5 Month Old Pullet Sick with No Balance

[LCTB]

I have a 5 month old Silver Laced Wyandotte pullet. We were gone on vacation last week and got back Saturday night 08/22. On Sunday morning 08/23 when we let them out to free range, we immediately noticed something was wrong with her. When they all went running she ran with them, but kept falling on her side mid-run. So we immediately took her and put her inside in isolation. It's going on almost a week now, and she hasn't gotten any better. She's pretty much stayed the same.

She has no balance. Every time she stands up, she falls forward on her face. On occasion she can walk around a few steps before falling. She barely eats anything (only a couple of pecks of feed now and again) and we have to give her water with a syringe, otherwise she would not be getting any liquid. The most she's eaten is one day where we gave her some watermelon, which she really seemed to like. Except when she's attempting to stand, she just lays there. Half the time she is making gaping motions with her mouth and also what sounds like she's chewing on something. Whenever we give her water it gets worse for several minutes. It's like she is having trouble swallowing.

I feel so awful because I don't know what to do for her. Her symptoms seem to match so many different health issues I've read about. I even took her to a vet who basically said it could be multiple things, but that it would cost a fortune to figure out, if he even could. So that was a dead end. He did, however, say that he was pretty positive it wasn't a upper respiratory issue. He didn't think it was any of the super contagious, scary diseases. We hated to do it, but we have been giving her some antibiotics in her water to see if it would help, but so far no difference.

Mentally she seems normal. She just has major balance issues and what I think is trouble swallowing. She even tries hard to stand up and clean herself, but usually her balance makes it not possible. Also, her neck is constantly in the "S curve" position. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I've never experienced anything like this in all my life of raising poultry.

I've attached a few videos I took so you can see her. In the first video it's when she's at her worst. I had just given her water, and like I said, when I give her water is when she gets worse for a few mins. The second video is of her standing. The third is of the clicking/chewing sound she makes/trying to swallow (I don't know why, but it's upside down). I would really appreciate any input anyone could give me! Thank you in advance!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_v_OLbdHxTyUUZLdUVMTjJvLWs/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_v_OLbdHxTyak9fZHlVZXJEVXM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_v_OLbdHxTydTQ1Mzh1eW00aXc/view?usp=sharing

 

[countrymom3]

Hi, I had a simular issue a few years ago but by the time I figure out what it was it was to late for my hen. See if you can tell if she has swallowed something and it is stuck in her throat. this would account for the curved neck to some degree and it would definately account for the sounds and difficulty in eating and swallowing. The balance issue could be caused by the fact that she is not getting enough nutrition due to the blockage.. Try watered down baby food in a syrige or eye dropper and give her extra vitamins and feed her very slowly so she can swallow . Some times hens will eat insects that are way to big for their throats but they get into a panic trying to keep the other birds from getting their treasure and swallow the thing whole. If it is not an issue of something stuck the baby food issue shouldn't hurt at this point. Good Luck.

 

[LCTB]

Thank you for your input countrymom3, but we're pretty positive that nothing is in her throat because the vet looked down her throat with a flashlight and didn't see anything. We may have to try your feeding suggestion regardless though because I know the poor thing must be starving!