Chicken's tail drooping, sudden neck jerking movements. Help!

[Chickenmama801]

My 5yo Buff Orpington has been walking slowly since this morning, her tail is drooping, and she keeps making a weird jerking movement with her neck. Almost like a seizure or something. She stretches it out real quick and jerks it side to side, every 30 seconds or so. I was thinking maybe she is egg bound but the neck jerking is scaring me. She refuses to eat anything, even yogurt which she usually devours. She has been standing in this stance is one spot and only moves if I shoo her gently. I have 2 other hens, both of which are perfectly fine. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sorry to hear about your hen. How is she?

 

[blippitydar]

Hi - I'm here looking for the same answer but see you didn't get much feedback. Having exact same issue with one of my buffs - did yours resolve? Figure out what it was?

My 5yo Buff Orpington has been walking slowly since this morning, her tail is drooping, and she keeps making a weird jerking movement with her neck. Almost like a seizure or something. She stretches it out real quick and jerks it side to side, every 30 seconds or so. I was thinking maybe she is egg bound but the neck jerking is scaring me. She refuses to eat anything, even yogurt which she usually devours. She has been standing in this stance is one spot and only moves if I shoo her gently. I have 2 other hens, both of which are perfectly fine. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
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[Mtnboomer]

Have you checked her crop? If it is impacted or "sour crop" then they sometimes exhibit this behavior especially the refusal to eat. If she hasn't eaten anything in awhile her crop should be empty when you feel it. If its not, and you are sure she hasn't eaten, then she is having a problem processing food.
You can try Massage techniques to help break up the obstruction and get things moving. (Google it and you will find videos of how to do it. I am a visual learner and that explained things better than just reading them from a page).
Also make sure she has plenty if water.

2nd possibility may be respiratory distress or inflammation from literally anything. There are too many possibilities to take a guess without more information.
She is an older bird. I know they can live longer for sure but she is reaching what on average are her twilight years. Any number of ailments and body failures may be occurring and the visual signs are just secondary symptoms.
Mareks disease is most dangerous to younger birds which is 100% fatal if they are symptomatic. If they are mot symptomatic and survive the first 6 months, they live normal lives. But older birds can develop tumors around their organs leading to further complications which dont present themselves until later on.

Chickens are prey animals which still hold the instincts from long ago to hide injuries for as long as possible to avoid being singled out by predators. Often by the time they showing visual signs of distress, something has been going on for awhile and it is often too late.

I hope this is not the case for you and you find a solution to help your bird, but keep in mind that there are any number of things that can cause illness in a chicken and any response from online forums is a guess at best. If you really want to find out an actual cause, take it to a vet. If not, consider humane euthanasia. If it does die, hopefully not, have it necropsied to be sure its not something contagious that could affect your entire flock. Should this one pass, info from a pathologist may save the others.

 

[blippitydar]

I appreciate your feedback. My buffs are all around 3 years old; she stopped laying some time ago and generally just appeared to 'slow down' a bit, though she still seemed perfectly content. We would tease that she decided to retire. But two days ago I noticed that she was staying a bit off to herself and just picking at her feed, and this morning she started with the above. And you are right, it's impossible to know for sure - from reading, if I had to make a guess, I'd say ovarian cancer sounds most likely. Trying to decide which of the humane euthanasia methods I can handle without botching. She's been a gentle sweet girl and i'm hoping to give her a gentle passing.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I appreciate your feedback. My buffs are all around 3 years old; she stopped laying some time ago and generally just appeared to 'slow down' a bit, though she still seemed perfectly content. We would tease that she decided to retire. But two days ago I noticed that she was staying a bit off to herself and just picking at her feed, and this morning she started with the above. And you are right, it's impossible to know for sure - from reading, if I had to make a guess, I'd say ovarian cancer sounds most likely. Trying to decide which of the humane euthanasia methods I can handle without botching. She's been a gentle sweet girl and i'm hoping to give her a gentle passing.

Whichever method you choose, just remember to be deliberate and don't hesitate. If using a knife or hatchet, ensure the edges are sharp.

I would not recommend wringing of the neck (cervical dislocation) for your first time. Although it is quick and my preferred method, you need to be precise with your movements.

Always remember that a quick and painless end to suffering although wished to be the last option is often the most merciful and signifies true care and respect for the animal.

 

[blippitydar]

Whichever method you choose, just remember to be deliberate and don't hesitate. If using a knife or hatchet, ensure the edges are sharp.

I would not recommend wringing of the neck (cervical dislocation) for your first time. Although it is quick and my preferred method, you need to be precise with your movements.

Always remember that a quick and painless end to suffering although wished to be the last option is often the most merciful and signifies true care and respect for the animal.

I really do appreciate your advice. This was totally out of my wheelhouse, and I probably could have asked a neighbor who hunts and is used to these things for help, but I'm a believer in taking responsibility for what you choose to invest in. If it helps anyone contemplating the best way to go, I was able to get through it without drama or trauma by using, as you said, a very sharp knife and deliberate motions. I first picked her up and held her for a minute, and when I set her into the cone she was calm. I spoke softly as I took my time extending her neck and feeling for her jawline to be certain I knew exactly where to cut, and she stayed calm and relatively still throughout. After using the knife edge to gently separate the feathers so as not to have to saw through quills, the cut was deliberate, but quick and easy. I made a second cut on the other side, and did pith right afterwards to be certain. Not fun, but not traumatic. Knowing that it was the right and necessary thing to do to end her suffering helped. Tip - I wore cut-resistant gloves. For those not comfortable handling a knife in this manner, the gloves gave me confidence to be as deliberate as I needed to be in my motions.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I really do appreciate your advice. This was totally out of my wheelhouse, and I probably could have asked a neighbor who hunts and is used to these things for help, but I'm a believer in taking responsibility for what you choose to invest in. If it helps anyone contemplating the best way to go, I was able to get through it without drama or trauma by using, as you said, a very sharp knife and deliberate motions. I first picked her up and held her for a minute, and when I set her into the cone she was calm. I spoke softly as I took my time extending her neck and feeling for her jawline to be certain I knew exactly where to cut, and she stayed calm and relatively still throughout. After using the knife edge to gently separate the feathers so as not to have to saw through quills, the cut was deliberate, but quick and easy. I made a second cut on the other side, and did pith right afterwards to be certain. Not fun, but not traumatic. Knowing that it was the right and necessary thing to do to end her suffering helped. Tip - I wore cut-resistant gloves. For those not comfortable handling a knife in this manner, the gloves gave me confidence to be as deliberate as I needed to be in my motions.

Well done.