Help needed for mystery neurological situation...

[amyduck]

Hi all... just looking to see if anyone has any information that might be useful in this situation...

We bought two Ameraucana pullets 2 & 1/2 months ago. They're probably somewhere between 6 to 8 months old now, and we're a little worried about one of them...

We started noticing "Blondie" had physical problems pretty quickly... sometimes when she's running, she seems to lose her balance and falls over on her side... the same thing has happened when she takes off and flies across the yard... she crash lands and again, ends up on her side... but rights herself and goes on normally.

If we offer her a treat, like a live mealworm, it can take her 3 or 4 stabs to pick it up... she tries grabbing it from a palm and can miss multiple times before succeeding... that might be fear... she is really afraid of people... as we don't really notice that when she is eating on her own.

She occasionally has trouble getting up to roost at night and has fallen off more than once from one of the bars on the way up, and this morning, when I went out to the coop around 7 am to see how everyone was doing, I found her lying on her side in the sand floor w/ her claws pulled up close to her body... I had no idea how long she'd been on the floor, and for a second, I was afraid she had died in the night - but then I noticed her head moving - so I opened up the coop and picked her up and when I set her down, upright on her claws, she did stand up on her own and started acting normally... running around, scratching in the dirt, eating grass as if nothing had happened.

Since this morning, she's behaving like nothing's wrong... she's *not* off by herself, holding her head down low, like I've seen other sick chickens do... her poop seems normal and she did eat this morning when offered seed and is foraging with our other two chickens.

Has anyone ever seen symptoms like these before? There's always a chance she's just a pronounced klutz but we are concerned and wondering, and more so after this morning's event...

We've reached out to the seller to find out if she'd been vaccinated against Marek's or not, as we can't remember... But if it is Marek's would she have made it this far along, and what would the prognosis be for her going forward?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[amyduck]

Just an update, Blondie is still with us! She hasn't fallen over since March! She is still our special needs chicken, she still has a little trouble scratching her head and runs sort of awkwardly. Sometimes it seems like she's stumbling (but not falling) a little more, and then she gets better. She is also quite the cuddler after all of that special attention she had. For a chicken that was supposed to be dead by the end of last year, she's doing pretty well...

 

[amyduck]

Hi All,
Another update, Blondie is still with us and getting better! I think at it's height, she fell down about 30 times in one day! I think today it was about 5, and I haven't used the weights on her for almost a week. She's also gained her own weight, which I think has helped! That said, she sleeps in a basket in the house and a couple of times a week, we find her upside down in the basket! So strange... Anyway, crossing our fingers she'll pull out of this.

 

[amyduck]

So in case anyone was wondering... here's an almost 6 month update!

Yes, Blondie is still with us!

The short story is she has just started to stand and walk a little!!! (As a reminder, she started falling at the end of October, and eventually she got to the point where she couldn't even sit up unsupported! So since then, she has been living in the house under constant supervision to keep from getting pecked to death by Miss Penny... (I have no idea what I would have done if both my partner and I hadn't been lucky enough to work from home during the pandemic....)

And, if you are interested, here is the the full long update:

I last wrote about her condition in another thread in January: "she can finally sit, without falling over, for about 5 minutes. Today, she was able to stand for just a little bit." Unfortunately she regressed after a second treatment for lice so I'm afraid I may have used too much pyrethrin (sp?) but we continued "walking" her...

I went from using a harness to walk her, which was difficult to put on, to using a strip off the bottom of an old t-shirt (cut all the way around) as a sling, with two holes on one end and a couple of stitches to help it to sit on her breast better. After I put each leg in a hole, I pull each side of the t-shirt under her wings (because she likes to flap her wings when I first put her on the ground) I then pull the opposite end of the t-shirt and put her on the ground and I walk her in the garden (I'll have to post a photo.) And over time we've gone from my having to support her weight, to her managing to do so fairly well, although not entirely because one leg is weaker.

So a couple of weeks ago she no longer wanted to sit on her throne of two neck pillows, and she was able to sit for pretty long without falling over, so we started letting her sit on a small rug by our feet. I realized it was good because her muscles got stronger with each micro-adjustment to stay sitting upright... and as time went on, if she did fall over, she often managed to right herself.

I also started to just let her sit outside for longer periods of time and began to try to let her walk without the sling, but she'd run a step or two and faceplant into the grass.

Now, over the last week she has seemed more energetic and hyper, not wanting to sit still and not wanting to come back into the house after her walks and sitting time - which had gone up to at least 4x/day. Then several days ago she ran (without the sling) along the side of a fence (which helped to keep her up) for about 4 ft. so I kept using that spot to do that everyday and give her a little more confidence and make her stronger.

Then, this morning, while still in the house, she stood up for about 30 seconds - completely unaided and even took a few steps!! She stood up and sat down a little more not always fully, and soon tired out. But after a rest, I took her outside and at one point she ran (I think to stay upright) for about 10 feet before she did a faceplant. Wow!

Once back inside, she was clearly tired out, and she stuck the weak leg out in front of her (I wonder if it actually hurts her - probably), but she began to make little chirping and cooing noises she hadn't made since January of February! She also started creeping which she hadn't done before.

I took her out several times during the day and each time she stood on her feet longer and managed to walk farther! I can't wait to see how she is tomorrow. I had a feeling that if she started to walk again, she'd probably hit a critical threshold and then it would happen quickly. It does seem like that's what is happening!

Best of all there is hope! I thought the bad leg would prevent her from really standing and walking, but apparently not.

It has been far from easy, but she is one spunky unlucky, lucky chicken!

 

[Painted Calls]

I'm glad to hear that she still has her appetite and spark for life. I'm sorry to hear that she seems to have declined otherwise. I don't have any advice to offer, but I've been following your thread and praying for Blondie.

Hopefully someone will be by soon with some knowledge to share!

 

[amyduck]

A little more improvement today!

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad that she is improving. You really have been so dedicated to helping her get better.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry that you lost Blondie.

 

[aart]

@amyduck it might help if we knew....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[amyduck]

My one hen Cosmo is blind in one eye due to an injury and she was a bit strange when she was younger. We knew about the eye from the first day. Now, at almost 3 yrs old she's second in command and spunky too.

I don't think she is blind, since she can sometimes get a meal worm on the first try... but I think later when we wash her head, I'll see if she reacts to movement on one side of her head... Thanks.