Dosile sleepy chicken

[Kirklasu]

We home treated her for gout (she had been given ground up layers pellets from birth and became lame so was given to us to help) we also gave her firm grip floor surfaces and she very gradually recovered. She became our best layer for a short time ( I have details if required) then got diarrhoea for a week. She recovered but has never layed a hard shell egg since and after a few weeks of soft shell she stopped laying.
She used to be pale faced during lane period but became very red and beautiful feathers but in last couple of months her comb has gone paler and bent and dried up and she sleeps and rests frequently and has less interest in treats. Now one eye is half closed. No crust or runny eye or nose. What can be ailing her?

 

[coach723]

Do you know how old she is? Is her crop empty or full, soft and squishy, hard, etc? Feel her abdomen between the legs below the vent, does she feel bloated, either water balloon like or very firm? How is her weight, is her keel bone well muscled or is it very prominent?

 

[Kirklasu]

Do you know how old she is? Is her crop empty or full, soft and squishy, hard, etc? Feel her abdomen between the legs below the vent, does she feel bloated, either water balloon like or very firm? How is her weight, is her keel bone well muscled or is it very prominent?

I would say she is not bloated and her crop is not full and her keel bone is prominent. She weighs 680g and whereas she used to eat well she just picks at things in recent weeks.
She is a year old and we have had her since last September when she couldn’t walk. She now walks and can run but doesn’t have great balance. She is not like our other chickens. Her right leg seems to stay weak though during our self diagnosed gout weakness kept swapping from one leg to the other.
Her recent lack of appetite and lethargy is new. She was feisty as a youngster even when lame. I have short video’s of that.
I also have a photo of her at her best a couple of months ago if you need.
This is how she looks right now and much of the time…. either Sat or stood with head drooping or asleep or tucked under her wing.
She also has some twitches and neck stretches which come and go

 

[coach723]

When she was lame, did she have swelling in her toes and feet? Normally that happens with gout as it causes hard deposits in the joints. 1 year old is young to have issues with gout also. The weakness in both legs and that it has changed back and forth sounds like it may be something else. The issues with egg laying is concerning as that could mean a reproductive problem. Those often show abdominal bloating. Though, since this all started when she was still quite young, she may have unknown problems due to incubation or hatch problems, it's hard to know, it could even be something mildly neurological that's caused the lameness. It could also be diseased based, something like Marek's disease or Lymphoid Leukosis can present with lameness. Sometimes they can have difficulty absorbing nutrients from the food from not developing properly. Have you ever wormed her or had a fecal done to check for them? Those can cause issues with weight loss, not thriving, and sometimes a secondary bacterial infection. If vet care is not an option for you, I would try giving her a super B complex tablet or capsule once daily (extra is excreted) to see if it helps her at all. Try some higher protein things to see if you can tempt her, scrambled eggs, canned tuna, even a bit of canned cat food. Usually when they stop eating it's not a good sign, and means something serious may be going on inside.

 

[Kirklasu]

When she was lame, did she have swelling in her toes and feet? Normally that happens with gout as it causes hard deposits in the joints. 1 year old is young to have issues with gout also. The weakness in both legs and that it has changed back and forth sounds like it may be something else. The issues with egg laying is concerning as that could mean a reproductive problem. Those often show abdominal bloating. Though, since this all started when she was still quite young, she may have unknown problems due to incubation or hatch problems, it's hard to know, it could even be something mildly neurological that's caused the lameness. It could also be diseased based, something like Marek's disease or Lymphoid Leukosis can present with lameness. Sometimes they can have difficulty absorbing nutrients from the food from not developing properly. Have you ever wormed her or had a fecal done to check for them? Those can cause issues with weight loss, not thriving, and sometimes a secondary bacterial infection. If vet care is not an option for you, I would try giving her a super B complex tablet or capsule once daily (extra is excreted) to see if it helps her at all. Try some higher protein things to see if you can tempt her, scrambled eggs, canned tuna, even a bit of canned cat food. Usually when they stop eating it's not a good sign, and means something serious may be going on inside.

We have never wormed her or done a fecal check though I do inspect all chicken poops when I clean as I go each day and have never seen worms but she has undigested wheat grains in her poop recently… when she eats it.
She was fed on ground up layers pellets from birth before we got her lame so we thought too much calcium might have given her gout. Her feet and legs were painful and a little swollen when she was lame. I have a video of her at stages of recovery and she would walk on a foot made like a fist and lurch about.
We can certainly try her on more protein such as you suggest and vitamin B. We have given her some booster meds in recent days but they no longer seem to boost her and she’s developed this closed eye and more lethargy. We bathed her in warm Epsom salt bath today as we saw that can perk a chicken up. She seemed to like it at the time and was ok with the hair dryer but no improvement infact she seems tired out.
Do you think these multiple symptoms are linked?

