whats wrong with my hen? *video* unbalanced...NEW VIDEO~post#385

[Hennypen]

I posted updates in the wrong thread.

Anyway, after a day of improvement where she was standing on her own, she now won't. I then discovered she was covered in chicken lice. So I treated her for that and thousands of lice fell off of her. So at least she's now lice free and won't be losing blood to those things. That coudl explain why I wasn't getting any more improvement. She's still perky and interested in people. She shakes her head when spoken to. Time will tell.

 

[Hennypen]

I posted updates in the wrong thread.

Anyway, after a day of improvement where she was standing on her own, she now won't. I then discovered she was covered in chicken lice. So I treated her for that and thousands of lice fell off of her. So at least she's now lice free and won't be losing blood to those things. That coudl explain why I wasn't getting any more improvement. She's still perky and interested in people. She shakes her head when spoken to. Time will tell.

 

[PoultryPedia]

So, so glad you found the lice problem!!! Sometimes those kinds of things can really surprise you sneaking in.
The diet you have her on sounds excellent. You could also give her some scrambled egg yolks if you think it'd be good. Maybe a small amount of greens such as broccoli, too?
I'm sorry she's been struggling. I will pray for her & you, too.

 

[AlyssaK]

Hmmm the birds in this thread sound a lot like our Sophie .... will have to try the vitamin B & E ... kinda wonder if wet cat food might help as well?

 

[Hennypen]

I took her to the vet today. Said its probably one of three things.

1) A viral disease that causes internal tumors that can press on nerves and cause the bird to go lame. It usually happens in older birds, i think this one is about 2, I bought her as a youngster at least that's what I was told.

2) Some inflammation from an injury. This may sound odd.. but I keep my sebastapol geese with the silkies at night and the geese sit on the silkies as if they were their 'goslings'. so it could be an injury of some sort from the geese sitting on them.

He said sometimes you can see the tumors on x-ray sometimes you can't but it would also show any broken bones or arthritis, etc... So I had her x-rayed and no broken bones, no bone issues, no tumors showed up, BUT.. he said it apeared there was something metallic in her gizzard. And went on to say metal can cause them to be neurological. Without going in to get it, there's no way to know what it is and he's not sure if it is metal or not.

so no 3) is possible metal thing in gizzard

So the plan is to give her metacam (a nsaid) for 10 days to reduce inflammation and pain IF that is causing this. IF it helps, we'll know it's not the metal thing or tumors.

If that doesn't help, we'll know it could the the tumors or metal thing.

So that's where we're at. She's eating oranges on her own. Still won't touch the layer pellet, but she is perky, just can't walk. Time will tell I think.

 

[RaeRae2]

Another update: Birta is still doing great although she has some stiffness. I have an equine chiropractor adjust her every couple of months and this helps a lot!! She discovered some impaired movement in her left leg and was able to fix that

 

[Wicorewyn]

It's a calcium deficiency. Give oyster shells. I have talked to some large poultry producers about it. I had a hen like that. Will get better once has enough calcium

 

[Wicorewyn]

That was for the 2010 unbalanced poultry

 

[TheOrrs]

L

 

[chyler79]

Hello everyone! It sounds like my 9-week Cuckoo Marans "Sherman" may have a Vit B deficiency, she has the same symptoms as the other descriptions on here. I bought some Vit B tablets and an crushing them and putting in the water, but they don't dissolve completely and I'm afraid she's not getting it. I crushed them into a little bit of water last night and fed it to her with a dropper and that seemed to work, I hope she starts showing improvement soon

She can walk but she stumbles and really has trouble getting up, and when she sits (which she does a LOT) her legs stick out in front of her instead of curling up underneath. Also, when I hold her her feet do not grab my hand at all, they seem unable to. Poor kid. My other chicks are doing fantastic and are not being mean to Sherman, so I've left her with them (there are only 3 of them).

Is this an OK delivery system for Vit B? Will I need to supplement her for life? (The feed I'm giving is chick starter with Vitamins, so I'm guessing there's something specific to Sherman since the others are doing great).

Thanks much!