barred rock wobbely / acting dizzy.

[wrenloveschickens]

i have 5 hens that i regularly let out in our fenced back yard in the afternoons to free range. they are all just over a year old. yesterday when i went to put them all back, i noticed that georgine who is the top hen was acting kinda weird and was having some troubles with her ballance. she would try to walk and kind of fall over or stick her wing out to catch herself. i took her to the vet and he couldnt find anything wrong with her. he offered to do xrays and blood work, but we dont have the money to do those things right now. he said it might be lack of calcium since they all just started laying tons of eggs again. but theres no weirdness with any of the shells or anything else. shes still dizzy, tho she was a bit more stable by the end of today. shes still eating and drinking and doing everything else as normal as possible. just really wobbely. she gets herself up in the hen house for the night and to the water and food and under the hen house where they mostly like to hang out in the day. she seemed to be trying to lay an egg earlier today, but when i checked nothing was there. when i came out later in the day, there were eggs in the nest, but i dont know if one of em was hers. the dr said she wasnt egg bound yesterday.
i have a two year old daughter so its hard to keep a really close eye on georgine to see if her poop is normal. shes got a bit of runny looking poop on her butt feathers.
i added electrolites to the water yesterday, and today i talked to a lady who told me to put acv in the water and once a month put some mashed up garlic. i did both of those things mid day today.
has this ever happed to anyone elses chickens? any ideas whats wrong with georgine. we already lost one chicken (to our dog) and id really like to keep georgine alive and help her as much as possible.
thanks !
-mckay

 

[LittleMamaBigPapa]

I had a hen die last month and she acted in a similar way. She was lethargic, but still wanted to eat the oatmeal I made for her which I fed to her while she was in the warm bath. I thought at first she was egg-bound, but hubby didnt feel anything hard in her. She ate that oatmeal and I could feel her crop getting bigger and bigger. We finally concluded she had eaten a large silk flower and it apparently impacted her crop.

Feel her crop and see if it is large. Hope you figure something out soon!!

 

[Alaska animal lover]

I was going to suggest you feel her crop too.

 

[Wendy80]

Last month I had the very same thing happen to me. I secluded the hen and fed her regular food with calcium added. It took about two weeks, but you would never know it by looking at her now. Hope that can be of some help.

 

[wrenloveschickens]

thanks ya'll! today she is acting almost normal again. just a tad off ballance when she tips her head down. when she was first acting weird, her crop felt not empty, but not overly full too. yesterday it was much fuller. and i havent checked it today because she is back to her old ways of not letting me catch her. ill try tonight when shes all sleepy anyways. im still confused about what caused it, but hopefully its gone for good!

 

[wrenloveschickens]

also, sorry you lost one of your hens LittleMamaBigPapa.