Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

So my mom has small mini farm and she has some hens and a rooster. She had a stroke about 3 months ago so we're all trying to take care of her animals for her. My stepdad pointed out that one of the chickens had been laying under the ramp in the chicken coop for 4 days and not moving. On the 5th day, I went out there to check on her and she seems to be paralyzed. I brought her to my house and put her in a crate with some food and water. She is eating some and drinking but she does not move at all so we move her around to different spots in the cage several times a day. We also cut all the feathers underneath her around her vent because her poop had gotten caked on her when she was laying there for several days before I was alerted to the situation. We also have horses and they do go down and eat the horse feed that the horses drop. So I'm thinking possibly she got stepped on by 1 of the horses. I palpated her spine and as I got closer to her tail she squalked. Is there such thing as doing an x-ray on a chicken? I'm an animal lover but never saw myself falling in love with a chicken until we brought her up here and my husband named her Ethel. I've done a lot of reading and I'm thinking Marek's disease. Maybe? My mom has gotten her chickens from different places over the years. She's not a chicken farmer or anything of sorts. She just has a few chickens and collects the eggs. Another thing about this hen is that most of the time her beak is down in the ground but she does have the ability to lift her head. And her head is not twisted like what I read about wry neck. I feel like she's losing weight. I've never really held a chicken to know how their bones feel, but she just looks skinny looking at her breast bone. I have an appointment tomorrow morning for my mother's Great Pyrenees and I thought about taking the chicken with me but I know she will just tell me to put her to sleep. She's a country vet and knows farm animals well, but she's also very conservative. Any thoughts on what I can do to give this girl a chance would be greatly appreciated. Something else I noticed tonight is that when I held her in my lap upside down and stretched her legs, she would try to pull them back, not quickly or with any strength, but there is some resistance there. She has been at my house in the crate since Jan 3rd with little if any improvement.

 

[azygous]

The beauty of tubing is you can throw everything into the mix, fluids, meds, food. Lactated ringers is an excellent electrolyte solution. By all means use some.

You have the general idea. It helps to wrap the chicken in a towel to confine the wings. I hold the chicken on a table under my weak arm while prying open the beak and inserting the tube along her right side of her mouth, going slightly under the side of the tongue. That conveniently guides the tube right into the esophagus. It should go in smoothly. If the chicken gags, you need to pull it out and start over. She won't gag or choke if the tube is properly in the esophagus. Look at the photo below.

Measure the bottom of the tube from bottom of her crop to her beak. You may want to make a mark on the tube so it rides just outside of her beak so you don't end up pushing too much tubing into her crop. Then do it slowly so you don't overwhelm her. Also, it's more comfortable for her if the food is warmed.

 

[azygous]

If you can get a tube feeding kit from the vet, that's the first thing I would do - tube some nourishment into her. She may be injured, but she's likely also weak from hunger. That may be why she won't move. If you can't do that, at least elevate her glucose by giving her sugar water to drink. One teaspoon in one cup of water.

See if that gives her strength to move, and then you might be able to see if she's injured. But I've seen a starving chicken make a miraculous recovery by just getting food and fluids into her.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hi and welcome to BYC. It is certainly possible to xray a chicken to detect an injury, but a good vet could likely determine if your hen is is injured (and where) through palpation. I wouldn't lay her on her back again, since doing so can put stress on internal organs and may further injure her back if that is the problem. If she can pull her legs inward towards her it's probably not Mareks. The fact that she is a red sexlink (high production layer) makes her very prone to reproductive issues. In addition, if she hasn't eaten or drank for 4 days those are additional strikes against her. I am tagging some of byc's medical experts @azygous @Wyorp Rock @coach723 @TwoCrows @Eggcessive in hopes its not too late to save your sweet Ethel.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

she seems to be paralyzed. I brought her to my house and put her in a crate with some food and water. She is eating some and drinking but she does not move at all so we move her around to different spots in the cage several times a day. We also cut all the feathers underneath her around her vent because her poop had gotten caked on her when she was laying there for several days

I palpated her spine and as I got closer to her tail she squalked. Is there such thing as doing an x-ray on a chicken? I'm an animal lover but never saw myself falling in love with a chicken until we brought her up here and my husband named her Ethel.

Another thing about this hen is that most of the time her beak is down in the ground but she does have the ability to lift her head.

Welcome To BYC

If you think the vet will see her, then take along with you and ask for an XRay to rule out any breaks/injuries.

Do check to make sure the hen's crop is emptying overnight. Work on hydration and her eating as well.
There are many things that can affect chickens. Marek's is one disease, but there's plenty of other things that can go wrong too.

 

[azygous]

I promise you I will instruct you on using a feeding tube on a chicken. It's very, very safe and easy. I use raw egg, yogurt, Nutri-drench, and maybe some strained baby food, or you can buy baby bird formula at most pet stores. You need tubing and a syringe large enough to hold the food and will fit into the tubing. It's simplest to ask a vet to sell it to you. I got mine for $3.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I have an appointment tomorrow morning for my mother's Great Pyrenees and I thought about taking the chicken with me but I know she will just tell me to put her to sleep.

Those who reply here will do their best to help you save your hen. (On this forum, chicken lives matter.) If your vet cant/won't provide you a feeding tube kit, reply back here because there are other sources.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm sorry the hen is sick but I'm glad you're so attentive, you're doing great.
You can an x ray on her, it's not too uncommon.
Do you know what the feed is? Type and brand? More often than not Balance issues are from vitamin deficiency, (wry neck) try giving her one half of a people b complex vitamin and 400 i.u of vitamin e, it's sold in gel caps. Every day for a few weeks

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Ok, so I found some Katee's baby bird formula at Petco, and some poultry nutri-drench at Tractor supply. I'm assuming that the KT's baby bird formula is a powder that I mixed with water to put in the feeding tube, which I understand from watching videos that the trachea is in the tongue and you want to go off to the side with the feeding tube to insert the food. 20 cc's at a time four times a day. Would that be about right? And do I mix the nutri-drench into that and if so how much? Also, with the water mixed in with the baby bird food, does she still need additional liquids? If so, can that be given in the feeding tube or does it need to be sub Q? I've done sub q fluids on my dog's many many times and I probably have some but it would just be lactated ringers. And I would have no idea how to do that on a chicken. My husband is going to go into town to get all this stuff for me. So if I need anything other than the latex tube and a 20 mL or larger syringe and the poultry nutrients and the baby bird food he can pick that up while he is out.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

@Gotalotofpetstoo , i just wanted to let you know i'm thinking of you and certainly haven't forgotten about dear Ethel. I realize your October beach trip is coming up. I know you looked forward to physically taking Ethel with you on your trip, but always remember that she will be with you wherever you go. She will always be right here.

We just got home this past Sunday. While I was sitting on the beach with my mom watching all the sandpipers and the seagulls and the pelicans, I told my mom how much I wished Ethel could have been with us. I sure do miss that girl but, as it was with my very first dog that I had from 1979 to 1997, she was the reason I opened my grooming shop in 1999 so I could work with animals and she was the reason that I do what I do today to help other dogs. And Ethel is the reason that I know so much more about chickens now and am able to help the chickens we have from my mother's flock to have a better life.