Wobbling Unbalanced Panting Chicken

[ContessaKris]

I found one of our chickens, Lovelace, doing a weeble wobble impression today. She tips over. If I stand her up she tries to walk a bit but falls to her right.

Her comb is bright red. We brought her inside to a cage and are keeping an eye on her. She is eating well (made her feed of oatmeal, cranberries, garlic, molasses, scrambled eggs and bits of a scoby for probiotics). Added molasses, electrolytes and apple cider vinegar to her and other chickens water just in case.

She’s eating fine but we’ve been keeping an eye on her for maybe 1 1/2 hours. No pooping, no eggs, but is eating and drinking. Checked all over, no mites, fleas, no injuries, no crusty ears or comb or body parts, vent is clean and reacts to us messing with feathers down there so we don’t think she is egg bound. Unless she fell and hurt a leg, I have no clue. Alert, pecking at wood chips. Healthy weight. Panting sometimes. Maybe she doesn’t like the additives in her water. Who knows.

Any suggestions?

 

[Jimmybeam01]

botulism? mareks? she kind of seem dizzy or lost? does she look around in weird directions?

 

[Jimmybeam01]

is there any funky food lying around? dishes been cleaned? no spoiled food has been fed out?

 

[The Phantom]

She looks pretty good in the picture

 

[ContessaKris]

Does not seem dizzy or lost. Or looking in weird directions. Is alert and responds to voice. I have chicken noises (from YouTube) running near her cage and she listens intently and responds some.

Her coop is relatively clean, fresh daily water, normal crumbles. Occasionally they get leftovers or berries. Scratch. Other chickens are just fine.

She cackled up a storm and then pooped normal white and brown poop, not watery.

Seems content. Sitting up, not falling over. But not trying to move either.

 

[ContessaKris]

She does seem to look either left or right most of the time. But I’m unsure if it’s a condition or her just wanting to look at me.

 

[InfpChick]

I have a silkie pullet who was doing something similar. Just didn't seem to be able to walk without falling over. Eating well, pooping fine, alert.... but couldn't walk. I isolated her and after a few days of multivitamins, her mobility has improved dramatically. She is shaking her head a lot, though. Is yours shaking her head?

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is she? Hopefully, it is just something like dehydration, an injury, or vitamin deficiency, and not something like early signs of Mareks disease. Try offering plain water up to her beak, and dip her beak for a second into it. Poultry Cell vitamin tonic from your feed store are good to use orally 2 ml daily or in some food. Make sure that she can reach her food and water. Google images of chicken slings that you can make. They are a good way to get them upright near food, and you can remove her frequently to let her move around and sleep.

 

[Star and eclipsa]

What exactly is mareks disease? Is there a way to prevent it? Whenever i see a post about sick chickens, no matter what the symptoms, there is always at least one person suggesting that it could be mareks. It seems really bad.

 

[Eggcessive]

Mareks is a virus common in chickens. It can cause tumors on the nerves, causing paralysis of one or both legs or wings, or a twisted neck. Tumors may develop on eye nerves causing blindness, on the skin, and on internal organs. It also causes a lack of immunity to many diseases. There is a vaccine available for day old chicks, which need to have 2 weeks to develop immunity. The virus is widespread in the world, is spread through direct contact and from dust or dander, some chickens may have natural immunity, and the virus can be found in the environment for several years. You can Google “Mareks disease” for more info.