Chicken shaking and her balance is off....

[Wiccanchickens]

I've had this lovely Wyandotte chicken for a little over two years now and she's had some health issues in the past. For about a year, she's had loss of feathers. She survived the winter pretty good but now it looks like she's having problems...
I opened the coops up this morning and instead of being on the perch with the other chickens, she was on the floor in a corner. She wobbled over to me and almost fell down the coop's door, poor girl. :'(
She's also shaking but I don't know if that's because it's fall and we live in a pretty cold area. Probably not though since she's still shaking when we brought her inside.
Here's a picture of her. If anyone has any suggestions at all, I would be most grateful.
Thank you!

 

[azygous]

I suspect you hen has avian virus tumors and is now in her end stage where they are affecting her nervous system and organs. This is not meant as a diagnosis. It's purely intuitive, stemming from my own experience having an avian virus in my flock.

However, it's just a wild guess. She may have a temporary issue related to food intake and is weak. Try giving her warm sugar water with a squirt of Poultry Nutri-drench mixed in. About a teaspoon of sugar to a cup of water. Dip her beak to get her interested or syringe the liquid into her. If this is just hypoglycemia, she will revive. Then feed her egg and boiled rice to get her going again.

If this doesn't work, then she has a more serious issue.

What were her health issues in the past? What did you do at those times to treat? Were they successful? Is there a reason why you haven't tried those treatments this time?

 

[Wiccanchickens]

I suspect you hen has avian virus tumors and is now in her end stage where they are affecting her nervous system and organs. This is not meant as a diagnosis. It's purely intuitive, stemming from my own experience having an avian virus in my flock.

However, it's just a wild guess. She may have a temporary issue related to food intake and is weak. Try giving her warm sugar water with a squirt of Poultry Nutri-drench mixed in. About a teaspoon of sugar to a cup of water. Dip her beak to get her interested or syringe the liquid into her. If this is just hypoglycemia, she will revive. Then feed her egg and boiled rice to get her going again.

If this doesn't work, then she has a more serious issue.

What were her health issues in the past? What did you do at those times to treat? Were they successful? Is there a reason why you haven't tried those treatments this time?

Thank you so much! I will try that. Her health issues were that a lot of her feathers didn't grow back while molting.

 

[azygous]

I suspected as such. My hen was also a B/W Wyandotte like yours. She couldn't grow normal feathers after molt, either. It was worst right before she died.

 

[Wiccanchickens]

I suspected as such. My hen was also a B/W Wyandotte like yours. She couldn't grow normal feathers after molt, either. It was worst right before she died.

Sorry about the loss of your hen...we got mine to drink some of the sugar water so that's good I think...we're giving her a bath in epsom salt as I've heard that works. Tysm again, for the advice!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

So sorry she isn't doing well. Some chickens that I rescued young were not doing well. I thought nutrition & attention would help them. It did, except for 1. She never quite gained enough weight, never had the lovely, full, Wyandotte feathers grow in, never had the energy or zip the others did. 2 years of me trying everything I could think of nutritionally & even a few meds, one winter she just seemed to be slowly fading away, hunched like a poor, old lady. A necropsy showed she had an enlarged heart, a birth defect. We never really know what's going on internally, when a chicken doesn't feel well. Sometimes it's viral, or fungal or bacterial, parasitic, an affected organ like liver, a birth defect or condition we only learn after they pass & necropsy is done. All we can do is the best we can, trying to provide a decent life & make them more comfortable when ill. Sorry your girl isn't well. Sometimes I've tried a teaspoon of baking soda per gallon of water if digestion seems slow or I hear stomach type sounds, as the baking soda encourages appetite.
I did stool sample tests, blood tests, trying to see if they showed anything parasitic, fungal, bacterial or infectious...when results are normal it really is a head scratcher. It's very frustrating when trying to nurse an ailing pet, & there's no indication of exactly what is wrong. Wish I could be of more help. Sometimes it just has to enough that we tried & cared, & they know we did.

