Chicken Nibbling at Nothing When Given Water

[stenchickens]

Hi there!
I have a hen (Rhode Island Red, I believe) who's been sick since yesterday. She's pretty old, so at first we all just kind of assumed that she was just getting on in years, and it's possible that is the issue, but I want to ask here since I've seen some good advice over the years. We brought her into the house because she didn't seem to be moving around and the other birds were picking on her, because you know, .
She's lethargic, first of all, generally not moving around. My mom noticed that since this morning she's been doing a thing where she slowly curls her neck backwards, which we've seen before in dying birds. But I also noticed that she seems to be pecking at stuff that it's there. She was pecking around trying to grab some lettuce I gave her, which I took as just plain sickness, but then she started shuffling around and stretching her neck out. After I gave her water, she started putting her beak to the ground and nibbling at it, like she was trying to drink water that isn't there, and stretching her neck out to bite at the wall. She's not walking, just kind of forcing herself forward while still sitting down. She seems thirsty whenever I do give her water, but I'm nervous to give her too much because of this. She isn't drinking it on her own, only when I show her where it is. She also had some watery diarrhea before, but I'm just attributing that to her drinking a lot of water all at once.
My mom said the shuffling thing could just be her trying to move, which I guess is possible, but the rest of that stuff seems weird. Is it just her time? Or is this some kind of illness? Whatever it is, what more can I do to make her comfortable? She's currently in a little enclosure in our living room, which I covered with a blanket to give her a little peace.
My mom also gave her a little colloidal silver in the water, along with some earlier today, and she was de-wormed (naturally, because my mom doesn't like to use the store stuff unless totally necessary) yesterday. I think mom's planning to give her more colloidal silver later today, but don't quote me on that.
Thanks so much for any insight. Again, she's old enough, so it's possible that she's just on her way out, but if that's the case then I'd at least like to make her comfortable.

 

[kerbotx]

Is it possible that she's gone blind? One thing that worked well for the one blind hen I've had - I would place her on a special roost, and then place food (wet mash) & water in an exact location, where she could reach them both from on the roost. With a little training, she figured it out.

With the neck movement, look up "stargazing chicken" or "wry neck" and see if those symptoms match your girl. Could be caused by many things; a vitamin boost would be one easy thing to try, that wouldn't hurt.

 

[stenchickens]

Is it possible that she's gone blind? One thing that worked well for the one blind hen I've had - I would place her on a special roost, and then place food (wet mash) & water in an exact location, where she could reach them both from on the roost. With a little training, she figured it out.

With the neck movement, look up "stargazing chicken" or "wry neck" and see if those symptoms match your girl. Could be caused by many things; a vitamin boost would be one easy thing to try, that wouldn't hurt.

It is possible that she's going blind - it would explain why she's not reacting whenever I put food and water in front of her. She does still have some reactions, so it makes me think that she can see a little bit, but not very much? And she still responds to touch and sound, so. I looked into it just a little bit, I read that blind hens can also become depressed and their activity starts to lessen, which is something she's been doing since yesterday, would that make sense as well? And ruffled feathers, I assumed that she was just molting as all the others are, but it did come up as one of the symptoms
And, 'stargazing chicken' definitely seems to match, but I can't think why she'd be doing it. My mother and I are currently looking into a good way to get vitamins into her.
Thanks so much for your help, as well. We got her to eat some scrambled egg and drink some more water, and Mom did give her some more colloidal silver, just like a drop or two. We're waiting to see how she is in the morning, but she seems in fair spirits, anyways.

 

[CEO]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous @dawg53 @NatJ

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My mom noticed that since this morning she's been doing a thing where she slowly curls her neck backwards, which we've seen before in dying birds. But I also noticed that she seems to be pecking at stuff that it's there. She was pecking around trying to grab some lettuce I gave her, which I took as just plain sickness, but then she started shuffling around and stretching her neck out. After I gave her water, she started putting her beak to the ground and nibbling at it, like she was trying to drink water that isn't there, and stretching her neck out to bite at the wall. She's not walking, just kind of forcing herself forward while still sitting down. She seems thirsty whenever I do give her water,

How old is she?

Can you get a video of her actions? Upload to youtube and provide a link.
Photo of her , her eyes, her poop?
What do you feed including treats?
Has she eaten anything rotten, toxic or moldy?
Is her crop emptying?

Slow curls of the neck backward is a neurological symptom sometimes called Wry Neck.

I would work on hydrating her, then offer her a little wet feed if she's able to eat.
Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. A little treat of egg will help with the uptake of E.

 

[stenchickens]

How old is she?

Can you get a video of her actions? Upload to youtube and provide a link.
Photo of her , her eyes, her poop?
What do you feed including treats?
Has she eaten anything rotten, toxic or moldy?
Is her crop emptying?

Slow curls of the neck backward is a neurological symptom sometimes called Wry Neck.

I would work on hydrating her, then offer her a little wet feed if she's able to eat.
Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. A little treat of egg will help with the uptake of E.

Around 7 years old.

I will try to get a video - she's only done it once or twice since yesterday, so I'm hoping that means she's getting better, but she's still doing the stargazing thing.
I can grab photos of her and her eyes, but there's not any poop to take a photo of at the moment. The best description I can give as far as I'm aware is that it's pretty much just water, no smell (except for the first time, due to the wormwood we gave her). Seems to be more solid today, but still diarrhea.
We feed scratch, mixed with sunflower seeds, along with plenty of vegetables, eggshells, and bread left over from the house as treats. Primarily we use lettuce because they all like it.
As far as I'm aware, nothing rotten, toxic, or moldy has gone into the coop, besides maybe some old lettuce? But that's never harmed them before. Plus, all the other hens seem to be fine.
Her crop seems to be functioning alright, besides the fact that she hasn't eaten a great amount yet. She did have a bunch of egg earlier, though.

Yes, I don't know if there's a difference between Wry Neck and stargazing, but she's definitely doing that. Thankfully, she seems to be able to control it somewhat? As in, her head will start to raise up, and then she'll bring it back down.

Hydration has been our primary goal since we realized how thirsty she was. She can eat, but she doesn't know where the food is. Another user suggested that she may have gone blind, and frankly, I'm 99% that's the case. She doesn't react when we move our hands around her, but still responds when we touch her or when there are strange noises.
I'm not sure how much we have in terms of vitamin supplements at the moment, but we're going to work on getting those. We have given her scrambled eggs today and yesterday.

Photos:

Bad quality, I know. I've been trying to get the photo of her to upload but my internet doesn't seem to be cooperating. All I can say is that she's leaning on her side a lot. Also, it appears that one of her eyes is usually a little more closed than the other? I'm going to check again before I head to bed, but that was the case this morning.