Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

That's so tragic about your cat. I know the bond you can have with a cat, I've had it, and I understand it can be as painful losing your cat as losing a human member of the family. And when the manner of death is so violent, it can be especially hard to deal with.

You now have a similar bond with Ethel. I've seen it a lot on this forum where the human caretaker has developed a strong bond with the sick or injured chicken, and it's mutual and very strong. It's known that a dog or cat will bond with the human that saves its life but so do chickens.

Since it's been a month Ethel had been on the B-complex without recovering her motility, it's my hunch she was injured and has either a permanent spinal injury or a serious injury that requires more time and more vitamin E. I would stop the B-complex and continue with the E for a while longer.

I also suggest you cut out all the extra sources of food as they are not formulated with the special minerals and vitamins a chicken needs. Chickens, being such small animals, are sensitive to vitamin and mineral deficiencies and the best way to assure they get all they need is to restrict the diet to 99% commercial chicken crumbles or pellets. Horse feed may be tasty to chickens as are cat and dog food, but they lack the mineral and vitamins a chicken needs.

I don't know if this will improve her recovery or not, but it's important regardless.

My suspicions at first were that she may have been tripped over by one of the horse. She has come such a long way since we brought her up here the first week of Jan, she was pretty much completely paralyzed. Since starting the vitamins she doesn't fall over to the sides anymore, only occasionally if she gets to anxious to take steps, she'll fall forward, but she pulls herself right back up. Her neck muscle seems strong as she holds her head up all the time without dropping it beak first into the ground. Her legs have definitely gotten much stronger, just not enough to stand up off her elbows yet ( I say yet because I'm still trying to stay positive that she will walk again).
As far as her vitamins, I will cut out the vitamin B - 100 complex completely, and should I cut out the sliver of selenium and the nutri-drench as well? And just stick strictly with the vitamin E 678 mg three times a day?
I'm going to look in my mother's garage and see if I can find the bag of chicken feed they use and I will post that later this evening or tomorrow to get opinions on whether it is a proper diet for her. That is what's in the picture above in my previous post , and what she drove into today.
One other thing that I mentioned in my last reply also I believe was how hard her crop is after she ate solid food today. Because she's been on a liquid diet, her crop has always been very soft and squishy. So now since she's on solid food is it normal for it to be very hard?

 

[azygous]

If it's a commercial chicken feed, usually consisting of soy, wheat and corn with added minerals and vitamins, it's the feed you want. Scratch grain, which is all corn and some seeds mixed in, can be given in a small amount once or twice a week as a special treat.

The B-complex usually works in around four weeks. You certainly may continue it longer if you think her legs appear to be getting stronger. There is no danger in continuing it for another few weeks as long as you're seeing improvement.

The vitamin E may take longer to repair a spinal injury if it's not severed. Since she's showing improvement, it gives me encouragement that she's healing and with time she will recover her motility. That she has shown improvement means the vitamin therapy, one or both, is working.

Back to the food. Most of the time when caring for a sick chicken we forget to make grit available. Lack of grit can slow down crop function because the gizzard isn't performing well due to lack of adequate grit. So the result will be a hard crop that is slow to empty. It can also cause the chicken to starve because food isn't reaching the intestines where calories and nutrients are absorbed. Going too long without grit will result in crop stasis and yeast infection.

So, there is no problem switching Ethel to solid food, but she now needs grit to digest it. You can buy it where they sell chicken feed. Check her crop in the morning before she eats to determine how well her crop is functioning. It should be empty. If it's got food in it still, see how it does after a couple days on grit. If the crop remains full and hard in the morning, you may need to treat her for a crop disorder.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

If it's a commercial chicken feed, usually consisting of soy, wheat and corn with added minerals and vitamins, it's the feed you want. Scratch grain, which is all corn and some seeds mixed in, can be given in a small amount once or twice a week as a special treat.

The B-complex usually works in around four weeks. You certainly may continue it longer if you think her legs appear to be getting stronger. There is no danger in continuing it for another few weeks as long as you're seeing improvement.

The vitamin E may take longer to repair a spinal injury if it's not severed. Since she's showing improvement, it gives me encouragement that she's healing and with time she will recover her motility. That she has shown improvement means the vitamin therapy, one or both, is working.

Back to the food. Most of the time when caring for a sick chicken we forget to make grit available. Lack of grit can slow down crop function because the gizzard isn't performing well due to lack of adequate grit. So the result will be a hard crop that is slow to empty. It can also cause the chicken to starve because food isn't reaching the intestines where calories and nutrients are absorbed. Going too long without grit will result in crop stasis and yeast infection.

