Hen Walking Backwards with Head Down

[KatontheLand]

Hey, i found this thread after searching for answer to my hen's strange behavior. My hen does exactly the same thing! Walking head down backwards. Also, she is molting currently, i live in nj and it is freezing cold. I'd like to know whether vitamin E helped.

Yes we're in upstate New York, it was very cold so I'm glad for some milder weather today and tomorrow! So far I've isolated her and put probiotics/vitamins in her water, and given her higher protein feed sprinkled with kelp (which we have on hand for our goats). For what it's worth, she seems dehydrated as well, which might be contributing to the neurological symptoms. I haven't noticed an improvement yet but it's only been a day - I'll keep you posted.

 

[joyce_huang]

Please do and thanks! I will try to give her vitamin E and B and add protein to her diet starting tomorrow. I will also keep you posted.

 

[smdcleland]

I'm so sorry! I haven't been on in a long time! I had a baby a year ago and she has kept me crazy busy!

I never did find out what caused it, but I still have her, and she's healthy and acting fine!

 

[KatontheLand]

Please do and thanks! I will try to give her vitamin E and B and add protein to her diet starting tomorrow. I will also keep you posted.

So, with the nicer weather I've put my hen back out in the coop and I haven't seen any changes yet - her comb still looks dehydrated and she's still walking backwards periodically - but she also doesn't seem worse. Our birds free range and she's out hanging and foraging with the rest of them. Honestly I forgot to put the probios & vitamins in the regular coop water yesterday (not that they drink much of it - they mostly drink from puddles and streams) but I'll continue to do that just in case. What about yours?

 

[joyce_huang]

So, with the nicer weather I've put my hen back out in the coop and I haven't seen any changes yet - her comb still looks dehydrated and she's still walking backwards periodically - but she also doesn't seem worse. Our birds free range and she's out hanging and foraging with the rest of them. Honestly I forgot to put the probios & vitamins in the regular coop water yesterday (not that they drink much of it - they mostly drink from puddles and streams) but I'll continue to do that just in case. What about yours?

So, with the nicer weather I've put my hen back out in the coop and I haven't seen any changes yet - her comb still looks dehydrated and she's still walking backwards periodically - but she also doesn't seem worse. Our birds free range and she's out hanging and foraging with the rest of them. Honestly I forgot to put the probios & vitamins in the regular coop water yesterday (not that they drink much of it - they mostly drink from puddles and streams) but I'll continue to do that just in case. What about yours?

Hi, I'm happy to report that after I gave her vitamin B, 1/4 tablet melted in water, and some vitamins power also melt in water (i bought from tractor supply sometime ago). I also feed her half boiled egg for two days in a row just to give her additional protein. My girl is doing better now. She does less backwards and when doing so, less steps. For the whole flock, i added additional sunflower seeds to their scratch feed and feed them along with pellets. I hope to see her symptom goes away in a few more days. Continue monitoring... Will check back here on her condition. Happy new year to you and your darling birds!

 

[jnfrcrag]

Hey there! Our hen is doing the exact same thing this year, and she's also in the middle of a molt in a deep freeze. Did you ever figure out if that was correlated?

We never determined the cause but supporting her with plenty of vitamins, electrolytes and probiotics seemed to help her along. Occasional fruits seemed to help as well (chopped grapes, apple and blueberries seemed to be her favorites and showed improvement). The behavior stopped after a week or so.

 

[speckledhen]

Sometimes, it happens because the hen simply has something stuck to her eyeball and it seeing something she's trying to avoid. I've seen them do it when they walk through a spider web and some of it sticks to the eye. She tries to back away from it.