Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??

[lightm]

Just a quick Ethel update:
As of yesterday she is up to 4 lb. 8 oz and knock on wood, no more ugly eggs. She's still on her vitamins. She's still on the calcium and vitamin d and still on the cephalexin so I'm hoping that this pattern just continues and we can be blessed with her for a while to come still. If anybody has any thoughts on how long I should keep her on the antibiotic, let me know. I don't want to destroy her system by keeping her on it too long. Or maybe I should give her a probiotic also with the cephalexin so we don't kill off all the Good bacteria as well??
Hope everybody's having a wonderful day and Ethel says hello.

How long has it been since she is on antibiotic? Shouldn't the vet tell you the length of a course? If not, maybe 7-10 days is good.

Probiotic is good. Give her some yogurt.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

How long has it been since she is on antibiotic? Shouldn't the vet tell you the length of a course? If not, maybe 7-10 days is good.

Probiotic is good. Give her some yogurt.

The vet told me to kill her and have a necropsy done, she Cephalexin I am giving her is on my own. I'll have to look back through my posts to see what day I started her on it.
And I'll get her some yogurt, maybe blueberry, she loves blue berries and banana nut bread.

 

[BastyPutt]

I just read this whole thread. Although I have nothing of value to contribute... rock on Ethel. Wow. What a great story.

After having tried nursing chickens countless times in the past, with minimal success, I always found it best to just put them in a warm kennel with lots of snacks and comfort them until they go. But this story really makes me second guess that.

Praying for Ethel, and may God bless her.

Ps if she does lay an actual egg, freeze dry and frame that baby!

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

I just read this whole thread. Although I have nothing of value to contribute... rock on Ethel. Wow. What a great story.

After having tried nursing chickens countless times in the past, with minimal success, I always found it best to just put them in a warm kennel with lots of snacks and comfort them until they go. But this story really makes me second guess that.

Praying for Ethel, and may God bless her.

Ps if she does lay an actual egg, freeze dry and frame

I just read this whole thread. Although I have nothing of value to contribute... rock on Ethel. Wow. What a great story.

After having tried nursing chickens countless times in the past, with minimal success, I always found it best to just put them in a warm kennel with lots of snacks and comfort them until they go. But this story really makes me second guess that.

Praying for Ethel, and may God bless her.

Ps if she does lay an actual egg, freeze dry and frame that baby!

Thank you for your kind words and the prayers. I know that is part of what has gotten her this far. And wow, what a miracle it would be if she actually laid a real egg

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Thank you for your kind words and the prayers. I know that is part of what has gotten her this far. And wow, what a miracle it would be if she actually laid a real egg

Crazy as it may sound, I have actually considered the freeze drying process for her when her time comes but wouldn't that'd be so cool to have an egg or two next to her.

 

[Winziggle]

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. View attachment 3373001View attachment 3373002

Did you look into Merek's Disease? You should separate your chicken from the rest of the flock now. And have an expert take a look at her. If she dies, have a necropsy done.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-s-disease-in-poultry

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Did you look into Merek's Disease? You should separate your chicken from the rest of the flock now. And have an expert take a look at her. If she dies, have a necropsy done.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-s-disease-in-poultry

She has been separated from the rest of the flock since the day we found her sick. She stays at my house now, outside in a covered enclosure during the day to get some fresh air and sunshine and in the house at night to sleep. I did take her to an avian vet the first part of February in his recommendation was to take her to the diagnostic lab and have them euthanize her and doing a necropsy at that time. I'm happy that I did not take his advice because she has come a long way and I have really fallen in love with this girl.

 

[mrskenmore]

The vet told me to kill her and have a necropsy done, she Cephalexin I am giving her is on my own. I'll have to look back through my posts to see what day I started her on it.
And I'll get her some yogurt, maybe blueberry, she loves blue berries and banana nut bread.

Ethel would LOVE plain yogurt with fresh blueberries in it! She will make a huge mess but love it. Let us know how long once you figure it out how long she has been on the cephalexin. Glad to hear our sweet girl continues to gain weight and thrive in your care!!

Rock on Ethel!!

 

[BastyPutt]

Thank you for your kind words and the prayers. I know that is part of what has gotten her this far. And wow, what a miracle it would be if she actually laid a real egg

If she does, we have a commercial freeze dryer. We'd be happy to preserve her egg . Just let me know.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I had grown a bit concerned since you hadn't posted anything about Ethel in the past couple of weeks, so I came here to ask about her. And discovered you Have posted, but I wasn't getting notified. So glad to know shes still doing well!