2 yr old hen with apparent neurological problem

[amemendoza]

Help! My favorite speckled hen that I have had since she was only a week old has some type of neurological problem. It apparently is affecting her eating. When I give her food, even from my hand, she doesnt seem to be able to get it. It takes a lot of tries and her head is all over the place when she does it. She is one of my favorites. Any advice?

 

[Eggcessive]

How do her eyes look? Are they clear or cloudy? Is she walking okay? Do you think she could have injured her head? Did she have a Mareks vaccine when you first got her? You might isolate her in a cage in the coop and wet her feed and put it in a bowl so that she can find it better. I hope you can find out what is going on.

 

[amemendoza]

Her eyes seem to be clear and she walks fine although she was born with one foot deformed. I am thinking that perhaps she is going blind. I put food in a bowl for her and when she actually gets it in her mouth she eats fine and she drinks wáter, but I dont know what else to do. I have her separated with another hen that is blind in one eye so that she cant fend for herself with the rest of the flock. This year we have had horrible storms and I lost a good portion of my flock due to respiratory infections. She has been vaccinated but in the last two months, not when she was small. I didnt know about chicken vaccines until recently and never had a problem with infections like this year.

 

[Eggcessive]

This link might be helpful: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps031

 

[amemendoza]

Thanks for all your help. She is fine now. We found out that a caretaker of an empty lot where many animals graze, who obviously is not familiar with the area, put an herbicide down to limit the growth. Where I live everyone has livestock and many allow free range. As a courtesy, we all let other neighbors know when we are putting down something that could harm the animals so they don´t graze in that area. Many animals got sick. I hand feed her for a few weeks and slowly but surely she has made a full recovery.