My chicken was acting weird and now can’t stand

[ChickenNugieuwu]

Hi, I hope whoever this reaches can help me understand my hen better! I’ve never had this happen and naturally, I investigated on Google, lots of sources lead me to Marek’s disease, which I’ve never even heard of up until now.

I’m really concerned, triple eve. The hen is my mother’s, but due to her bullying my silkies enough to not letting them eat, we separated her.

She has been fine with the change and was fine a couple days ago, yet one day when I let her out of her pen, I noticed she seemed to walk a bit oddly with a wing drooped down. I continued to take her outside and she seemed to be doing better, but a storm hit us and I had to refuge her from the wind and rain for 2-3 days. I then noticed she was laying on the floor with both of her legs back one day while doing my daily check up routine. She seemed to have gotten stuck. I lifted her up, but she would sit back down.

She is a three-four year old black hen. Unsure of her species, but she’s pretty meaty and is a gorgeous black. She leaves both her feet up front while sitting up. She moves her wings around hen she wants to position herself and has shown interest in drinking water and eating (I have to assist her on drinking water, but she can eat on her own just fine!). When I move her feet they extend and clutch naturally. I don’t notice any swelling, but when I touch her feet to feel for any lumps, she squawks in pain. Also when I try to help her support her weight she makes soft distressed and pained noises. She let’s out big black stinky puddle, almost like a sorta pudding, when pooping. When laying on her side, both legs are tucked in to her belly. Her comb is her usual bright red, her body always feels a natural warm.

My mom thinks it may be due to lack of sun that she’s gotten weak since her pen is a bit closed off from the sunlight. I estimate it has been around 8 days since I first saw her acting weird and having to put her away for the storm.

I gave her yolk today and she very enthusiastically ate it. It’s been three days since she can’t use her legs at all and I’ve been taking her out under the sun, often she eats and pecks little tiny rocks near her and I put food for her to eat as well. I’m worried it may be Marek’s due to her pen being near my silkies.

Just some moments ago I’ve put her in an old large bird cage with blankets inside to keep a better eye on her. My mom keeps insisting I don’t worry due to neither of us ever hearing about something like this (I live in Baja California). My only vet at my home town has never offered me to vaccinate my chickens either, in fact, I never knew it was a thing. I only have had them vaccinated to give them little boosts (example: when one of my silkies suffered a dog attack) until now that I’ve been making a throughout investigation. Although a lot of sites that give me Marek’s information contradict each other which leave me awfully worried and confused.


While I feel awful for her and I’ve been aiding her, I’d be devastated finding out my silkies are infected and will have to sacrifice them. They are all very dear to me and ever since my dog died from age a few weeks ago, I’ve been getting even more attached to my little ladies. I have a seven-eight year old silkie I’m very attached to as well.

Is there anyone who has experience with Marek’s that can let me know if my mother’s hen sounds like she has it? Is it possibly too late to do anything to help my silkies?

Adding some pictures of her sitting, laying down and her legs in general in hopes it helps!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She has been fine with the change and was fine a couple days ago, yet one day when I let her out of her pen, I noticed she seemed to walk a bit oddly with a wing drooped down. I continued to take her outside and she seemed to be doing better, but a storm hit us and I had to refuge her from the wind and rain for 2-3 days. I then noticed she was laying on the floor with both of her legs back one day while doing my daily check up routine. She seemed to have gotten stuck.

I don’t notice any swelling, but when I touch her feet to feel for any lumps, she squawks in pain. Also when I try to help her support her weight she makes soft distressed and pained noises.

I give them corn and another mix called “scratch”.

Can you inspect her for mites or lice on her body?

When was her last egg?

When you lift her up, she acts like she's in pain - can you inspect her legs, underneath her and her wings for any breaks?
Look at her skin around her legs/wings and underneath her for any purple or green bruising.

She does have what looks like Scaly Leg Mites. I notice she has BlueKote on one leg, so have you been treating her? I'd rub some vaseline, castor oil or Nu Stock cream into the legs and feet a couple of times a week, making sure to work the oil/cream up underneath the scales.

Where is she being kept? Is it a small cage or pen? Could she have injured herself trying to get out or when startled/stressed? You mention she had to be penned for a few days and seemed to have gotten stuck - so injury is possible??

If possible, feed her and the Silkies a nutritionally balanced poultry feed like Layer Feed, All Flock or even Chick Starter. Provide oyster shell free choice.
Scratch is mainly used a treat, it's low in protein and not a complete feed, neither is corn, so limit these drastically or eliminate them all together if possible.
A small amount of fruit or fresh veggies along with balanced feed would be better than giving a lot of scratch.