So, there is no problem switching Ethel to solid food, but she now needs grit to digest it. You can buy it where they sell chicken feed. Check her crop in the morning before she eats to determine how well her crop is functioning. It should be empty. If it's got food in it still, see how it does after a couple days on grit. If the crop remains full and hard in the morning, you may need to treat her for a crop disorder.

So this is the bag of food my mom's chickens are being fed (same food as in the bowl Ethel is eating from.) It is a layer feed and she's definitely not laying and I kinda doubt she will again, so is a brand of All Flock better for her, organic or not?
As far as her crop, this entire time she has been being tube fed, her crop was always very soft I'd assume since on a liquid diet. Her crop was always empty within hours after her feedings, always empty before given the next meal. I don't know what "grit' is specifically. Right now her crop is rock hard so I'll wait til morning to check it again before giving her any food, to see how it has emptied over night. IF it is still hard and not completely empty, is there a way to soften it up to help it move through? Should I withhold any additional fees until it feels empty? Hopefully it'll be empty and I won't have to treat her for a crop disorder. If I end up having to do that though, I'll be back looking for assistance.

 

[azygous]

Here's my article on crop disorders, everything you need to know. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

All birds need grit, and descending from dinosaurs, those big relatives needed it, too. Grit is picked up off the ground, and while the dinosaurs swallowed rocks the size of softballs to swallow into their gizzards, chickens pick up gravel about the size of lentils for their little gizzards, and song birds will pick up particles the size of sand grains for theirs.

This acts as our teeth do, only it's "chewed" much farther down the digestive tract. If they don't have grit to chew their food, it starts backing up. The result is food lingering too long in the crop and starting to ferment, causing impacted and sour crop.

The way you can help your hen now is to give her a teaspoon or two of coconut oil directly into her beak. It will soften the ball of food she has in her crop and help soften whatever is stuck farther down. But she needs grit. You can buy it at the feed store or go outside and scoop up a bit of soil for her to pick through. If it's smooth clay soil, though, you're out of luck. It needs to be either coarse sand or gravely soil. Buying Poultry Grit is easier. You just offer it free choice and she will eat what she needs.

That feed is a good commercial feed and it will do for now, but after she's through this ordeal, an all flock feed would be better if she isn't laying.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Here's my article on crop disorders, everything you need to know. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

All birds need grit, and descending from dinosaurs, those big relatives needed it, too. Grit is picked up off the ground, and while the dinosaurs swallowed rocks the size of softballs to swallow into their gizzards, chickens pick up gravel about the size of lentils for their little gizzards, and song birds will pick up particles the size of sand grains for theirs.

This acts as our teeth do, only it's "chewed" much farther down the digestive tract. If they don't have grit to chew their food, it starts backing up. The result is food lingering too long in the crop and starting to ferment, causing impacted and sour crop.

The way you can help your hen now is to give her a teaspoon or two of coconut oil directly into her beak. It will soften the ball of food she has in her crop and help soften whatever is stuck farther down. But she needs grit. You can buy it at the feed store or go outside and scoop up a bit of soil for her to pick through. If it's smooth clay soil, though, you're out of luck. It needs to be either coarse sand or gravely soil. Buying Poultry Grit is easier. You just offer it free choice and she will eat what she needs.

That feed is a good commercial feed and it will do for now, but after she's through this ordeal, an all flock feed would be better if she isn't laying.

Thank you for that link to the crop disorders. My husband is going to head to tractor supply shortly to get a bag of grit as pictured below and also pictures is the coconut oil that I have, **is that acceptable?** I actually think I bought it for my essential oil mixes so I may need to buy another bottle. I just got home from my mom's a short while ago and my husband said her crop was not completely empty but smaller than it was last night and still hard. Also, he left a bowl of the chicken food out last night for her and put it in her pen outside this morning. She did poop a pretty good bit overnight, also pictured below and the stuff that isn't poop is the layer food that she knocked over. So should we take that up and only allow her to have grit for a couple days? And do I need to do the coconut oil for several days also or just one time on the oil?
UPDATE: I just felt her crop and it is not very full and is soft. I assume the only reason that it feels like it has anything in it is because she had food left out for her overnight and put outside with her this morning. So being that it is soft and not hard like it was last night when she ate her first real meal, should I still proceed with the coconut oil?

 

[azygous]

I had to look up "fractionated" coconut oil. Had never heard of it. Gotta laugh. Our human culture sure does want to mess with perfectly natural substances until no original value remains. Sometimes it leads me to believe we are a pretty stupid species. No insult intended toward you, please don't think that!

