Chicken paralyzed? Not moving, but eating and drinking, hard crop too

[azygous]

Has "the landlord" give you any history on this hen? It would be helpful, besides asking about Marek's vaccine, to ask a few more questions such as have there been other birds showing up paralyzed?

And ask if there have been any birds dying mysteriously over the last few years.

Ask what happened to this hen. Was she injured? When did she begin showing these symptoms? Are there any yard machines dripping fluids onto the soil where the chickens roam? Petroleum distillates cause paralysis. So does moldy food.

You will likely find some very serious injuries in the vent area that has attracted these maggots. Also, there is probably infection. If it smells bad, describe what the smell is like.

Clean the poor thing up with a good sudsy bath and blow dry. Take some well focused photos of her vent so we can assess the extent of her injuries. Also, take a shot of her poop on a background that shows up the poop, not on a bed of straw or shavings.

You are there with the chicken and can see her, smell her, listen to her, examine and touch her. We can't do any of those things to get information so we rely on you to tell us this stuff with as much explanation necessary for us to get a good feel for what's going on.

This little hen deserves all the help we can give her, so please do what you can to inform us.

 

[Eggcessive]

The red thing is her cloaca which is out a bit, and it is called a prolapsed cloaca or vent if it was out more. Put some honey or ointment on it so that it doesn’t dry out. She looks really dirty from soiling herself and her foot look st have scally leg mites in the picture, but also has poop on it. Get her cleaned up in a warm soapy bath in the sink or in a large dishpan. Epsom salts is good, but dish soap is fine. Then apply the honey or ointment to her vent prolapse.

Her position of the leg forward, and lameness could possibly be Mareks disease, but for now, I would just treat her symptoms and give supportive care. Offer her chicken feed made wet with water, scrambled egg, tuna, or canned cat food pate, but mainly chicken feed.

 

[Eggcessive]

Moving things around her vent and abdomen could be lice or mites, or maggots if they look like worms moving around. Permethrin spray would kill any of those. Maggot infestation or flystrike is an emergency, and they will be attracted to a soild vent. Get them off, if they are maggots, or if they are tiny bugs treat with permethrin spray or dust from a feed store. Gordons or Martins permethrin 10 in an 8 ounce container can be mixed with water into a spray bottle according to the labe instructions, and safely will treat lice, mite, or maggots.

 

[Rohini0821]

You'll need to soak and wash her and remove every maggot. Then soak again in the morning to remove any maggots that hatch overnight.
I've tagged some incredibly knowledgeable folks and they'll be very helpful

Okay well thank you for the advice! I will clean her up asap. Could this cause her to not be walking? Or is that a separate issue like parasites internally?

 

[Rohini0821]

You'll need to soak and wash her and remove every maggot. Then soak again in the morning to remove any maggots that hatch overnight.
I've tagged some incredibly knowledgeable folks and they'll be very helpful

Thank you for the advice and tagging others! Much appreciated!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Okay well thank you for the advice! I will clean her up asap. Could this cause her to not be walking? Or is that a separate issue like parasites internally?

I'm so happy to hear that. I couldn't imagine maggots feeding on her all night. Thank you. I'm thinking flystrike happened because she's unable to move around.

 

[Rohini0821]

Update: day 5
Gave her a bath last night and a better, more thorough one again this morning. Cleaned off lots of maggots and found a wound on her bottom. I assume from them. She also has lice I think. Smaller bugs that appeared better after dried her eith the blow dryer. I also sprayed her with permectrin and gave her some nutri drench. She finally pooped and I attached a photo of that. It was smelly,, very sour smelling. She's been sleeping since her am bath but she's wrapped in a towel inside our home and warm. She is making little gurgling noises every so often. First time I've heard her make any noise. She's eating her yogurt and strawberries today. No interest in water or the eggs.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

You'll need to bath her bottom twice a day until you're no longer finding anymore maggots. Did you read the post by @azygous and @Eggcessive ? They're both very knowledgeable and can help you help this hen.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you applied some permethrin spray to her affected area with maggots? The permectrin ahould work. Her lying down, not being able to get up, is very bad, and if the maggots are not removed or treated, they will kill her. She could be lame due to Mareks disease or other problems. If you should lose her, since she is not drinking, you can get a necropsy and Mareks testing by your state poultry lab to find out what was causing her problems.

 

[Rohini0821]

You'll need to bath her bottom twice a day until you're no longer finding anymore maggots. Did you read the post by @azygous and @Eggcessive ? They're both very knowledgeable and can help you help this hen.

Hi there,
Yes I did see their repsones and followed their recommendations. My last post addressed some of the questions asked. Is the etiquette of this forum to reply directly to the person rather than the post?

I typed too soon earlier and Marilyn starting drinking water and eating wet food I provided her.