Hen wobbly and laying down to eat...help!

[CamiLynn]

I have hen that we just noticed is having a hard time walking and standing. When she walks she is very unsteady and though she can run its not normal and still wobbly. She has laid so she's not egg bound, her crop is not full, and she eats and drinks. We noticed a few days ago she wasn't as active as the other hens. I have separated her in her own pen and she just sits there. What's wrong? What do I need to do for her? I also think she is molting...or someone is plucking her feathers pretty good. Oh and no mites or lice.

 

[rickaroonie]

Camilynn,
Fairly new to chickens myself and have the exact same problem as you. She eats and drinks but having a hard time standing and walking very funny. Just noticed it 10 minutes ago. I have no idea whats wrong. Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

 

[CamiLynn]

I read ear mites could cause it, but I checked her ears and nothing. The other thing I read was protein deficiency so we fed her some starter and scrabbled egg and she devoured it! Her poop is normal also, so no idea what's wrong, but something is. Also, all of the other hens in the same coop are perfetly fine.

 

[Michael Apple]

Sounds like the bird's going through a hard molt. Vitamins A, D & E are important during a molt as well as B and protein. A & D will stay stored in fat cells for about 3 weeks. B goes right through them. I used Poultry Nutri-Drench http://www.bovidr.com/poultry.html 2x a day orally or in the water if the bird is drinking on it's own (follow directions on the bottle). Most feed stores carry it, so call and find it. You can mix it in feed too if the bird is eating on its own. I use 20% protein feed to get the seemingly hard molters back in step. Sometimes the immune system is down and can make them susceptible to other bacterial problems. Supplement the bird and get back to us.

 

[barnyardmommy]

I just took two, 12 week old pullets to an avian vet last Friday showing the same symptoms. One had been losing her balance , limping when she would try to walk which wasn't often. She just wanted to sit and not move. She was a buff orpington. About 5 days later my lavender orpington started losing her balance and limping.The vet did a stool sample on both, no worms but they both tested positive for cocci. We started them on Corrid. The little Buff got worse over the weekend, so I took her back to the Vet this morning. The Vet didn't think the cocci was what was making them show these symptoms. We decided to euthanize the little Buff and send her to the state laboratory for a necropsy. He said it could be mareks, and we couldn't tell for sure unless they did the necropsy. It broke my heart to loose my little Buff, but I have 21 other chicks that I have to look out for. I just really want to know what is causing this.

 

[Michael Apple]

I experienced what I could describe as drunken behavior with two hens which blew all their feathers at once during the onset of a molt. I thought the rapid loss of feathers made them uncomfortable and unbalanced.There was no stress or previous behavior I witnessed that could have caused it. I supplemented as I mentioned in my previous post, kept a brooder lamp over their roost at night since it was near the end of Winter, and they were fine in about 2 weeks.

 

[CamiLynn]

Thank you for the replies. It's not cocci I know that, but it seems like molting to us as she looks like she has the start of it, but we aren't completely sure as we also haves plucker in this coop. She's just over a year and has never molted so it is very likely that...I hope!

 

[barnyardmommy]

How is she doing today?

 

[CamiLynn]

Sorry for not replying sooner. She is still the same. We separated her on her own pen, and she is eating and drinking well, poop is normal, and is still laying, so it's just weird. Was told it could be ear mites doing this too but from what I was able to see her ears are clean. So still trying to figure out what is wrong. Haven't really notice a feather loss either but it's been raining for days so everything is just wet. I'll update when I know more.

 

[Michael Apple]

I certainly don't want to create unecessary concerns, since what you first mentioned could just be a difficult molt. Like I said, I had two that took a few weeks to get back on track from a hard molt. I don't know what your chicken's environment is like, but you might want to investigate fungal infections like Aspergillosis. Here's a link:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/7/aspergillosis