Does my chicken have a chance?

[KimWatts]

I will look into it. Thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She was acting strange and like she was egg bound. She finally passed the egg, but then I noticed she didn't have control over her legs. I've had an aviary for years and have seen this a couple of times in laying birds. Usually doses of calcium in the water and the hens are fine in a day or so. We kept her inside that day and the next day she laid an egg with a shell so soft I'm not sure how she passed it. No eggs for two days now , and I'm really hoping she will just stop laying all together at this point.

Thank you for the videos.
I would keep up with giving her the calcium. It wouldn't hurt to offer the vitamins as suggested in other posts. A round of antibiotics may help with any infection/inflammation as well.
I would suspect that some type of pressure is being exerted on a nerve/nerves - could be an internally laid egg, a mass, cancer or just inflammation - it would be hard to know really - just speculation on my part. Since you have seen similar before in laying hens/the difficulty walking/lameness when they were struggling passing an egg I think you may understand where I'm coming from.

Hopefully this will pass and you will be able to treat her and she bounces back.

 

[KimWatts]

I'm sorry about your hen.
How old is she?
Has she ever laid eggs?

If you can post some photos or a video of her, that may be helpful.

Do you notice any bloat or swelling of her abdomen?

I'm the OP's mother and posted more about her situation. As of just now, Clover is doing better. Sitting upright, grooming and eating. She is outside and even moving a round a little and her legs are not stuck out in front of her anymore. I've got a modified box ready if she seems

 

[KimWatts]

Thank you for the videos.
I would keep up with giving her the calcium. It wouldn't hurt to offer the vitamins as suggested in other posts. A round of antibiotics may help with any infection/inflammation as well.
I would suspect that some type of pressure is being exerted on a nerve/nerves - could be an internally laid egg, a mass, cancer or just inflammation - it would be hard to know really - just speculation on my part. Since you have seen similar before in laying hens/the difficulty walking/lameness when they were struggling passing an egg I think you may understand where I'm coming from.

Hopefully this will pass and you will be able to treat her and she bounces back.

Yes, I think her calcium stores just got too low. Prior to this event she has eaten a couple of her eggs. I thought it was just bad behavior, not a need for calcium, now I realize what was happening. Also since she comes inside every night to sleep, she laid eggs all winter long with no break. I'm hoping that she will stop laying at least for now and altogether would be even better. She does have access to oyster shell, but I am going to dehydrate egg shells and grind them up to top dress her feed.

 

[LaFleche]

Don't forget to administer vitamin D3 +K also as it helps with the uptake of the calcium.

 

[KimWatts]

Wonderful news about Clovey! She has recovered and with the help of a pool noodle she can actually stand up and walk better than she could before she got ill. This is the video I took the day after she got her pool noodle gauntlets, which was 4 days ago. She is doing even better than in this video. She is standing up consistently, can still sit if she wants, but can now get herself up to stand, she can eat standing up, and can preen herself. She is up off her belly and butt now so air is circulating and she should start to have feathers come in. She is practicing walking and is doing very well and it is not the weird leg swinging gate she had prior to this. She got excited yesterday and even ran a short distance, but I think it surprised her. Further up in this thread are two other videos on how she walked prior to being egg bound, and one of her while she was still having issues. I am beyond thrilled, amazed and grateful and we really were having the quality of life talk. Also, I'm not sure HOW they are working, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I kept trying to make her walkers in varying degrees of not working, and she hated it so I started thinking about in terms of "braces" instead of a wheel chair or walker and it was game changing. I thought of several different options for braces, and then pool noodles just popped in my head. So one trip to the dollar store later and she had gauntlets. We measured between her foot and elbow and cut the noodle to fit. Then we cut a slit in it to get it around her leg and taped the slit back up with packing tape. That's it! Cheap and easy. The hole in the noodle is perfectly sized and they can move around. We will change them out for new weekly and check her legs for signs of irritation, but so far so good. Also, they are water proof and easy to clean or replace. I will try to put an entire thread of her story together soon. From her hawk attack over a year ago, all her updates and will continue to document progress. She is improving in mobility daily, and I have high hopes that eventually she will be able to perch and scratch on her own.