Chicken unable to jump up to perch

[brownshaverchickenmum]

Hi all,
I have two brown shaver chickens, both turning 3 in November. We moved house earlier this year and they spent about 4 months living with my parents. They laid sporadically while living there and only have laid once or twice since they've come to live with us in June. Since they came back, one has had a more pale, shrunken comb. She still eats normally, drinks lots, and her poop has been normal.
However, the last few weeks, she has gone downhill a little, sleeping a lot more and she has lost some weight. She still eats when offered (she has never been a big treat taker, even as a young one) and drinks but is more likely to stand off and nap. I have brought them more in the sun the last 2 weeks and she enjoys sunbathing. I have given her nutridrops, put dewormer in their water this week, and today I gave her some meloxicam which seemed to perk her up a lot; she was out a lot of the day eating and hanging out with her sister and I only saw her napping once.
Tonight I heard a racket in the coop and when I went out to see, she was having difficulty jumping up to go to bed. I wondered if it was the meloxicam I gave her today. I checked her over and she was walking fine and her wings were ok.

None of the vets I have tried in the past have been any use for chickens. I went through around 5 with a past chicken, but they seemed to be guessing or felt like treating a chicken was pointless. I don't want to send her off for xrays, scans and bloodwork as in the past that showed nothing and cost me about a month's salary (which sounds awful because I love my chickens, but I don't want to put her through the stress). Not only that, we are currently in lockdown at the moment, so can't drive out of our area to where any vets that see chickens are. I tried contacting an online avian vet but never heard back, I am guessing due to the lockdown.

I wonder if anyone has any experience with this? Could her having trouble jumping up be a side effect of the medication? She has never had any trouble before so it seems to line up today with having given it to her.
Thanks.

 

[InterestingChickens]

Hi all,
I have two brown shaver chickens, both turning 3 in November. We moved house earlier this year and they spent about 4 months living with my parents. They laid sporadically while living there and only have laid once or twice since they've come to live with us in June. Since they came back, one has had a more pale, shrunken comb. She still eats normally, drinks lots, and her poop has been normal.
However, the last few weeks, she has gone downhill a little, sleeping a lot more and she has lost some weight. She still eats when offered (she has never been a big treat taker, even as a young one) and drinks but is more likely to stand off and nap. I have brought them more in the sun the last 2 weeks and she enjoys sunbathing. I have given her nutridrops, put dewormer in their water this week, and today I gave her some meloxicam which seemed to perk her up a lot; she was out a lot of the day eating and hanging out with her sister and I only saw her napping once.
Tonight I heard a racket in the coop and when I went out to see, she was having difficulty jumping up to go to bed. I wondered if it was the meloxicam I gave her today. I checked her over and she was walking fine and her wings were ok.

None of the vets I have tried in the past have been any use for chickens. I went through around 5 with a past chicken, but they seemed to be guessing or felt like treating a chicken was pointless. I don't want to send her off for xrays, scans and bloodwork as in the past that showed nothing and cost me about a month's salary (which sounds awful because I love my chickens, but I don't want to put her through the stress). Not only that, we are currently in lockdown at the moment, so can't drive out of our area to where any vets that see chickens are. I tried contacting an online avian vet but never heard back, I am guessing due to the lockdown.

I wonder if anyone has any experience with this? Could her having trouble jumping up be a side effect of the medication? She has never had any trouble before so it seems to line up today with having given it to her.
Thanks.

As long as you haven't overdosed her I don't think it will have that effect. For the moment encourage her to sleep on the ground in some sort of box filled with shavings.

 

[Chicalina]

She has an illness that is causing her symptoms, which include preventing her from being very mobile. Nothing to do with the medication, which I would continue the course of.

You've got to figure out why she is sick. She is a 3 year old production red, yes? Not heard of shavers. If so, then she may very likely have egg related issues, such as being egg bound, which can lead to egg peritonitis, ascites (feel is she has a watery belly), etc.

I would suggest giving her calcium citrate tablets every day until she lays a shelled egg.

Have you checked that her crop is filling during the day, and empty in the morning?

I would also check and treat her for parasites. I use ivermectin spot on which is really good.

I'll tag @azygous who is the chicken wizard

 

[brownshaverchickenmum]

She has an illness that is causing her symptoms, which include preventing her from being very mobile. Nothing to do with the medication, which I would continue the course of.

You've got to figure out why she is sick. She is a 3 year old production red, yes? Not heard of shavers. If so, then she may very likely have egg related issues, such as being egg bound, which can lead to egg peritonitis, ascites (feel is she has a watery belly), etc.

I would suggest giving her calcium citrate tablets every day until she lays a shelled egg.

Have you checked that her crop is filling during the day, and empty in the morning?

I would also check and treat her for parasites. I use ivermectin spot on which is really good.

I'll tag @azygous who is the chicken wizard

Thank you for the response. In New Zealand we call them brown shavers, I'm not sure what they're called elsewhere - rhode island reds? She might be a hybrid? I know from local forums that this specific breed tends to have major egg-related issues.

I'll do that - they get calcium in their water. Her crop is filling and emptying, she happily eats. She poops as normal. I watched them out the window most the afternoon and she spent a lot of that pecking and eating pellets. Only when she couldn't jump to the perch was I worried again.

 

[Chicalina]

Have a feel under her for a watery balloon under her skin. This is common in production breeds and makes them too heavy to fly up to a perch and they tend to waddle instead of run.

 

[InterestingChickens]

When she naps dose she fluff up her feathers?

 

[Chicalina]

It is a big red flag, the lack of egg laying. Although they are 3 and coming to the end of their prime, they should still be laying, just not every day, so this points to likely eggy problems.

 

[brownshaverchickenmum]

@Chicalina @InterestingChickens thanks for the replies. I just checked on her and she is sleeping peacefully next to her sister on the perch. I had a feel today and here and there the last few days but hadn't noticed any balloony kind of feeling. She doesn't fluff up when napping. I think you're right about the egg laying, I thought because we went into winter and they both had their first "proper" moult that it would take a bit to get them laying again. I will try find some calcium nitrate tablets tonight

 

[Chicalina]

it's calcium citrate if you can get it. If not then calcium carbonate like Tums will do though its a second choice option.

can you recount the timeline of the past few months, with your winter, the moult, when they stopped laying, how many eggs you get now, etc. I'm not familiar with when the NZ seasons are. It might be helpful to assess if it is actually just a seasonal drop off or not.

 

[brownshaverchickenmum]

it's calcium citrate if you can get it. If not then calcium carbonate like Tums will do though its a second choice option.

can you recount the timeline of the past few months, with your winter, the moult, when they stopped laying, how many eggs you get now, etc. I'm not familiar with when the NZ seasons are. It might be helpful to assess if it is actually just a seasonal drop off or not.

Whoops, that's the one. I am trying to find it online here. We don't have Tums. I wonder if I can syringe the calcium liquid supplement into her mouth until I can find something?

They stopped laying around May, I think, but I think were still laying a few times a week. It's hard to know since they were living at my parents. Our Winter is from June-August. This one moulted around May and then the other (big chunky food-lover) moulted in June. This winter has been particularly cold, so I figured the drop off was because of that. The other chicken has not started up again yet and she is very healthy.