Hen Cannot Stand after Injury - UPDATE with VIDEO!

[Lorimary]

My hen had a wound near her vent a week ago. It was full of maggots. I flushed the wound with peroxide, then saline, and removed all maggots with tweezers. Flushed again. Covered with neosporin. Started her on baytril. She's been on that for 8 days. The wound is completely healed. No signs of infection. She is not eating or drinking on her own. I have been hand feeding her with an over-sized syringe and bulb type dropper twice a day. She is thin. Been feeding her baby food cereal with fruit, babyfood beef, yogurt, parrot hand feeding food mixed together with electrolyte water. My problem is that she cannot or will not stand up. She is supporting herself with her wings. She seems to have nothing wrong with her feet or legs.
Do hens typically recover and begin standing again?

 

[froggiesheins]

How many days did you keep the wound open and flush out maggots?? The little buggers burrow very deep inside the body and eventually kill the affected chicken unless you keep flushing and flushing over the course of many days till every single one is out.

 

[Lorimary]

The wound was treated directly over a period of about 4 to 5 days; however, the maggots abated after 3. The original wound was an infected abcess. It's perfectly healed now though, not even pink or in any way irritated looking... you'd never know there was anything ever there at all by the looks of it now.

 

[froggiesheins]

OK, that question answered, and great that you were able to get all those buggers out

. I am assuming that she is outside in the toasty heat. IF SO, bring her inside where it is cool, all the goodies you are feeding her are great. Try adding more protiens, ie; eggs, mealworms, and see if that helps. Also I am a firm believer in tons of TLC. Place her on her back and massage her, stretch / compress, stretch / compress the legs, rub the bottoms of the feet [a favorite]. See what happens.
Maybe she just needs a little help getting a jumpstart......its worth a try. I have used these methods when there were no outward signs of trauma/etc..and they worked.

 

[Lorimary]

Thank you very much! This morning I took left-over chicken soup with noodles for the group, and set aside a small container for the sick girl. She started pecking on her own, and did so for about 20 minutes. I did not have the heart to force feed her after that, so just gave her the antibiotic and some water. She is staying under the hen house, sitting in clean litter with water/food right close to her. It is completely in the shade of trees and their house, and where she is there is a constant light breeze. The temp right there is probably 78-80 max. If her crop is not full when I return from work, I will hand feed her, but I will offer something enticing, possibly w/meal worms before I try to do that, along with her meds. I tried to stand her and she can support her weight, but not navigate, so she just sits and balances with her wingtips. I'm praying that this improves and will try massage. She is getting a lot of TLC. I always pet, scratch, and rub her while I'm down at the coop, several times a day.

 

[Lorimary]

Update - she is now eating on her own (thank God!), though I still make sure that is the case twice a day checking her crop and giving treats. She is getting around a little better than she was in the beginning, but not by much. I managed to capture a short video of her moving around a bit (which is about all she moves, really).

Does this look familiar to anyone?
Has anyone ever had a hen, after having recovered from some illness or injury, end up similarly?

 

[Lorimary]

I guess no one has seen this before?

 

[froggiesheins]

And she is still walking like that?? I have never seen that before...Sure wish I could be more help......Poor missy Hen. Does she seem normal otherwise? Maybe those buggers got deep enuf to do some nerve damage is the ONLY thing I can guesstimate....

to:cd

 

[Lorimary]

She is walking better now, but still not extending the upper part of her legs to walk. She is more upright, and seems to have improved balance. She still is walking low to the ground though.
She is able to go up the hen-house ramp to roost at night, but does not jump up on a roost pole, but instead sleeps in a nest. Other than than, I am still giving her a private feeding by herself, so that she doesn't need to compete for food, and then let the others join in. Other than that she is eating,drinking, and taking care of herself. She is preening and cleaning herself.
My concern was whether or not this might heal itself, and she may regain leg strength. I am still stretching and massaging her legs each day.
Thanks for any input.

 

[froggiesheins]

Quote:
Well there IS some improvement.....thats great!

You are a great mommie to make sure she gets all her food safely AND to be her guardian angel and physical therapist. The fact that she can go into the coop by herself--

She may or may not ever be able to roost again, it will be a wait and see thing, could take a very long time to heal, never give up tho.....IF any nerves were involved, they do take a LONG time to heal, [ like up to a year] thats why I say never give up. Keep those upper leg muscles flexible [like you are doing] and just wait and see..................