Help needed for mystery neurological situation...

[amyduck]

Here is a good link that has several good designs for chairs, especially near the end:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Thank you!!! I should have just looked here, I just spent the last hour trying to find some on-line! I wasn't sure what to call them....

 

[amyduck]

Hi all, especially Eggcessive: for an update on Blondie: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ver-id-like-ideas-to-improve-upon-it.1344866/

 

[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.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thamks for the update and hopefully, she will continue to improve.

 

[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...

 

[tripletfeb]

Go Blondie!! Keep up the good work, both of you! And thanks for the update

 

[aart]

Does she lay?

 

[amyduck]

Does she lay?

My apologies aart, I didn't see your question... she had been laying and then she and another hen had a mystery illness and she hasn't laid since. I took her to the vet at the time and I actually sprung for an ultrasound (heck, expensive, but I've been working from home, and figured I'd saved enough from not driving everyday!) The vet said she was full of eggs and one should pop out any day... but it never did! I don't know if she was reabsorbing them or what....?

 

[amyduck]

Hi all - so, a new update on Blondie.

Unfortunately after stability all summer, a month later she started to fall again, and she's just gone downhill! She isn't walking on her own any more and sometimes her legs stiffen up... we can't leave her alone anymore.

I would really appreciate your opinion on the following:

- In mid-October, I left her with my partner for two weeks to help with my mom, and while I was gone, she started to fall again...
There are three things which may have individually or collectively contributed to her condition today.
1 - If she has Marek flaring up, maybe triggered by one or all of the following:
2 - Molting stress
3 - Corrid - my partner treated all the chickens while I was gone because another one had slightly bloody poop... unfortunately, I didn't know that it would prevent Blondie from assimilating B vitamins... which could affect her neurologically, her legs in particular.
4- I inspected her when I got back and I found a fair amount of lice and a few mites on her! Enough that her comb was pale... I guess she wasn't keeping up with her dust baths... so I treated her with permethrin and her comb has regained its color.
5- **I just discovered tonight that one of her legs is a little tender... I'd checked before and hadn't found a difference. But I decided to try moving her legs tonight and while one had full range of motion bicycling forward and back, the other leg didn't seem to want to bicycle forward...and as I palpated her leg, she seemed to a bit sensitive around her heel. I compared both legs as much as possible, but couldn't find a difference... but maybe this is a bigger part of the problem... any ideas?

I have also been adding vitamins and probiotic powder to their water, adding powdered vitamin B and lysine to their feed, giving her mealworms covered with vitamin E. I've added yogurt, egg, fish to their diet. She chirps very happily with whatever I give her to eat

She spends her days sitting in a neck pillow with her legs in the hole, on our laps, or going for a "walk". I want to try to keep her moving and keep her muscles from atrophying, get her out of the house, help her to be with the the other two and feel like a chicken. She also seems quite excited when I walk her. So I put a harness on her and if I lift her up a bit with the leash she will stand and can walk a bit, until she starts to fall. Sometimes I can relax the leash and let her lead, and if she starts to lean too much to one side I can pull a little in the opposite direction with the leash. But sometimes it seems she can't really direct where she is going... but when she manages to get moving, she gets very excited, flaps her wings, and clucks.

- Sometimes we end up at the dust bath with the other two hens and I take the harness off so she can get the dirt/sand into her feathers, and I have to put two blocks of wood around her in case she starts to lean to the side, but eventually her legs will kick in (no pun intended!) and she's able to use them to get the dirt onto her back... so I'm glad for the extra exercise, keeping lice at bay, and spa time with the other two.

So I'm trying to figure out what happened...and if she might recover - I guess I'm hopeful since she did before....

Any thoughts on her condition? Any ideas on what might help her?

Thanks,
Amy

 

[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!