding yesterday, so when I locked everyone up for the night I put her on her shelf with food and water, and gave her my headlamp flashlight to eat by. She didn't mind at all!

She's no better at walking since that first day of improvement. But she gets around where she wants to go, just can't fly or jump up. So I still feed and water every morning and afternoon in isolation, B-100 complex once a day, and put her on a roost every night. She gets flock time at night and first thing in the morning for an hour or two, before I go out to top off waterers and feeders.

Eating dinner by flashlight:

 

[BarnyardChaos]

There has been zero progress with my Scaredy-Cat. I stopped the B vitamins after only a couple of weeks because she was resisting it terribly. She didn't want me picking her up, and when I tried to open her beak by holding her wattles, she'd jerk her head out of my hand. Every day was more difficult. (I didn't know there was a better way to do it with my hand around the back of her head.) The day I noticed her wattles were bruised and a little swollen, I stopped and just decided to let her be.

We have a routine:
In the mornings, the whole flock has the run of the whole coop until I get out there to open up. Usually she's off the roost and wiggled into a corner behind the open divider door, where I've placed a little bowl of food and water for her the night before. She gets breakfast in peace, with the whole flock around her but can't touch her. I open up other doors, move feeders and waterers outside, adjust windows, etc. and she comes out of her corner to wait, and chuckles to me. I move her food and water to another spot closer to where she likes to hang out all day. I close the divider door to the roost area, and settle her in front of her food and water again, and she eats more, or waddles into a nearby corner.

In the afternoon when I come into the coop to collect eggs, she *always* chuckles to me, and takes a few steps out of her corner towards me. We have a little conversation, and I pet her, and place her in front of her food and water. And she eats.

Later when return to lock up, I go into the coop to prepare a few things for the morning, adjust windows and such. She chuckles and goes to the divider door, plops down and waits for me to open it so she can go into the roosting area. I open the door and secure it, she chuckles, gets up and waddles in front of the roost she wants, then plops down and chuckles again. It's so stinking cute! I pick her up and put her on her roost and steady her until she gets her balance and settles.

And so it goes. She hasn't laid an egg in over a week. But she's so sweet and responsive to me and the 'training', I don't care anymore. She is definitely a pet now. Probably the first pet chicken I've ever had, and I've rasied hundreds.

No, I don't think I have the heart to cull her. Not now.

 

[azygous]

She owns you.