Mountaintop Silkies
In the Brooder
- Aug 15, 2024
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I have a 2 year old Welsummer hen that is average consistent weight (has not lost or gained as far as I can tell). About 2.5 weeks ago, I noticed a few of my chickens had a really messy butt, including her, so I treated with Ivermectin Pour-On to treat for worms, no more than .5cc, behind the neck in between the shoulder blades. Then, I noticed what seemed like a limp about two weeks ago. I checked her feet and she had a bumble, so I began treating that with Chlorhexidine and Epsom salt diluted in warm water soaks, I used neosporin without pain reliever on the bumble and a self adhesive bandage to cover it. I soaked the foot and changed the bandage once a day. As I began treating her for bumble foot, I noticed she turned or tilted her head sideways a lot. I tested her vision with a blade of grass on each side, and she spotted it and ate it with no problems on each side. Her comb has developed a crease in it that makes it bend to the side a little, so thought maybe her comb was impeding her vision. Otherwise, her comb is healthy, red, and looks normal. Each day, I put her in the grass so she can eat grass for a minute before going back in the coop. The bumble foot has healed nicely. However, her legs still seem weak. My initial thoughts were the bandage was causing her foot to slide and she was off because of that. However, I did not treat yesterday and left the bandage off and she was still showing signs of slight weakness in her legs. It’s barely noticable, except I notice because I know her. She has not been going up or down the ramp, so most nights I have to put her in the coop. She will fly out in the morning instead of walking down the ramp. She flys up to the roost bars and will roost normally once in the coop. And when she is outside, she will fly up to use the outdoor roost bars. She seems healthy, otherwise, eating and pooping normally. Nothing seems broken, no signs of trauma. The only other thing that seems unusual is that she hangs out by herself a lot and isn’t as active as she normally was previously. However, she will run for scratch if I through it out and will act like a normal chicken for the scratch (I use Kalmbach Hen’s Choice feed for a scratch treat). The only other treats they get are vegetable scraps from the garden and watermelon rinds when it was really hot out. I gave her some Kalmbach Hen’s Choice feed soaked in some vitamin water (a few drops of Nutridrench and some Rooster Booster vitamins and electrolytes) yesterday and she ate some soaked food. Her usual diet is Kalmbach Layer Feed 17% pellets. All other chickens are behaving normally.
This has me stumped. I’m wondering if the Ivermectin affected her neurologically? That was the only thing that was different. I didn’t give her the 10 day second dose. Is there anything else I should be doing or looking for?
This has me stumped. I’m wondering if the Ivermectin affected her neurologically? That was the only thing that was different. I didn’t give her the 10 day second dose. Is there anything else I should be doing or looking for?
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