Chicken taking short steps and then sitting down

[Punter16]

Hello,

We have a Sapphire Gem that is about 7 months old and for the last 3-4 weeks, she has been frequently going from acting fine>taking shorter and shorter steps>sitting down for brief periods. Her last few steps when she does this will be very short until she sits down. She seems to have her mouth open more than the other birds as well.

She can get up if she wants to (ex: we come with food, other birds peck her, etc.) but she will revert to this behavior shortly thereafter. She can run around fine...until she can't.

We have examined her and it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with her legs or hips. Crop seems fine and she has been dewormed recently. None of the other birds cooped with her are exhibiting like behavior.

Thoughts about our Pebbles Bird? Thanks in advance!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi, and welcome to BYC!

Could she be molting? We had one that did that too.

When is the last time Pebbles laid an egg? She might be having trouble laying her next one and heavy breathing due to pain or strain. Three or four weeks of acting like that doesn't sound much like an egg issue though.

To be on the safe side, I'd give her 300 mg of Calcium Citrate +D3. You can give her the pill whole. If you don't have any right now, but have TUMS, break one of those in half and feed it to her. I'd do this for a few days but try get the good stuff if you don't have any. If laying an egg isn't her problem, it won't hurt her to have this.

I'd also give her some vitamins to help her build her body stronger for whatever she's going through. We use Poultry Cell in their water.

Hopefully, she starts feeling better soon!