3 year old hen can't walk straight

[Mysto]

she's drinking quite a lot - but not eating a lot. She's somewhat interested, but prefers to eat something that I have in my hand vs. feeder. I've gotten her to eat plain yogurt (put a little honey and oatmeal in it - OK?) She has the desire to move around, but has not improved as far as falling over. Her legs seem to work fine - when I hold her, she moves her legs and can grasp with both feet, but can not walk far/walk straight. I will limit her feed hard boiled eggs, yogurt and wet crumble and will keep her housed separately from the others.

I have 2 coops that share one fenced in yard:

#1) I had built for my hens, so no birds other than mine have been housed in it. Right now, I have 3 of the same age (older ones) who roost in it. This is the one that my sick girl sleeps (slept) in.

#2) was one I bought off craigslist about 8 months ago. My 3 younger hens sleep/roost in this one. This one was previously used to house chickens.

Should I quarentine 1 coop at a time? Maybe heavily treat for mites for a full life-cycle of the bug (21 days?) before allowing the chickens back in? Although, if mites are in the other coop or both, maybe this doesn't make sense? This coop sat empty with out chickens for quite some time (or so I was told) - can mites live very long with out a host?

I doesn't appear that I have any plant matter in their yard that is poisonous.

I do have an avian vet in the area that I have taken 2 other birds to (first one died suddenly and I had a necropsy performed = cancer! The second bird, also showed signs of paralysis in one leg similar to my ill hen now, I had blood work performed = came back normal and was told to house her separately and observe. She quickly became weak, couldn't move and I had to have her euthanized).

Chickens, so wonderful yet so complex! Mine are all pets and I just don't want them to suffer.

Will post her (Sissy's) status tomorrow. Thank you all for your helpand advice!!

 

[Mysto]

PS

I will get parrot formula (assuming from a pet store) tomorrow. I have electrolites in the water - for her and all the others

 

[threehorses]

The honey and oatmeal to get her to eat yogurt is certainly fine, yes. If you have to peck at food with her fingers to get her interested, that's good and honey might give her some energy to help her want to eat. (Vitamin B helps with that). The fact that she can grip with her feet to me is what makes this not seem like Mareks - quite. Of course you can never rule out marek's unless by a necropsy, sadly.

And you don't have to limit her feed - just try to make every bite count for more nutrition, more vitamins and minerals and solid carbs and fat and protein.

As for the coops, was this hen ever in the used coop perchance?

On the quarantine at this point, I'd just think about maybe giving each coop a good cleaning and then maybe a treatment in the day time for mites where you can open them up, let the sun and air in, etc. I still like permethrin dust for the birds, and permethrin goat-lice spray for the wood. Try putting your hand in the coop at night in the bedding, on the roosts, etc - see if you can find mites. Mites can live for a while without their host, yes - but not for ages. But I'd like to see if you can for sure find some first. Even though they are tricky -rather than have your girls go through the upset of being without a coop, being in with one another, etc.


The other birds - were they chickens. Avian cancer either is Marek's or leukosis. Do you remember or still have the report? Leukosis is comparable to contagious cancer. If you consider a disinfectant in the future, you might consider Virkon-S (must have the S on it) as it will disinfect against Herpesviridae (marek's among others), and Retroviridae (strain J myeloid leukosis). It's one of the more thorough disinfectants and has a remarkably long list of effectiveness (too long to post here, but most of the bad stuff is on it).

 

[PoultryPedia]

It sounds like your hen considered the box indoors to be a "nest" so she held her poop until leaving it. I've had a hen do that when I kept her 2 or 3 days in a cat carrier--and then poop in my lap when I took her out!

 

[Mysto]

Wanted to update - for anyone who's following this.

My hen has been totally separated from the other for 2 days. She has been drinking water with electrolytes, I've been giving her 3 drops of Poly Vits on her beak each AM, and she's eating yogurt with honey/oatmeal mixed in, as well as scrambled egg. She is not very interested in the egg? I also am giving her parrot formula...as suggested. When I went to buy 'parrot formula', the pet store clerk didn't know what it was, so I ended up with a safflower oil nutritional seed blend - is that right? My hen does like it.

She is still having stability issues with her right leg, but this afternoon, she was standing up and using both legs to take a few steps around the kennel I have her in.

I did notice that she is wheezing slightly AND after drinking quite a bit of water, she regurgitated some. Does anyone have any thoughts on either??

Also, I have seen no signs of bugs again in the coops (thank goodness)!

 

[threehorses]

You ended up with what? A seed mix? Is your hen on grit?

I'm sorry I was unclear. The parrot formula is actually formula, a baby starter formula like those by Kaytee and Exact. Interesting that she's eating the safflower. Definitely make sure, please, that she has grit. I'd like to see her eat her regular feed because seeds and grains are high phosphorus and she's of laying age. The parrot formula says it is fortified, but it's not really - that's just vitamins sprayed on the seed coats. GOOD on the both leg using at least - continue with the vitamins - I'd for sure continue it til 10 days is up and then reevaluate whether or not it's still needed.

 

[Mysto]

Yes...a seed mix: Sunscription Vita Prima ("sunflower free with quiko egg food pellets, calcium fortified, vit and min enriched with tropical fruit. no artificial preservs". Thank you Nathalie (and everyone else) for all your help/advice/suggestions! I am going to keep going with what you've been suggesting as it really seems that she made some improvement today. She was also VERY talkative, which she usually is and hasn't been. I'm going to take that as a good sign too. back to the pet store tomorrow: parrot FORMULA on the list.

 

[dlhunicorn]

the parrot/bird formula is a powder you mix with water > it is for feeding BABY parrots or sick birds.

 

[Mysto]

cool, thanks!!

 

[Mysto]

My hen is walking again!! She is a little unsteady but is getting to be back to her old self. I wanted to update for anyone following so they'd know that all the advice I was getting WORKED for my girl. I did find the 'right' parrot formula: she is getting that, yogurt/honey/oatmeal and Polyvisol (3 drops in the AM) - also am gving her scrambled and/or hardboiled egg. I have let her back out in the yard with the other hens and there was no problem with them accepting her back.

Thank you BYC friends!!!!