Hen with Neurological Issues and Possible Egg Yolk Peritonitis - Recovery Story

Jessieessiej

Hatching
Jul 16, 2020
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I feel compelled to share our story because I've learned so much reading from these forums as nearly every single one of our seven girls has had some issue (broody, cracked beak, scorpion sting, heat issues). We live in the Phoenix area, so a very difficult area to keep chickens in the summer with 110F temps regularly (and nighttime temps often not dipping below 82). Our girls have a large coop, large shaded run, multiple feeders and waterers, and a misting system that runs all day in the summer. They are all roughly 1 year old, raised from chicks, all different breeds.

On Sunday, I was putting the girls back in from some early morning free-ranging and I came across one of my larger girls, a dark easter egger named Harriet, completely collapsed in the run near the food and water. She was nearly completely limp, with her neck even flopping to the side when I rushed her inside. I put her in the AC in my dining room in a larger dog crate. She could not stand, her wings and neck were limp, her toes were curled closed, her eyes were half closed, and she was breathing heavily (probably from the heat?). I also noticed she had mucus/drool coming from her mouth as she breathed.

At this point, I was 100% sure she was not going to make it. I have caught other hens that were stressed and overheated, especially right before laying, but never this bad.

She cooled down, stopped breathing as heavily, but was basically laying on her side, her breath was her only move aside from maybe moving her neck around in a strange way, often stretched behind her.

I want to reiterate that I am in no way an expert, and we've only had chickens for a year. But I've learned so much in these forums that I believe have helped my flock be healthy and recover from issues.

Here are all the things we thought it could be:
1. Heat Stroke. At first I thought heat stroke, maybe dehydration, and/or vitamin B deficiency which can curl feet.
2. Scorpion sting. My husband is convinced she was stung by a bark scorpion, which can cause foaming, spasms, paralysis since it is a neurotoxin.
3. Mareks. Honestly this terrified me, but the paralysis and weird way she was moving her neck around, especially stretching it behind her, made me think this. But she is older than the usual Marek's case.
4. Botulism. I thought perhaps some stray food was wet from the misters and she happened to eat it. Or, we have a black soldier fly larvae composting bin, maybe it had gotten too anaerobic from adding too much wet produce and they ate rotting food which made the larvae dangerous to eat for the chickens? They had been free ranging the past few days and it was plausible.

Another thing I noticed on that first day she was inside was light yellow runny droppings all over her vent and rear feathers. I thought maybe she had had to lay and egg and the trauma of whatever happened caused it to crack inside her? Or maybe she had a nutrient deficiency and it included calcium so the shell was cracked or it didnt have a shell and cracked? So this lead me to research egg yolk peritonitis, which is no joke. I also came across this thread which was super helpful and seemed very similar to our scenario: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-yolk-peritonitis-and-natural-remedies.922604/

Here is the flow of her (in my mind miraculous) recovery AND exactly what I tried to do to help her each day:

1. Sunday: Found her limp outside at 8:30am. Brought her inside into a cool room in a dog kennel with a fan nearby to move air and try to cool her down. She had her yolk colored dropping sometime mid-Sunday. I tried to occasionally wipe/pull the mucus out of her mouth. I smeared some NutriDrench on the side of her beak so she would hopefully absorb some nutrients. I also tried, with a small eye dropper, to get some electrolytes and fluids in her. I should have waited to do this, because I realize the risk of her inhaling and choking on the liquid.

2. Monday: In the morning she was laying on her side, but by the end the day she could sit up but with her toes still curled up under her. She had some strange head ticks that appeared to be neurological. She started to drink on her own and even made some low friendly chirps when she saw us. I gave her two drink options, molasses diluted in water (vitamins and some energy) or rooster booster in water. I also tried to give her some cooked egg, melon, grapes, and dry food. She pecked a tiny bit at things. Perhaps I was helicopter-caring for her, but anytime I went in there that I didn't see her drinking, I tried to eye dropper some fluids on the side of her beak.

3. Tuesday: She kept improving amazingly. Drinking on her own, pecking at food while laying down mostly. She still seemed very weak, and her eyes would close when she wasn't eating or looking at us. I gave her a bath in epsom salts to try to remove all the poop she had been laying in, including the yellow. Her toes really started to uncurl at this point, and she could even stand for very limited amounts of time, but with her tail down. She had a dish of normal layer feed (Scratch and Peck brand layer feed) and her two water options. She actually looked like she wanted to roost on the wood stick we had through the side of the kennel, so I put her up there and she roosted all night.

4. Wednesday: On Wednesday, I came across the post I linked above on natural remedies for EYP. I quickly brewed some oregano and cinnamon tea, added a little molasses, and only gave her that to drink. She improved little by little, and was standing up more and walking around the kennel, but her posture was still off - tail down kind of like EYP. In the evening, I briefly put her out with the flock to free range, luckily there was no aggression towards her. Brought her back inside to sleep because I'm worried the crazy heat this week will be too much for her so soon after recovering. When she was out with the other girls, she was slightly slower, but displaying all the normal chicken behaviors except she didn't scratch on her own. I feel like maybe her balanced wasn't 100%.

5. This morning, her tail is up and she is walking around. I put her out to free range with the other girls, fully expecting a lot of aggression from the others, but not seeing anything. She has been out with them for the past 3 hours, dust bathing, scratching, eating. I can't believe it! Tail is up and everything. Will keep a close eye on her.
 

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