 

[coach723]

I honestly don't know if they are all linked, or if there is more than one thing going on.
Curled toes (the fist walking) can be a sign of a riboflavin (B2) deficiency, they also can be a symptom of Marek's disease. Marek's disease can also cause paralysis, it's cause is damage to the sciatic nerve. When it's riboflavin deficiency then supplements can reverse it, but if supplementation is delayed, then some damage may be permanent. If the feed she was on to start with was not fresh, or not good quality, that may have contributed, it can also happen as chicks from a deficiency in the parent stock. That deficiency is not uncommon. Any current pictures you have might be helpful, and pictures of the feet and legs when she had swelling also.
Just trying to narrow things down as much as possible. Any possibility that she may have been pecked in the eye by another bird? That can sometimes happen if they are not well.
I would not bathe her again right now. Sometimes that can be helpful for some things, but bathing a sick bird can make them hypothermic very easily, and can make things worse. Let her rest, tomorrow I would try to get a good look at the eye, look for any damage, injury, pus or discharge. If you have not done so already, check her over thoroughly, separate feathers and look at the skin at the bases all over, make sure there are no wounds or injuries hiding in feathers. Also make sure she doesn't have any lice or mites. Pictures of those in this link for indentification:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[Kirklasu]

I honestly don't know if they are all linked, or if there is more than one thing going on.
Curled toes (the fist walking) can be a sign of a riboflavin (B2) deficiency, they also can be a symptom of Marek's disease. Marek's disease can also cause paralysis, it's cause is damage to the sciatic nerve. When it's riboflavin deficiency then supplements can reverse it, but if supplementation is delayed, then some damage may be permanent. If the feed she was on to start with was not fresh, or not good quality, that may have contributed, it can also happen as chicks from a deficiency in the parent stock. That deficiency is not uncommon. Any current pictures you have might be helpful, and pictures of the feet and legs when she had swelling also.
Just trying to narrow things down as much as possible. Any possibility that she may have been pecked in the eye by another bird? That can sometimes happen if they are not well.
I would not bathe her again right now. Sometimes that can be helpful for some things, but bathing a sick bird can make them hypothermic very easily, and can make things worse. Let her rest, tomorrow I would try to get a good look at the eye, look for any damage, injury, pus or discharge. If you have not done so already, check her over thoroughly, separate feathers and look at the skin at the bases all over, make sure there are no wounds or injuries hiding in feathers. Also make sure she doesn't have any lice or mites. Pictures of those in this link for indentification:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

Thank you so much for all the information. She might have been pecked by another chicken. Her eye is virtually completely closed today but no sign of any crusty or weeping around eye or nose.
We are thinking of getting Brolene Antibiotic eye drops for acute bacterial conjunctivitis just in case.
I have followed your links for mite and live infestations and have inspected her today and cannot see anything at all. I’ve looked all over her underside as well as her vent.
I did see patches of no fluffy feathers ( or any feathers) and just smooth skin with no sign of feathers having been there. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not.
We will definitely keep her in today and not bath her or anything.
She has eaten some layers pellets and some fresh corn on the cob raw and cooked which she tucked into which is a relief.
I will look into Merek’s disease to learn about it.
She is making a nice purring sound sat on my knee at the moment and her feet have warmed up. They felt cold when I picked her up as she was just standing still and not nestling down. She is nestled down now and drifting off to sleep.
I have given her some live plain yoghurt mixed with water as a bottle fed drink and also some plain water earlier.
We will try to get the Vit B complex though I hear what you say about it being some time since she suffered the really bad leg problems last September.
Her feet and legs are not swollen at the moment but are very delicate and she’s a dainty chicken not a strong one. She is much more like a pet as we have had to look after her every day since we got her last August / September.
Many thanks again for your time giving advice on this.

 

[coach723]

Is there any possibility that she has been kept from food and water by others? That can happen to lower pecking order birds. If that's the case, she may be malnourished and weak from that, so the vitamins and a consistent good diet may help with that. You might try adding water to her pellets to make a mash, they often like it that way. They generally love corn, but I would go easy on that. Long term, it's very high carb, and can lead to fat in the abdomen and health problems. For now, it's probably fine to get her eating and gaining some weight, hopefully. But as she starts to improve (again hopefully) I would limit that to only occasionally. If she is laying on the ground a lot, or in nesting boxes, rather than roosting, that may be why she has feather loss. From the rubbing and pressure on her underside. Birds with leg and foot problems will often do that as they have difficulty roosting. It can lead to breast blisters, which is like bumblefoot but on the breast, so that's something to watch for.

 

[Kirklasu]

Is there any possibility that she has been kept from food and water by others? That can happen to lower pecking order birds. If that's the case, she may be malnourished and weak from that, so the vitamins and a consistent good diet may help with that. You might try adding water to her pellets to make a mash, they often like it that way. They generally love corn, but I would go easy on that. Long term, it's very high carb, and can lead to fat in the abdomen and health problems. For now, it's probably fine to get her eating and gaining some weight, hopefully. But as she starts to improve (again hopefully) I would limit that to only occasionally. If she is laying on the ground a lot, or in nesting boxes, rather than roosting, that may be why she has feather loss. From the rubbing and pressure on her underside. Birds with leg and foot problems will often do that as they have difficulty roosting. It can lead to breast blisters, which is like bumblefoot but on the breast, so that's something to watch for.

I don’t think she has been kept from food by others as there are three seperate choices (locations) where she can go for pellets during daytime when all coops and runs are open, and we only have 5 females and two cockerels.
When we give treats we do try to ensure they all get some and she is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order, though she does stand up for herself on a good day.
She responds a lot to one of the two cockerels who find food or she forages alone.
She doesn’t perch though we have a new coop and run and we found her on a perch in the run one morning which was good, but that was a month ago.
I didn’t realise that they could wear their own feathers away like that. We have always thought her feet and legs might be painful so she wouldn’t want to perch so we didn’t provide a perch for her.
I’ll look into that idea too.
We will watch what we do with corn. She is inclined to eat too much even when she is thriving.
Thanks again