Help! Is this Botulism?

[Junipere]

Yesterday evening I noticed one of my 11wko chickens laying around in run with a limp head/neck. It would get up to move only when others came near and it was slows moving with her neck/head held low.

This morning it’s progressed to a much worse state. She came fumbling out of the coop not being able to pick her head up at all. She won’t lay completely down (staying up on feet. I’ve separated her. Her poop is watery. Please KB see video and picture. I’m not sure what is wrong? Could this be coccidiosis?

 

[Junipere]

Adding new video, it looked like she was trying to eat but then she spit up (some sort of foot drool came out of her mouth) and now it almost looks like she’s having seizures?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your chicken. Botulism usually starts in the feet and legs, traveling up the spinal nerves to the neck and eyelids, causing flaccid paralysis. Wry neck or limberneck can cause this, and that can be a result of head injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, and is seen in Mareks disease and a few others that affect the brain. There are other reasons as well for neurological disorders.

What is your location? Was she vaccinated for Mareks disease? Have you heard of any Newcastles or avian influenza affecting chickens in your area, if you are outside the US? Is her crop full and puffy? She sounds like she is very ill if she is having a seizure.

I am not seeing a video. You can take one and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo with a link posted here.

 

[Junipere]

Sorry about your chicken. Botulism usually starts in the feet and legs, traveling up the spinal nerves to the neck and eyelids, causing flaccid paralysis. Wry neck or limberneck can cause this, and that can be a result of head injury, vitamin E or thiamine deficiency, and is seen in Mareks disease and a few others that affect the brain. There are other reasons as well for neurological disorders.

What is your location? Was she vaccinated for Mareks disease? Have you heard of any Newcastles or avian influenza affecting chickens in your area, if you are outside the US? Is her crop full and puffy? She sounds like she is very ill if she is having a seizure.

I am not seeing a video. You can take one and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo with a link posted here.

Thank you for your reply! I’m in Massachusetts. I got her at about 1wko at my local TSC and to be honest I’m not sure what, if any, vaccines they give the pullets there.

The videos on both 1st and 2nd post in this trad so seem to be attached so I’m not sure what the problem may be with you not being able to view it. I’m not sure how to upload a video to YouTube or Vimeo but if I figure it out I’ll send a link.

min not sure if she’s have seizures, it could be just tremors, she has little control over her head/neck but it seemed like at one point it was twitching and her break was opening and closing rapidly a couple times and then it stopped. It looks like it could have been a seizure but not sure.

Yesterday she was running around with the others all day and seemed great until I went out for a couple hours and came home to her lying on the ground with a limp neck. At that point she could get up and move around, and could hold her neck up like normal but not long after moving around her neck would drop down and she would lay down in the ground again, neck outstretched and limp.

This morning she is in a while different state, with no control over her limp neck. She can get to her get for about a minute and then she’s back down to laying.

Is there anything I can give her to help her event when I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong?

 

[Swbertrand1]

You're in good hands with Eggcessive. Follow what they say.

Has the hen had anything to eat or drink since you found her this way yesterday? If not, you will, at a minimum, need to get some water into her. If she won't drink from a waterer, use a syringe or dropper. Add a little sugar to the water, or better yet, add electrolytes to the water and administer. She MUST stay hydrated for any recovery to happen, so start there...

Here's a good link showing how to "feed" a chicken liquids:
https://bitchinchickens.com/2020/02/06/how-to-safely-give-oral-medications/

 

[Eggcessive]

They can get injured at this age, but unfortunately, Mareks symptoms can be possible. Wry neck is more common, though, so hopefully with good care and keeping her hydrated and fed, she might improve. Most people with wry neck chickens, will give 400 IU of vitamin E found in human soft gels, and give 1/4 tablet of vitamin B complex tablet daily. Egg yolk has selenium which helps in vitamin E uptake.

If you should lose her, and hopefully not, your state vet can be contacted, and the body, kept cold, not frozen, could be sent or taken in for a necropsy. That is the best way to get a diagnosis. Here is a link for that, and please keep us updated on how she is doing:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Swbertrand1]

FWIW, this does look like the onset of Wry Neck to me, but that is my opinion. Have you been treating her for Wry Neck?? What does her diet consist of? Does she get any vitamins and/or electrolytes in her diet?

 

[Junipere]

So she has not had anything to eat or drink since yesterday evening. How much water should I give via syringe (amount and frequency)?

I have not been treating her for wry neck since the videos I saw online looked like chickens had their neck cocked back and/or to the side where my hen’s neck is completely limp and hanging down if she stands.

