Chicken walking backwards, sneezing a bit, watery diarrhea

[chickfused]

She was fine last night, when I got up this morning, I noticed she didn't want to come off the roost. To get on and off the roost requires a series of hops, and every time she'd hop from one level to the next, she'd stick her butt in the air, head down, and walk backward a few steps before continuing on her way. Occasionally she will sneeze a bit, but it's very light - not a hard sneeze at all. And she's got watery diarrhea with white urates in it.

She seems to be a bit off her food and drink, but she's doing both.

Physically, she looks 100% normal. No eye or nasal discharge, no messy butt, shiny healthy feathers, etc. And when she's not doing the weird thing, she stands tall and looks around and forages, etc.

I scambled an egg with some Poultry Cell in it and she drank a half teaspoon of it or so.

When she was a few days old chick, she went through a few days of backwards running in the brooder. I took them off medicated feed, and she cleared up after a bit. For whatever that's worth. Could be coincidental.

I should also note that she's at point of lay.

Otherwise, I'm at a bit of a loss.

 

[Eggcessive]

Usually when treating a case of wry neck, the amount of vitamin E should be at least 400 IU daily. I would get some human E wherever you buy vitamins, and add that to the Poultry Cell, which has thiamine as well as E, both of which are needed to treat wry neck. Also, if you could give a small amount of cooked egg for a small amount of selenium.

You might check if she is selecting certain seeds or parts of the scratch and peck feed, avoiding some parts that contain the vitamins she needs. It might be better to switch to a crumble or pellet type feed which is balanced, and each bite has all she needs.

 

[chickfused]

I was considering switching for this reason. She could very well be seed sorting. I took a 400 IU vitamin E tablet and put it on 2 tsp of tuna fish and that went into the chicken with no issue. After the dosage this morning, I haven't seen her walk backwards in a couple of hours now. So I'm hopeful we'll get her turned around quickly. Thanks all!

Edit: Normal poos now though she still gives a slight snorty sneeze now and then.

 

[Eggcessive]

Where are you located? Did the neighbor have Newcastles disease confirmed with testing or a necropsy, or did they just make the diagnosis on their own? There are varying degrees of Newcastles. The virulent or exotic Newcastles is a disease that your state vet would come in a destroy a flock and other flocks nearby if there was an outbreak. It was not found in the US until a few years ago when there was an outbreak in S. Cailfornia that spread some. Here is some reading:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...ease-information/avian/virulent-newcastle/vnd

It is good that she seems to be improving. While treating for wry neck, it is common to use 400 IU. Of course, after a few weeks, if there was no improvement, it should not be continued. Hopefully, changing the feed will help.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she is improving. The only time I have ever witnessed one of my hens walking backward was during a molt, and it only happened once. I would continue the treatment you are giving.

 

[chickfused]

Heatstroke seems more likely. There's never been any ND here.

At any rate, my girl seems to improve greatly for a few hours every time I give her Poultry Cell. So I'm going to keep doing that with the tuna (which she gobbles up with great gusto!) and with the vitamin E. I've got 20 bags of the Scratch 'n Peck, so we're going to have to do what we do with it for a bit. If the supplementation does fix her, then maybe I can get some normal layer feed and mix it in/fill one feeder w/ that and leave the other. IDK. I'll figure it out.

She spent all day being a normal chicken with her flock, just walking a bit oddly with head down/flat back. But she stands up straight now when she's not moving and had no problem getting up on her roost for the night. I'm cautiously optimistic that we've got a deficiency issue.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If she molting?

 

[chickfused]

No, I don't think so. It's just odd that she did this for a few days as a few day old chick and here we are again. I hope there's nothing wrong with her internally, but she has never seemed unhealthy at all. She doesn't look in any way unhealthy now even.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That is a _great_ idea! And lets me save my (rather significant) investment!

Her poo other than the one episode of diarrhea, looks totally normal. This morning, she's back to the weirdness. I got her tuna and Poultry Cell and Vit E in her, let's see how she feels in a couple of hours. No other chickens are exhibiting any signs of illness and she still looks perfectly healthy and beautiful.

She still is sneezing occasionally, but without any "wetness" to it. More like the "I have dust in my nose" snorty sneeze.

Can chickens get COVID? We've all had it this past week... When I had it, for 3 days I had an unrelenting headache...

Edit: Internet says they can't catch COVID from us. So that's good.

Video of her actions? Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

An occasional sneeze is probably environmental - food/water in the nostrils, dust, etc. if she had respiratory illness, then she'd be exhibiting more symptoms - facing swelling, mucous, coughing, bubbles or pus in the eyes, lethargy, etc. etc.

Soaking the feed or fermenting it may be helpful so she'll eat all of it instead of picking and choosing.

I'd go to Walmart, CVS, etc. and pick up a bottle of Vitamin E and B-Complex. Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily along with a little egg in addition to her normal feed. I understand you are giving Poultry Cell, but look at the label, 50IU of E per fluid ounce! so she's not getting enough E.

 

[chickfused]

Well, just like yesterday, after a bit of treatment, the backwards walking displayed on waking is gone. I'll try to catch it tomorrow morning and continue doing what I'm doing as it definitely seems to help at least short term. Thank you all very much!!