Chicken Walking Upright, Vet Says Not Eggbound, Please Advise

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

Hello, I have a 2 1/2 year old Lohmann Brown laying hen. She has been doing poorly the past 4 days. She is quite emaciated, labored breathing, walking upright, almost tipping over backward, neck hunched, eyes dull and half shut. She is eating (ravenously, if it's scrambled egg) and pooping normally. She is either molting or has been pecked (I suspect the latter, though not to the point of bleeding) and cannot get up onto even the lowest roost. I have had a vet examine her and the vet says she's not eggbound. I have her quarantined (none of the others exhibit similar problems), and have been giving her the usual 17% layer feed, a few black soldier fly larvae, and a bit of scrambled egg each day. I have been treating her water with tetracycline hydrachloride for 4 days in case it's a bacterial problem. She normally lives in a large coop with 2 other hens, aspen shavings, plenty of ventilation, and she had daytime access to a large run with mulch substrate. We have had quite hot weather and a lot of smoke due to wildfires north of us, but the chickens have shade and I always put a frozen water bottle in their water bucket midday to keep it cool. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[swamphiker]

I'm sorry your hen is doing poorly!

The upright stance is often associated with reproductive issues which are pretty common in older production breeds like your hen. It's great that you've already ruled out egg binding. Some other possibilities include salpingitis and ovarian tumors. More info on both of these below:

https://poultrydvm.com/condition/salpingitis
https://poultrydvm.com/condition/ovarian-cancer

For salpingitis, antibiotics may be effective.

My anecdotal experience with chickens with similar symptoms:
I've had a few older production birds (3-5 year old red sex-link, Rhode Island Red, leghorn) end up suffering with similar symptoms. We've ended up euthanizing these hens after supportive care and antibiotics didn't lead to improvements in quality of life. I didn't have necropsies done, but I suspect reproductive issues like those mentioned above, although none were egg bound.

It's worth noting that high production breeds have shorter lifespans than heritage breeds, it's an unfortunate trade-off to achieve high egg production.

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

I'm sorry your hen is doing poorly!

The upright stance is often associated with reproductive issues which are pretty common in older production breeds like your hen. It's great that you've already ruled out egg binding. Some other possibilities include salpingitis and ovarian tumors. More info on both of these below:

https://poultrydvm.com/condition/salpingitis
https://poultrydvm.com/condition/ovarian-cancer

For salpingitis, antibiotics may be effective.

My anecdotal experience with chickens with similar symptoms:
I've had a few older production birds (3-5 year old red sex-link, Rhode Island Red, leghorn) end up suffering with similar symptoms. We've ended up euthanizing these hens after supportive care and antibiotics didn't lead to improvements in quality of life. I didn't have necropsies done, but I suspect reproductive issues like those mentioned above, although none were egg bound.

It's worth noting that high production breeds have shorter lifespans than heritage breeds, it's an unfortunate trade-off to achieve high egg production.

Thank you, Swamphiker, for your reply. I have suspected reproductive issues. We have lost two other hens in the past year to reproductive tumors. I will monitor for one more day and then have her euthanized by the vet if there is no improvement. I can't bear to see an animal suffer.

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

Update: the vet did a fecal culture and found coccidia. We have been medicating all our birds for two weeks now and will do a thorough cleaning of their coop and run this weekend, replacing the mulch substrate with sand. Our quarantined hen is much improved - alert, energetic, and anxious to get back with her flock mates. She is in a separate section of the run currently, so they can all see and hear each other. We don't know how this happened, as we have good biosecurity and keep things clean, but I sure wish I had known more about this parasite sooner. There is so much to know when keeping chickens!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Glad to hear she is on the mend. Most do say that's an egg bound stance, so interesting to see that it could also be Coccidia. Coccidia lives in the dirt and every environment has it. Chickens and other animals have it as well, but it's when there's an overload that it becomes an issue.

 

[swamphiker]

Thanks so much for the update! I'm glad your hen is doing better and this is very helpful information for other.