Chicken walking low to the ground. Is she injured? (Video Included).

[EggSighted4Life]

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Huh... I've never seen that before. Your roost doesn't look like it is super conducive to feather pecking in that area. Have you ever seen your head hen mount her?

Maybe the condition of her feathers is in large part due to standard wear and tear... Are you getting eggs from her still?

Some parasites are microscopic and can live inside the feather shaft and will never be seen by the naked eye (though depluming mites are not that common, just sharing information). Some live in stumps or wood cracks like under the roost and only come out to feed on the birds, so you may not see those during a standard inspection either.

Sorry for being intrusive... just looking for clues. Can you post a pic of her lovely vent area?

To me feathers with their shaft exposed is a SYMPTOM of parasites or maybe over preening... which is another symptom by itself... but I don't know what constitutes "over" preening... I am also here to learn, thank you for sharing.

 

[Sundevill11]

This is the best picture I could get of her vent area. She will not let me near her since I've already caught her twice earlier. I did make a specific inspection of the vent yesterday and it did not seem abnormal in color, swollen, etc. We have 8 hens so trying to determine who's egg is who is still a mystery to us. (Other than the white hens who lay white eggs). Everyone else lays brown eggs. I try to check in on her but either she lays when I don't see it or she is hiding them. So, to answer your question, I am assuming she is still laying. We don't always get an equal amount of eggs per day per bird.

 

[Sundevill11]

An update on the hen with clearly some effect from molting. She is still walking odd and now does it in reverse. Has anyone else seen this before as a side effect of molting because she is uncomfortable? She is still eating and pooping normally.

 

[Sundevill11]

An update on the hen with clearly some effect from molting. She is still walking odd and now does it in reverse. Has anyone else seen this before as a side effect of molting because she is uncomfortable? She is still eating and pooping normally.

If anyone can give me feedback on this matter it would be appreciated. Her staggering appears to have worsened. Should she be quarantined with a buddy in the garage? It's just below freezing outside and she is still missing a considerable amount of feathers. While outside in the protected garden, she is basically standing in one of the nesting boxes.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you treating her with vitamins? I would use vitamin E 400 IU plus a regular poultry vitamin or 1/2 piece of B complex, in case of a riboflavin deficiency, and some wry neck symptoms (walking backward.) Since those can als be a neurological sign of Mareks, I would keep an eye on her. Molting can be very hard on them, and bring out strange symptoms.

 

[Sundevill11]

Are you treating her with vitamins? I would use vitamin E 400 IU plus a regular poultry vitamin or 1/2 piece of B complex, in case of a riboflavin deficiency, and some wry neck symptoms (walking backward.) Since those can als be a neurological sign of Mareks, I would keep an eye on her. Molting can be very hard on them, and bring out strange symptoms.

Yes. I've given her a dose of Nutri-Drench as well as getting her additional high protein foods.

 

[Sundevill11]

Thanks to all who offered feedback on my hen who has been going through a very difficult molt. As of today she has improved tremendously. Almost all of her feathers have returned and she isn't walking in reverse or staggering anymore. During this period of molt we gave her a dose of Nutra Drench every day, cooked her scrambled eggs, offered 20% layer pellets and occasionally offered her a can of tuna fish.

We now know how to handle this in the future.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank hou so much for the update, and good to hear that she is back to normal. It is amazing how hard a molt can be for some chickens.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

Thanks to all who offered feedback on my hen who has been going through a very difficult molt. As of today she has improved tremendously. Almost all of her feathers have returned and she isn't walking in reverse or staggering anymore. During this period of molt we gave her a dose of Nutra Drench every day, cooked her scrambled eggs, offered 20% layer pellets and occasionally offered her a can of tuna fish.

We now know how to handle this in the future.

Well managed I'm so glad she is doing better. I've been following!
Thanks for updating, threads like this help so many of us