Hen holding head down not making healing progress

[donaltman3]

hey all. 2 year old hen holding head down and shaking head. Standing up her head is on the ground almost. She can at times lift it up but it is like she is trying to tilt forward. Very lethargic for the last several days. We found she had some mites and used mite drops in her ear and pymethrine spray. Put out DE in the coops and dusted her. Mites were gone the next day but she was not better looking or acting. They have ACV in their water. She stopped eating and laying then started losing weight. She reluctantly Moves around but sluggish. Her balance is fine. I Have been giving her vitamin e capsules and electrolyte water with garlic juice and garlic minced. She seemed to show a small improvement the first day after doing that treatment but have not had any additional improvement for the last 2 days. I am giving her the water mixture twice a day with a syringe and have force fed her some Slivers of soft blanched veggies I thought it might be stuck egg but I checked and don't feel anything. Did notice throat was distended and found a video of how to help her to regurgitate. Did this a few minutes ago and a huge amount of completely clear slime came out. I would guess a half cup easily. I have no idea what else to try or do for her. I do not suspect worms, I see no evidence of them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Can you share a picture? Almost sounds like botulinum. Any moldy feeds around?

 

[donaltman3]

Can you share a picture? Almost sounds like botulinum. Any moldy feeds around?

No moldy food. everything is on sand. Food is put out each morning and eaten until gone. Stored in dry bins. We also did 3 of the Epsom salt bath treatments for 20 minutes each. She seems to like them.

No real difference that I would tell last night after emptying her crop. I'll try to take a picture this afternoon. Thanks -D

 

[donaltman3]

Just an update. Not sure what is was specifically or holistically that helped. After evacuating her crop (suspecting it was all from sour crop and mites) and giving her vitamin water (specifically vitamin E) with garlic and probiotics, she has made a complete recovery! she looked down in the dumps for another two days after I posted and we were sure she was a goner. Woke up this morning and she is running around 100% like nothing ever happened. I am in complete shock. I wasn’t sure what to do so I just hit the problem from all angles and it seems to have worked!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's wonderful news. Perhaps it was a toxin of some sort. Glad she's feeling better.

 

[Trux]

By chance are you having to deal with an over abundance of gnats this year?

 

[donaltman3]

By chance are you having to deal with an overabundance of gnats this year?

Sorry for the long delay.. when I first saw your question I just wasn't sure.. but actually with it being as hot as it has been lately with no rain.. bugs haven't been that active. I've not seen the hordes of flies and gnats you get after a lot of rain. Come to think about it I haven't seen any love of stink bugs either.

My hen has not returned to laying but is running around acting 100% normal. It is the oddest thing.. went from looking like death for weeks to spring chicken over night. I saw no in between