Chicken who can't walk

[fezmo]

I recently noticed that one of my hens, Hash Brown, is having trouble walking. As far as I can tell she doesn't have any injuries, and it doesn't seem like she's in any serious pain. Hash Brown has never been the most mobile chicken, but she basically can't move more than a few feet at a time. I haven't been able to get a video of her walking to upload but I'll keep trying. The one thing I have noticed that when she loses her balance, she tips almost always to the left side. I don't know if its important, but she is probably 4 or 5 years old and she has always been a pretty heavy bird with relatively small legs.

 

[Debbie292d]

To upload a video, post it to YouTube, make it shareable, then you can link it back to here.

If she's been overweight her whole life, then this alone could be the cause. What's she been eating? Is she getting layer feed and some oyster shell?

You could try vitamin therapy too, by starting out with Poultry Cell in her/their water every other day. If you have some Vit B-Complex, give her 1/4 of one of those daily for a few days and see if it's helping.

 

[fezmo]

Hey, thanks for responding. I am still unable to get a video uploaded, but I think I may have figured out what is wrong with her. I noticed that her feet and comb were looking a little bit pale, and I checked her skin and the feathers around her vent and under her wattles. It appears she's got an infestation of lice. I gave her a bath, which she was not happy about, and cut a bunch of louse eggs off the feathers around her vent. I had a couple of rescued roosters in the past that had become anemic because of the amount of bugs on them, and I'm pretty sure that's the case with Hash Brown too. I put diatomaceous earth in all of their normal dust bathing spots and checked all of my other birds. She was the only one who had an infestation. I've been trying to increase vitamin C and protein in her diet, so hopefully that works. If anyone else has any suggestions of how to get rid of a lot of bugs quickly, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[2ndTink]

Elector PSP works great, not cheap, but very effective.