4year old hen, can't stand

[nikischicks]

Dec25th she was out with flock, in snow. All fine. Xmas eve husband found her under roost couldn't walk or stand. As of today I have her in house in cage. She eats, not much drinking. Clear eyes, runny poop, not discolored though. Alert, red comb, toes move, she shifts herself around, but can't stand. All 5 other hens fine. She couldn't have ate something bad as there is snow covering the ground and we use no chemicals. Also, none are laying presently, they molted right before days got short and I don't do additional lighting in winter. Any ideas?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Does she have a limp? Could she be broody?

 

[nikischicks]

No limp, when I try to stand her, she just falls over. There are no eggs right now, could that still be an option?

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Mine have been broody before with no eggs.

 

[nikischicks]

Just checked on her again. She can move her legs and feet she just can not stand. I don't think she's broody. I don't think it's mereks either. If she's not better in a couple days after being inside,the hard decision will have to be made.

 

[casportpony]

Just checked on her again. She can move her legs and feet she just can not stand. I don't think she's broody. I don't think it's mereks either. If she's not better in a couple days after being inside,the hard decision will have to be made.

FWIW, the pathologist that I work with says that Merek's is one of the leading causes of death that they see in chickens at their lab. He also said that it's an old wives tale about it only affecting young ones.

This link has some good pictures on Merek's: http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/502

I also like this one:
Source:http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf

 

[nikischicks]

Thank you for the info. I read through some of that in another thread page and it just seems strange to me. How would they come upon this virus if there are no other chickens around my house? And as dreadfully contagious as it is, why wouldnt the others be sick also. But then again, im thinking what else could it be? I think there really are so many things theres no way to know. I started out with 13 hens and am now down to 6, Ive seen really weird things happen to them. One of my hens was getting picked on by the others. I moved her and kept her separate from the others, months later she went blind and I had her put down. Usually we would do it but she became like a pet to me and I couldnt do it. Ive had a couple just die over night. One in the nest after laying an egg. One we did bumble foot surgery on who made it through for quite a while then died months later. I just dont like to see them suffer.
This poor girl ate some oatmeal this morning, and she pooped overnight, which was really foul smelling with no white in it at all. Shes shifting around in the cage but theres certainly no improvement.

 

[Happy Chooks]

How long has it been since she has laid an egg? She could be suffering from egg yolk peritonitis.

 

[chkn]

I would suspect egg binding. The fact that it's winter and she's not laying much is probably why she hasn't expired yet. You need to lub her up with olive oil and get a feel around inside. Get some of those disposable surgical gloves and go gently, straight in. There are lots of good threads here about it. I suppose she could have a heavy worm load or mite load or something and be anemic. Anyway, I had a hen like that. You could stand her up and she'd just fall on her face (she was egg bound).

 

[nikischicks]

Im just posting in case someone searches and they can know what happened. I used to search and be disappointed when the thread just stopped without an end. We put her down. She hadnt ate in days or drank and I wasnt going to let her starve to death. She didnt have any mites and she wasnt swollen or hard in her abdomen area. With all my girls that have gotten sick, I follow all the advise I get here and if none of it works I give them a few days and then do the dreaded deed. Which my husband does, god love him. It upsets him but he does it for me. So now I have 5 left out of my original 13! Thats 8 deaths, and I learn something each time. I would say im still pretty lucky, weve never had anything that was contagious.