6 month old pullet can't stand/walk

[BellaMay95]

Hi all -- my girl Ethel is a 6 month old black copper marans pullet and just this evening I noticed she can't hold herself up to stand.
She is laying, and she did lay an egg today (I have a camera on the nesting boxes plus I collected 10 eggs for 10 hens) so she's not eggbound.
She is alert and everything she just can't hold herself up. Her legs look fine, no obvious injuries and her reflexes did move her toes/pull her legs up when I stroked them.
I did re-check the camera and she was the last girl to lay this afternoon and she used her wings to get herself out of the nesting box and onto the coop floor (coop kit design has the roosts on an upper level next to the nesting boxes with a run underneath with the food/water). It was a warm afternoon in the 80s today.
When I first saw her laying in the coop I thought I was just interrupting her "carcass time" and she seemed alert enough. I came back out about 1-1.5 hours later to check on her and I took her out of the coop just to see if she was okay and that's when I noticed she couldn't pick herself up. I held her up to the feeder/waterer and she ate some but she really went to town on the water.
I have 10 chickens, Ethel and the 6 others her age usually sleep in that same coop and then the 3 chickens (11 months) have a little coop but they all run around the backyard together during the day. I moved the 3 older chickens into the bigger coop with the young ones and put Ethel in the little coop by herself to sleep.
I did notice some runny poop in the coop where Ethel was sitting in the evening, I know it's hers because I scooped out the coop when I got home (and moved her so I could scoop under her) but not sure if that means anything?
Do you think she was just super dehydrated/exhausted from laying the egg in the warm temperatures and she'll be better in the morning? Anything I should check her for in the morning/do for her other than obviously make sure feed/water is accessible before I leave for work? Everybody else is acting all happy as a clam.
If it is heat exhaustion buttercup is going to have to toughen up...the coop thermometer only registered 83.7°F and Texas is only getting started...

 

[BellaMay95]

Morning update: she was a bit lethargic when I got her up but that's probably because she hadn't eaten/drank much since yesterday afternoon. She did get a bit of food and water before bed last night when I noticed she wasn't just hanging out by choice, she really wanted the water more than the food though.
I got her set up in the attached run this morning. I put some HydroHen in the water for electrolytes and fed her some scrambled eggs + shells for breakfast. I had to guide her to the food/water at first but once she got some in her she perked up some and started going after it herself. The other chickens are all jealous that she gets the scrambled egg and they don't . She is sounding wheezy this morning so that's also concerning...I took a video of her but the other girls were being too loud to hear her and I'm pretty sure what you did hear was me breathing instead.

I posted a photo of her overnight poop. It is kinda beigy-yellow and a bit wet but nothing I haven't seen before, wouldn't immediately think it was a cause for concern if she wasn't obviously sick.

I went back and checked the camera some more and she was sitting in the nest box since like 1:30 in the afternoon and then used her wings to get herself out of the box and into the coop floor around 5:00? I didn't think much of it at the time because I was at work and not paying super close attention to who was rotating out of the nest boxes, plus I have a couple girls who like to just sit in the box for like 2-3 hours before they feel like re-entering the land of the living so I figured it was one of them just sitting there until they got kicked out. So she really was up there for hours without food/water yesterday, not sure at what point she got too weak to stand.

 

[BellaMay95]

P.S. her comb's been like that, it got a bit frost-bitten in the two cold snaps we had this winter so it just kinda looks like that now.

 

[BellaMay95]

Day 2 update: her wheezing is worse this morning, I put some VetRX under one wing and on her throat. Both good news/bad news: she was able to stand up when I got her out of the coop this morning to medicate/get her tail feathers cleaned up but she's not much interested in eating/drinking, she keeps moving her throat like she's swallowing which I guess tracks with respiratory issues? I will see her drink some water from time to time so that's good she's just not super interested and hasn't eaten much. But she is still alert and keeping her eyes open.

I picked up some Calcium + D3, B complex, and St. John's Wort on the way home from work yesterday so I gave her half a calcium and maybe a quarter to half dropper of the St. John's yesterday evening. This morning I got the other half of the calcium tablet down her as well as a B tablet and another dose of the St. John's wort.

Anybody have more ideas of what to do to help her? I'm trying to attach videos I took this morning.

 

[BellaMay95]

@Eggcessive I saw you commented on Cinnaminute's thread with her hen, any suggestions about my girl Ethel? Today seems both good/bad news with her being able to stand (though rather shaky) but also more disinterested in food.
I did find an egg in the run this morning I apparently missed yesterday, I thought her little body would've been too stressed to keep laying.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you haven’t gotten any replies until now. It is good to be concerned about a young pullet having trouble with her legs. Have the eggs all been normal with hard shells lately? What do they eat? Besides vitamin E 400 IU daily, I would offer 1/4 to 1/2 of a human super b complex tablet daily, crushed into a small amount of scrambled egg. Also see that she is taking a normal amount of water. You can add a little to a small bowl of chicken feed which most chickens love. Some egg, tuna, or canned cat food can be used to encourage eating, but the chicken feed is best. When it is hot and they take more water they can have loose or water poops. Dehydration can cause generalized weakness, especially in the legs. It is amazing how chickens can be injured or sick, and can still lay eggs.

 

[BellaMay95]

Yesterday she was eating still with a decent appetite. Today she's drinking plenty of water but barely touches her food...I've had both chicken feed for her as well as this morning I offered her a scrambled egg and offered her wet cat food just now but she just acts like she doesn't see it when I try to offer it to her and even put some on her beak. She's going to town on the water right now though. It doesn't have the HydroHen in it right now but it did yesterday and today until I got home from work so at least she's been getting those electrolytes and priobiotics.

Today she's standing (which is good/better but the fact of her refusing food is what worries me now. She's doing the thing where she'll breathe through her mouth pretty heavy and then close her beak and make swallowing motions even though she's not swallowing anything. Seems like the VetRx I put on her this morning helped a bit because she's not wheezy just doing the swallowing thing.
I brought her inside and set her up in a dog crate in the bathroom after I got home from work...the warmer weather has also brought out the critters so the feed has been attracting ants so at least hopefully that's one less issue with her inside for now.

Her eggs have seemed to have a decent shell on them lately, but she's only been confirmed in lay since February 26th. There have been a couple rubber eggs around the time she started laying but they've been laid overnight so haven't been able to figure out who did it though she is a suspect. They've been on an all-flock feed with higher protein for the winter months since she was part of a straight run batch I thought for sure I'd get a rooster so they were offered oyster shell on the side but I never saw anybody eat it. So that's why I figured a calcium couldn't hurt even though I would've expected to see weak eggshells first. I think the B complex I got might have some vitamin E in it too but I'll have to double check.

 

[Eggcessive]

B complex usually has some C in it. E can help with neurological problems, but the B complex is more important for leg issues. You could give a calcium tablet up to 300 mg daily if she is trying to lay. Check to see if her crop is empty first thing in the morning as it should be before eating or drinking.

 

[BellaMay95]

@Eggcessive her crop feels squishy like a water balloon this morning. I did take the water away overnight. She's drinking water again this morning but not touching the food still...looks like a crop problem then? How to treat it?

 

[Eggcessive]

Note if she has a sour or bad odor from her beak, which could be sour crop. If not she could have a slow crop or be developing sour crop. Antifungal creams such as miconazole or monistat can be used orally. This article tells how to treat sour crop and other crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/