Having trouble walking, kind of dizzy - what's the matter? (VIDEO)

[ZaneyMama]

My 10 month old Gold Laced Wyandotte is having trouble walking. It's as if she loses her balance, then she lowers down onto the ground to rest and eat. She had trouble jumping up 8 inches to get on top of the raised garden beds when I was watching her today, but the she was able to get up onto the dropping board about 2 feet off the ground this evening.

She can't seem to get on the roost, but when I put her there for the night, she stays there. I have noticed this dizziness thing for the last couple days - it isn't getting worse or changing much. She was able to run across the yard today just fine, though.

She has a great appetite and is drinking like normal.

Here's a video of her this afternoon.

What is wrong with her?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ZaneyMama]

She's doing the same thing today. Having a hard time walking and then able to run across the yard. She lowers down any time she's standing up. Any ideas?

 

[TerriL]

Hi, I really dont have any help. Just to say I have one that has been doing that for 8 months and I have no idea either what it is. I added vit. to her diet and that did not help. She is just now getting feathers back from last years molt other that that she eats fine. Maybe if you get an answer it might help me to. Thanks for posting. TerriL

 

[ZaneyMama]

Well, I took her to the vet today. He looked her over and didn't see any obvious problems. He gave me some pain killer (metacam) for her and told me to give it to her every evening to see if it helps her walk better.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Silkie Sue]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=432883

i don't know if i did it rite but above is a link from another post { is my chicken drunk)
it looks similar to that chicken
some ideas were parasites in which a few drops of pour on ivermectin between the shoulder blades mite help
check out that post to see if anything else might make sense
good luck with her

 

[Qi Chicken]

I had a Barred Rock that did exactly this. Over about a week she got progressively worse until she pretty much just layed on her side. I tried to give her vitamins in scrambled egg but she wouldn't eat anything wet after awhile. I had her isolated for about a week then finally decided to just let her back in with the others. She very very gradually improved again. I would say it took about a month for her to get functional again. I would say just in the last month (3 months after onset) her comb has gotten bright red again. I am not sure if she is laying again. Some people have gotten good results with vitamin B therapy. Use a multi, ground up, one daily. Vitamin B is water soluble so it won't build up in her system. You can also use brewer's yeast on their food.

I can still tell which one she is, she moves a little more slowly than the rest and more often flies than runs if she wants to go anywhere. But I have to look pretty carefully. I really thought she was a goner for awhile. Really, she could hardly get up. I did not ever know what was wrong. I called the chicken dr. and he said because she had some green diarrhoea at onset he thought it was gastrointestinal in nature. Could have been mild food poisoning. I don't know what your vet is thinking with the pain killers?!?!

Great video btw, you have very pretty birds! Good luck.

ETA: Do you see that post that is running right now? Chicken with similar symptoms to yours had something in its ear, or an ear infection. This was also mentioned on a long thread awhile ago where several people had drunken chickens. One did have an ear infection.

 

[geebs]

possible mareks.

 

[DelcoChix]

I am glad to see that I'm not the only one who seems to have another odd chicken ailment...I have a 19 month old Golden Comet hen who has very similar symptoms to what you have described. She shares a good sized coop/run with 9 other girls and is one of the unfortunate ones who decided to go through her first molt right when the warm weather went south, so when I saw her looking pretty rough I wasn't terribly worried...at first. Then I noticed how she seemed 'weaker' then the others, wobbling a bit, not falling over, just not as strong when she walked around. For a few days I was giving her special treats, higher protein things, thinking maybe the combo of lack of feathers (she wasn't plucked looking, just scruffy) and cold temps were getting her down. After a few days though, no sign of improvement so I put her into quarantine in the horse barn, under a heat lamp with her own food, water, and 'treats' (such as sardines, yogurt, BOSS, catfood--not all at once, just something extra that she didn't have to share). The other girls weren't picking on her (yet) but I wanted to make sure she was getting free access to food and water. Her appetite has been fine, looks like her feathers are coming in slowly, poop appears to be the same as the rest (plentiful), but it's been about two weeks and no sign of improvement. Just this morning I watched her move around and she'd take a couple of steps and still be a bit wobbly. Temps getting up into the 40's this weekend so was hoping to move her back into the big coop, but with no improvement doesn't seem like a good idea.
I was wondering if the vitamin supplement might be the next step? I've seen the Poly-Visol (w/o iron?)? Previous poster mentioned Vitamin B...
Oh yeah....I believe she was vaccinated for Marek's when I picked her up as a day old chick so I'm pretty sure that's not the problem...but I've 'acquired' more since then that have not been vaccinated...do you think that might still be a possibility?
Best of luck ZaneyMama--will hope your girl gets better soon. And, I second Qi Chickens opinion--you have a lovely flock of girls--cracked up when they stampeded to the trampoline

 

[ZaneyMama]

Now she is completely immobile, but I'm not sure what's wrong with her. I did take her to a vet who examined her and didn't find anything externally wrong with her. I think I'll take her to a vet who specializes in chickens just to give her one last chance.

I'll keep you all posted!

 

[Qi Chicken]

I subscribed to your post so I got the update. So sorry to hear she is declining. If you take her to the vet ask him to check her ears. I have no idea how one would do that, but I suppose they know! I never figured out what was wrong with Amelia either. She was almost completely immobile also though, and she did recover. So don't give up hope yet. The thing I never did was worm her. I suppose I should do it preventatively once a year or something but I have often seen a depleted/sick animal die from a worming as it is hard on their system, so I guess I decided not to do it then.

How is she immobile? Amelia would just lie on her side with both feet sticking straight in front of her. With Mareks the classic pose it one foot in front and one in back, kind of like the splits. If she is doing that I would have her culled as it is most likely Mareks and it can spread quite quickly. I think your hen is too old for that to be likely though. Good luck!

PS Make sure she is eating and drinking. You'll probably have to hand feed/water her. Amelia didn't like wet foods but I would take her all kinds of food trying to get her to eat. I would sit out in the run with her where I had her isolated and she would crawl from wherever she was to sit on my lap. Actually she didn't really like my lap she wanted to get up under my chin. It was really touching. She still does it too all these months later. After watching them not be able to find the door to their run (which has NOT moved!) I have to agree that chickens are not super smart, but they do have some kind of memory. I don't have any other chicken that likes to snuggle on my shoulder!