I'd work on her drinking really well, see if she will eat poultry feed for you. I'd also start her on vitamins to see if those help. I'd be inclined to give 1/2tablet B-Complex daily, you can find these at stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. on the vitamin aisle.

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you so much, this at least helps me ease my mind a bit!

I give them corn and another mix called “scratch”. Time to time I give them foods in the house we no longer need such as bread, Papaya, melon, apple (I remove the seeds), pear (also remove the seeds!), rice, tomatoes (only ripe ones! I know green ones are very toxic) and sometimes leftover beans. Along with other greens such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli. I also buy them little treats such as dry worms and dig around myself for live worms.

I’ve had to cut them off from letting them out DAILY due to our neighbors dog attacking my hens. But I do let them out at least one a week or two at the very least under supervision.

But going back to your original question, for the most part only dry corn and guavas (I have a guava tree). Idk if it’s the right translation of the fruit (Guayaba).

Do they get any real chicken feed? This is actually a pretty poor diet. All carbs and sugar, low nutrition and protein.
I'd definitely get your birds on a all flock, flock raiser or chick feed. Cut out all the treats completely for a few months and start vitamin therapy for her.
One 400i.u vitamin E capsule and one third if a B complex tablet every day for a few weeks, any brand, from the grocery store. Pull down on her wattles and pop them into her beak.

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you! I honestly never heard about any of this. I’ll make sure to start implementing them a better diet! I hope the vitamins help her and this isn’t anything related to my main concern. Thank you so much once more!

You're welcome. They won't like it at first, since chickens hate change and can get spoiled by junk food. Just leave them no choice, theyll eat. Nothing You're giving them is harmful but they're considered treats. Treats should be less than 10% of their diet
The seeding is unnecessary, I'd skip that.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

be checking it later throughout the day in hopes to feel it emptying.

There is no point to be feeling her crop during the day, only first thing in the morning before she has had anything to eat or drink.

 

[Tonyroo]

That hen should not be eaten for safety reasons, if she pass just bury her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry to bother you again, but I flipped her over to make a more throughout and better skin examination and I noticed her sternum is rather, crooked? And I found a scab along with two lumps, the skin one is rather squishy and closest to the scab and I think I can see blood through the skin when probing at it, and there’s a very hard round yet small black one. She doesn’t do any noise when I touch them or push against them.

I’ll be checking it later throughout the day in hopes to feel it emptying.

Check the crop first thing before she's had anything to eat/drink overnight. If it's emptying, then that's good.

Check the crop first thing in the morning. Checking during the day when she's been eating/drinking does not tell you a lot about crop function.

Your hen has a breast blister which is not that uncommon. It doesn't look too bad right now, but if she's not able to get up and move about on her own, then it will eventually get worse.
The blue tinted bump looks like it may be a blood blister or perhaps an ingrown feather. I'd just monitor that spot to see if there's any changes.

I do agree, if she's not improving, then it may be time to re-evaluate her quality of life. It's never easy to let one go. Sit down with your Mom and discuss this practically, come to a conclusion together. If you both feel it's time, then stick with it. If not, then re-evaluate daily.

I'm sorry she's not doing well; it can be very sad to see them in decline.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she is going to the vet.
Keep us posted on what you find out.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

 

[ChickenNugieuwu]

I'm glad she is going to the vet.
Keep us posted on what you find out

The vet diagnosed her with an infectious illness if in contact with other hens, but treatable. My mom isn’t good at medical names, so unfortunately she does not remember the name of what the vet diagnosed the hen with. But I’ll try to question the vet myself tomorrow.

The vet recommended us to put the hen to rest given her conditions, which my mother complied to. So sadly I couldn’t keep monitoring her and helping her recover, but fortunately she’s at rest and feeling no more pain.

I’ll be burning the place where she used to stay in as a safety precaution due to her mentioning he said it was contagious. He also gave us some sort of anti repellent of sorts to put into their water.

I really do appreciate all of your help. Despite the outcome. On the brighter side, I got my little hens some calcium! They haven’t really shown interest in eating it. But I’m sure they’ll soon get the hang of it.

Given what she described to me, he didn’t really check her belly or make a throughout analysis at her body so I’m really unsure about his diagnosis. But I’ll be giving my hens the dissolved medication/repellent just in case. Best to be safe than sorry!