I suppose you can use it in a pinch as it does still contain fat, and it's fat that will grease the clogged crop and gizzard. But I urge you to toss it and buy "unrefined" coconut oil and get your money's worth. Coconut oil has natural antibiotic and anti-fungal properties and above all, it is the safest oil to use when you need to give it to a chicken. It is a solid when chilled and can easily be pushed into the beak without worry of getting it into the airway and causing pneumonia if it gets into the lungs.

My article on crop disorders goes over how to and how long to treat a crop with coconut oil. Sometimes one application does the trick. It sounds like Ethel doesn't have a serious crop issue and one teaspoon of oil should give her relief.

Offer her the grit alongside her crumbles. Let her decide how much of each she needs. Chickens, unless they have an eating disorder (yes they get them, too), will instinctively select what they need for their digestion and nutritional needs. Many people withhold food when a chicken has a crop disorder, but I am not in that camp. There are times when you do not want to offer a chicken extras such as grass, hay, or other high fiber foods, but they should always have access to their crumbles.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

I had to look up "fractionated" coconut oil. Had never heard of it. Gotta laugh. Our human culture sure does want to mess with perfectly natural substances until no original value remains. Sometimes it leads me to believe we are a pretty stupid species. No insult intended toward you, please don't think that!

I suppose you can use it in a pinch as it does still contain fat, and it's fat that will grease the clogged crop and gizzard. But I urge you to toss it and buy "unrefined" coconut oil and get your money's worth. Coconut oil has natural antibiotic and anti-fungal properties and above all, it is the safest oil to use when you need to give it to a chicken. It is a solid when chilled and can easily be pushed into the beak without worry of getting it into the airway and causing pneumonia if it gets into the lungs.

My article on crop disorders goes over how to and how long to treat a crop with coconut oil. Sometimes one application does the trick. It sounds like Ethel doesn't have a serious crop issue and one teaspoon of oil should give her relief.

Offer her the grit alongside her crumbles. Let her decide how much of each she needs. Chickens, unless they have an eating disorder (yes they get them, too), will instinctively select what they need for their digestion and nutritional needs. Many people withhold food when a chicken has a crop disorder, but I am not in that camp. There are times when you do not want to offer a chicken extras such as grass, hay, or other high fiber foods, but they should always have access to their crumbles.

Thank you so much. We got the real coconut oil and the grit/gravel, Lol. We have a bowl of grit and crumbles down for and will give her the coconut oil shortly. She dove right in to the grit when we put it out there for her. Her crop feels to be emptying well as it's no longer hard and has gone down since this afternoon. Overall she seems to be happy and content.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

So, now a new situation. My husband thinks Ethel is blind. I'm not really sure how to tell if she actually is. Her eyes look good, no cloudiness or anything I can see. He says she séems to have a hard time finding her bowls and has been getting stuck in the corner of her outdoor pen. What can I do to know for sure? I honestly cannot say that I have noticed the things that my husband seems to be noticing.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3kWt7PgkWHqGJj5C7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7zRmAafF8jkAH2fr9

I just added two videos that I went out and took while attempting to see if she could see. At the end I tried to give her some grub worms but she didn't show any interest but could that be because it's well past her bedtime and she's got a full crop so she just isn't interested? I will try the eyesight tests tomorrow that azygous suggested, so I don't have to go wake her up again tonight.

 

[azygous]

The easiest way to test her sight is to drop a small morsel of her favorite treat in front of her. This will test her right eye, the one that focuses on close objects. If she sees it, good, but she must be able to see it well enough to pick it up with her beak. If she doesn't respond at all or if she has trouble hitting her target, then the right eye is damaged.

To do a test on the left eye, this one focusing on distant objects. You could get off at a distance of twenty feet and call her and show her the treat. You should be able to tell if she sees it and tries to make her way toward it. If she doesn't respond, she isn't able to see with the left eye.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

The easiest way to test her sight is to drop a small morsel of her favorite treat in front of her. This will test her right eye, the one that focuses on close objects. If she sees it, good, but she must be able to see it well enough to pick it up with her beak. If she doesn't respond at all or if she has trouble hitting her target, then the right eye is damaged.

To do a test on the left eye, this one focusing on distant objects. You could get off at a distance of twenty feet and call her and show her the treat. You should be able to tell if she sees it and tries to make her way toward it. If she doesn't respond, she isn't able to see with the left eye.

Thank you. I will try those tests in the morning. Before I read your reply, I made the videos that I just uploaded to my original post. I'm now wondering, if she is blind, if that could be the reason she got in the condition she is in to begin with. Being blind and not being able to find her food and being picked on by the others perhaps?