Dilated eye and unsteadiness

[RCL]

Clover is our 1yr old cuckoo marans mutt.

I would appreciate help figuring out what’s wrong with her, so I’ll explain all the issues I’ve noticed and maybe someone will put 2 and 2 together to suggest a diagnosis. I’m trying to figure out why she’s off balance and her right eye is dilated.

Ongoing symptoms since we got her (March 2021)

• Pale comb and wattle, always
• Naps a lot
• Bad case of lice last month (treated and resolved with permethrin)
• Lays small eggs, though she lays almost daily. Her largest eggs are smaller than our other pullet’s first eggs.

Recent Symptoms (within past few weeks)

• Unsteady when standing; stands with her legs crossed or misplaces her footing and trips over herself
• Prefers to lay down rather than stand - as soon as she walks or runs to her destination, she lays down. When I’m feeding her treats she wobbles a little and tries to eat laying down while her sisters are standing.
• Tail down most of the time
• When I hold out treats like broccoli leaf, her depth perception seems off and she bites at the air a couple times before her mouth contacts the food.
• Dilated right eye, even in bright sunlight (noticed today)
• Limping and babying her right leg when she stands. She still runs for treats, free ranges the yard, roosts at night, perches on log piles during the day, etc
• Started laying her eggs laying down rather than standing to drop the egg- the protective coating on the eggs have been making them stick to her butt feathers (mitigated with a little Vaseline around the vent feathers)

Other details

• Regular Feed: free range with all day access to Purina layer feed, free choice oyster shell and grit available
• Treats: broccoli leaves, arugula, lettuce, dried meal worms
• Pecking order: second from the top of 4 hens; they all get along and no one picks on each other
  
  Tried to attach a video but it didn’t work - it showed how many times she bites at the lettuce but misses. And how she sits down to eat, and at the end walks away with tail down while others have tall standing tails

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The eye may have been damaged somehow or she may have some type of illness like Marek's that is starting to present.

Do you feel any bloat/swelling or fluid in her abdomen below the vent between her legs?

I would make sure she's eating/drinking well. For an adult hen like this I would direct dose her with poultry vitamins like Poultry Cell at a rate of 1cc per 3 pounds of weight once a day for a week to see if that helps with the balance issues.

If you lose her, sending the body to your state lab for necropsy may give you more info about what is ailing her.

 

[RCL]

Hi, thanks for the reply @Wyorp Rock!
We ordered some Poultry Cell and it should be here today. She’s been keeping her dilated eye closed during the day now. I’ve noticed a little head shaking as well, and this morning her droppings were bright yellow (like bile). She doesn’t seem to have any swelling in her abdomen, but will keep an eye on it. She is still eating and drinking as usual and laying eggs.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I you need to, you can rinse her eye with saline 1-2 times a day.

It would be good to inspect her ears to see if there's infection or mites. Shaking the head may be a neurological symptom since that eye is staying dilated - just a guess on my part.

It's good that she's drinking/eating, etc.

Keep me posted.

 

[RCL]

8/15 Update: As of last week Clover started keeping her dilated right eye closed, and it slowly started getting swollen over the course of the week. Another new development- our youngest chicken started attacking Clover anytime she’d get close to the other 3 hens. I’m not sure if she’s trying to take Clover’s #2 place in the pecking order, or kick the sick chicken out of the flock, but either way it sucked to see. It seemed to stress Clover out more when we separated her from the flock, so we ultimately put her back with the group and kept an eye on them.

Yesterday the eye swelling was at its worst, and started oozing. We brought her to the vet and she prescribed oral antibiotics and terramycin ointment for her eye. After one dose of each yesterday, Clover’s energy seems to be up today and she has her eye open for the first time in over a week. I’m hopeful that there will be much more improvement after the 10 day regimen is complete.

 

[topochico225]

Also, if you want to post a video, you need to upload it to youtube/vimeo and then post the link here.

 

[RCL]

8/25 update: after 10 days of oral antibiotics and Terramycin, Clover sadly isn’t showing any signs of improvement. Her eye is still swollen and dilated, she’s still unsteady on her feet, she last laid an egg August 12 (thin shelled and broken), and now she is eating less and less. And her healthy left eye is starting to turn from yellow to red. Yesterday we found a patch of clovers (her absolute favorite treat and the reason for her name) and she didn’t eat even one. We dug up 4 earthworms and it took her 10 mins to eat one. It kept falling out of her mouth and she struggled with the depth perception to pick it back up. She seems to have very little strength in her swallowing, and yesterday started making some raspy squawking noises throughout the day. She slept in the nesting box last night and was breathing heavily at midnight when we checked on her, and still breathing heavily at 5am when we woke up. I am praying she will pass today if that’s what her little body needs. I don’t want to make that decision for her, but I don’t know how else to help her at this point

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about Clover

 

[RCL]

8/26 update: Clover passed away naturally today.

My husband felt very strongly about burying her at home rather than taking her to the state lab for necropsy, so we’ll never really know what went wrong. I believe it was some sort of respiratory illness. She was a tough little chicken and she will be missed.

 

[ChickensRsmart]

8/26 update: Clover passed away naturally today.

My husband felt very strongly about burying her at home rather than taking her to the state lab for necropsy, so we’ll never really know what went wrong. I believe it was some sort of respiratory illness. She was a tough little chicken and she will be missed.

I'm sorry about your chicken. Some of the symptoms you've described sounds like Marek's disease - a virus. It's a common problem apparently. If you see these symptoms again in another chicken - separate the chicken from the others. In mild cases of this disease, I have seen raw garlic make a huge difference! Garlic is anti-viral and anti bacterial...and it helps just about everything going on inside a chicken...