Her food is purina flock feed, whatever plant she eating in my back yard when she free twinges daily, water (without any supplements). I will try adding vitamins or electrolytes to the water today. Should I do both is one better?

 

[Swbertrand1]

So she has not had anything to eat or drink since yesterday evening. How much water should I give via syringe (amount and frequency)?

I have not been treating her for wry neck since the videos I saw online looked like chickens had their neck cocked back and/or to the side where my hen’s neck is completely limp and hanging down if she stands.

Her food is purina flock feed, whatever plant she eating in my back yard when she free twinges daily, water (without any supplements). I will try adding vitamins or electrolytes to the water today. Should I do both is one better?

She MUST get some water in her ASAP. She cannot survive without it.

If she were my hen, I'd give her at least 1-2ml (1-2cc) of water every hour or two. When you're giving it to her, do it slowly a few drops at a time. As for food, at her age (11 weeks), I'd have her on a Starter Feed, but some would argue that adult feed and baby feed is just marketing. Having examined the labels of both, there is not much different in the two we buy, with the Starter Feed having a greater concentration of protein as I recall.

Wry Neck can manifest itself in different ways. Consider this too: she may not have been getting the nutrients she needed and that helped the onset of the head hanging. The converse is also a possibility: her hanging head may have caused her to have difficulty eating or drinking and caused her to become weakened. I know that sounds somewhat circular, but when chasing chicken ailments, we've got to consider causes and effects.

Anyway, you need to get water in her ASAP if she hasn't had water since yesterday! She MUST stay hydrated. I'd give her water with some vitamins and electrolytes too. Feed stores have several different products that will work: Rooster Booster products, Sav-A-Chic products, etc. At 11 weeks, some need that boost of vitamins for proper development; others do just fine with starter feed and water.

I really sense that this might be a nutrition issue, so getting water into her with the vitamins AND electrolytes should help her to feel better quickly if we're on the right track. Yes, do both at the same time. Here's something you might not have realized: if you treat for Wry Neck, the treatment will not hurt her. It will only help her because Wry Neck treatment is primarily about getting higher dosages of vitamins into her to help her function and develop properly.

Let us know how the watering goes and how she responds. Also, keep Eggcessive's post in mind too. This could be Marek's as some of the symptoms align with that disease. You might call the store from which you bought her and ask if the chicks they sell are vaccinated against Marek's. Many hatcheries do that routinely, but you won't know until you ask...

 

[Junipere]

She MUST get some water in her ASAP. She cannot survive without it.

If she were my hen, I'd give her at least 1-2ml (1-2cc) of water every hour or two. When you're giving it to her, do it slowly a few drops at a time. As for food, at her age (11 weeks), I'd have her on a Starter Feed, but some would argue that adult feed and baby feed is just marketing. Having examined the labels of both, there is not much different in the two we buy, with the Starter Feed having a greater concentration of protein as I recall.

Wry Neck can manifest itself in different ways. Consider this too: she may not have been getting the nutrients she needed and that helped the onset of the head hanging. The converse is also a possibility: her hanging head may have caused her to have difficulty eating or drinking and caused her to become weakened. I know that sounds somewhat circular, but when chasing chicken ailments, we've got to consider causes and effects.

Anyway, you need to get water in her ASAP if she hasn't had water since yesterday! She MUST stay hydrated. I'd give her water with some vitamins and electrolytes too. Feed stores have several different products that will work: Rooster Booster products, Sav-A-Chic products, etc. At 11 weeks, some need that boost of vitamins for proper development; others do just fine with starter feed and water.

I really sense that this might be a nutrition issue, so getting water into her with the vitamins AND electrolytes should help her to feel better quickly if we're on the right track. Yes, do both at the same time. Here's something you might not have realized: if you treat for Wry Neck, the treatment will not hurt her. It will only help her because Wry Neck treatment is primarily about getting higher dosages of vitamins into her to help her function and develop properly.

Let us know how the watering goes and how she responds. Also, keep Eggcessive's post in mind too. This could be Marek's as some of the symptoms align with that disease. You might call the store from which you bought her and ask if the chicks they sell are vaccinated against Marek's. Many hatcheries do that routinely, but you won't know until you ask...

Thanks, I got rooster booster vitamins and electrolytes and have given her some. She was on starter feed up until this week when they transitioned from the baby coop to the big coop with the older chicks who are laying. So this week they have been on flock feed, but I have also given them some egg 2x a week to add in the protein they might be missing.

When I separated her I put starter feed in with her for when she’s ready to eat.

Thanks for the advice!