Hen not able to sit down, sinks down to one side

[Just2chickens]

Hi everyone
My hen Mona, a 2.5-year-old Greenegger, suddenly started collapsing through one leg — or something like that. She was fine all day, and then this happened. I’ve made videos because it’s really hard to describe, even in my native language.
She’s molting right now. Her last egg was 10 days ago, and for the past 4 days she hasn’t been eating much and has been sleeping a lot — same with Lisa, my other hen who is also molting. I assumed it was just the molt, since I’ve seen similar behavior in previous chickens and didn’t worry too much. But this leg issue is freaking me out.
I wonder if she hurt herself when my husband emptied a bucket of water nearby and she panicked? Maybe she twisted something?
She can stand, jump up and down, and even run. But when she tries to sit down, she sort of sinks to one side. I wanted to examine her, but she wasn’t having it, and I didn’t want to stress her more — when she ran off, I let her go.
I checked for bumblefoot, but there’s no sign of it: no swelling, no scab, no heat.
I got her at point of lay, and she’s fully vaccinated (according to European regulations).
It’s dark now, and Lisa has positioned herself so that when Mona sits down, she falls against Lisa — so she’s kind of wedged between Lisa and the corner, which helps her to sit down and stay upright.


Does anyone know what this could be, or what I can do? I still don’t have a vet — the ones nearby aren’t taking new patients.

 

[azygous]

The hen seems to have full range of motion, not an injury, so I would suspect a neurological issue if she's unbalanced when trying to sit. We call it wry neck, but this can affect any part of the body, causing lack of control of movement. The treatment is vitamin E 400iu, a gel cap directly into her beak once or twice a day until she's back to normal. This usually resolves in just a couple of days of treatment.

There's also a small chance she may have a vitamin B deficiency. The treatment is B-complex, a tablet a day directly into the beak. This can take two to six weeks to correct.

So you have two things to try.

 

[Just2chickens]

Thank you so much! I have B complex, will get E today...

 

[Just2chickens]

She took the B vitamines, now I have to get the E, it really looks neurological... Never thought she could get deficient, they have their layer feed, not much protein in it so they get cat food a teaspoon each ( with added Vitamine D and E and biotin) and turkish yoghurt a teaspoon each. And they have full acces to our garden, and besides our vegetable garden there's lots of wild plants and weeds, grasses, seeds, bugs, fruits... But here we are...

 

[azygous]

Deficiencies occur for a lot of reasons from stress to something in the diet that may leach those nutrients. It's rare, though, and usually easily remedied.