 

[Wiccanchickens]

So sorry she isn't doing well. Some chickens that I rescued young were not doing well. I thought nutrition & attention would help them. It did, except for 1. She never quite gained enough weight, never had the lovely, full, Wyandotte feathers grow in, never had the energy or zip the others did. 2 years of me trying everything I could think of nutritionally & even a few meds, one winter she just seemed to be slowly fading away, hunched like a poor, old lady. A necropsy showed she had an enlarged heart, a birth defect. We never really know what's going on internally, when a chicken doesn't feel well. Sometimes it's viral, or fungal or bacterial, parasitic, an affected organ like liver, a birth defect or condition we only learn after they pass & necropsy is done. All we can do is the best we can, trying to provide a decent life & make them more comfortable when ill. Sorry your girl isn't well. Sometimes I've tried a teaspoon of baking soda per gallon of water if digestion seems slow or I hear stomach type sounds, as the baking soda encourages appetite.
I did stool sample tests, blood tests, trying to see if they showed anything parasitic, fungal, bacterial or infectious...when results are normal it really is a head scratcher. It's very frustrating when trying to nurse an ailing pet, & there's no indication of exactly what is wrong. Wish I could be of more help. Sometimes it just has to enough that we tried & cared, & they know we did.

This is a really beautiful post. Thank you. She seems better after her bath but that could just be me being hopeful.

 

[Wiccanchickens]

I've had this lovely Wyandotte chicken for a little over two years now and she's had some health issues in the past. For about a year, she's had loss of feathers. She survived the winter pretty good but now it looks like she's having problems...
I opened the coops up this morning and instead of being on the perch with the other chickens, she was on the floor in a corner. She wobbled over to me and almost fell down the coop's door, poor girl. :'(
She's also shaking but I don't know if that's because it's fall and we live in a pretty cold area. Probably not though since she's still shaking when we brought her inside.
Here's a picture of her. If anyone has any suggestions at all, I would be most grateful.
Thank you!View attachment 3297385View attachment 3297387

Update: She's looking a lot better. She's more alert and we gave her hard boiled eggs like @azygous suggested. She's eating okay. Making the rice right now.

 

[azygous]

Did you happen to have a recent cold spell abruptly interrupted by a warmish or hot day? That occurred here, and a young hen just about died from heat exhaustion from the wild temperature swing from cold to hot. She came in to the run from free ranging and collapsed at my feet into semi-consciousness. I whipped her up and ran into the house with her and tubed room temp Gatoraid into her crop, a good half a cup. She revived in less than an hour and by evening was back to normal.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Did you happen to have a recent cold spell abruptly interrupted by a warmish or hot day? That occurred here, and a young hen just about died from heat exhaustion from the wild temperature swing from cold to hot. She came in to the run from free ranging and collapsed at my feet into semi-consciousness. I whipped her up and ran into the house with her and tubed room temp Gatoraid into her crop, a good half a cup. She revived in less than an hour and by evening was back to normal.

Gatorade or Pedialyte are great! Sav a Chick has a pouch of powder electrolytes or probiotics you can mix up as you need, always keep some on hand. Try these, too, it can't hurt.

You know what, another weird one is fungal, not all fungal issues act the same. Sometimes, you don't see the typical fungal signs, they can get slow crop, that's not necessarily sour, but doesn't feel quite right, like soft, but kinda mushy, hard to describe, but my hen had stuff in her crop, not much, but when I felt it, I could depress the mushiness feeling & it didn't bounce back right away like it usually did, which indicates dehydration...like the whole bird was sluggish, pale, weak & her crop was just odd. Her body temperature seemed oddly cold, too. Those couple times, the metronidazole and baking soda did not help. So I figured, here we go, guessing....so then I tried something for fungal, miconazole nitrate, a fungal ointment I sometimes applied to red Roosters bottom (still can't figure out how a Roo can get what resembles a red skin diaper rash skin & no feathers there, when he doesn't wear diapers). Just about as much as a pea, on my finger tip, then gently into the mouth & they do swallow it easily. What amazed me, just a small amount helped within 2 hours. I gave them electrolytes in water & the fungal ointment "pea" every 4 hrs & they bounced back quickly. Yes, they were losing feathers, too, more than normal molt, it was very odd.

When we can't get to a vet that has avian experience, sometimes we just have to try something that may help. It's not good to just guess, but ask any bird "mom" & they'll agree, you rack your brain thinking back to all you've experienced & then reach out to people on this site with mega-experience...no one wants to just give up because there are no decent avian vets nearby.

It's interesting you mentioned she perked up after a bath...every single bird I've ever rescued perked up after a bath, especially ones with those bloodsucking mites, wow they were so relieved & grateful. They really love a hairdry on low, too...practically fall asleep on the towel in my lap when I dry their fluffy feathers after a lavender oatmeal bath...they know what feels good!

I set up a mini hospital in a huge garden tub that never gets used anyway, in my bathroom. We take showers here, so that tub has become the official "chicken spa"
I put some large clean chicken towels lining the bottom, set up food & water, and a box on it's side also lined with cushy towel, and the patient can be monitored, kept warm & have peace while recovering. They do need warmth when they don't feel well.