Black Maran not able to stand and walk

[Bellwether]

This hen is 2.5 years old and has only been a sporadic layer of very small dark brown eggs this past 1.5 years. She came down sick yesterday, not able to stand up without losing her balance and ends up moving around in a crawl. Yesterday she was not eating or drinking but today she did drink water. Yesterday after trying to get her interested in her food with no success I moved her from the coup to their fenced in "daycare center" where she sat and at least showed some interest in pecking at the soil. When I put her in the coup last night I really expected that she would pass away by morning. The next day she seemed a little more alert but still in the same condition with the exception that she drank water and I gave her a fresh ear of corn which she ate quite a bit. I have one other hen the same age who consistently lays a large brown egg daily except for now as they are both molting. She is showing some concern for her sick sister but is active and well. They have a large well ventilated Aframe coup with half of it enclosed. I use white pine shavings and turn them over weekly, I just added new shavings to the existing last week. They get plenty of fresh water with a tsp of cider vinegar to a half gallon of water. They eat a custom blend of feed/scratch not pellets and this feed has not changed. Any idea or suggestions for me?

 

[justbugged]

I don't know what is wrong with your hen, but I have had similar experience with a few of my hens. So far none of them have survived, even with worming them, and treating them with antibiotics. Unfortunately sometimes chickens just die and there isn't much we can do to prevent it. If you have access to an avian veterinarian, you could possibly have the vet check your hen.

 

[Bellwether]

Appreciate the suggestion but can't afford the vet bill. My hen is not looking any better this morning but is still crawling around on her hocks. I cooked up scrambled eggs and also a low fat sausage patty but she is not interested. I noticed that her poop isn't much but it is an unusual bright green with some white in it. I am afraid it might be fatty liver? The only food that interests her is a fresh cob of corn.

 

[stoopid]

Did you try to feel her abdomen to see if there are any lumps, or certain spots that bother her?

 

[Bellwether]

I haven't done that yet as I didn't want to upset her but I am going to do that now, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[5Leepy!]

This seems to be going around... one of my hens is walking like she's drunk and I'm reading a ton of other threads saying similar things. Wonder if something's in the air? Link to my Hen's thread...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=582611

Good Luck! I'll be watching this thread to see if it helps my Hen as well.

 

[Lucysmom002]

omg my hen too! She is falling over. If I stand her up she either goes over head first or falls backwards on her hind end and flips.

I was told by someone around town not to feed fresh corn??? Is that true? I fed it too. I was told it will cause them to molt and stop laying eggs.

I wonder if the corn was moldy>?

 

[AV Brahmas]

OK....so I know I am a hardliner but watching years of breeding and hard work go up in smoke over one sick chicken would be foolish here. Examine the bird from head to toe. Inside the mouth right down to and including inside the vent. Look for things like maybe an egg stuck inside her, coloration of skin and membranes, eyes reactive on both sides, just anything you can think of.

Wash up and examine the healthy bird and see what might be different.

If you find nothing obvious that could be treated, destroy the bird and remove it. I tend to agree that most small livestock are not worth a vet bill. It is not fair to the bird to allow it to crawl around. It may even be painful to do so. If you want to let it linger and die at least remove it from the others. It will be less stressed and the others will be safer. Doing so, however, only serves to prove that maybe animal husbandry is not your best pursuit. Not saying it to be mean.

If you find something, like an egg that won't pass or ?????, then post a new thread and get some treatment advice.

 

[Bellwether]

I checked her out and her gullet seems empty which makes sense because she did not eat or drink much water today. Her vent looks okay, no mites or worms that I can see. Just some white stuff on her feathers near lower vent from her poop. she is alert when she needs to be but for the most part appears to be dozing. Wish I could figure it out. Each morning I expect to find her dead but so far she is hanging on.

 

[Bellwether]

AV Brahamas, thanks for the reply. I could not find anything that pointed to the problem so I think I will take your advice and put her down in the morning if she is still alive. I only have one other hen and she is her usual perky self and appears to be concerned about her sick sister.