Injured chicken, any help is greatly appreciated!

[HippieChickieBa]

Hey friends, I'm assigned to watch my roomates chickens and I found one of them laying on her side this morning. It look liked she fell down from the runner. She won't stand up straight and was laying down and having the shakes on and off. The other chickens began to step on her so I googled and isolated her into a big empty clean fish tank with food and water. I can't figure out what's wrong with as she's not bleeding anywhere..does anyone have any suggestions? I called the vet and they said they don't have familiarity with chickens, only house pets. I'd greatly appreciate it, I feel so bad!

 

[Eggcessive]

Thats a tough assignment since we don't know the age of the chicken or any history. Maybe you can call the friend who probably knows her chickens. It could be an illness such as coccidiosis or a virus. It's hard to know what without some description of symtoms. You did the right thing to islolate her. If she's shaking she may be cold from a viral disease and need some heat, and antibiotics. It is hard to guess. Keep posting if you find out more , have more questions, or just to let us know how she is.

 

[amnich]

If I were you I would definitely try to find a vet that can see chickens, especially if you are taking care of the chicken for a friend.

First thing you should do is make sure she is as calm as possible, because a stressed chicken is going to seem much sicker than she may really be. If you have a tractor supply company store near you go and get some vitamin and electrolyte supplements for her water.

Check to see how much she is eating and drinking and if she is pooping normally. If she won't eat her normal food try to get her to eat some hard boiled eggs.

You should try to figure out if she is sick or injured. Chickens do not like to show any sickness or injury as a survival instinct, but you can look for signs like her being fluffed up or having her eyes closed that may point to sickness or maybe she is showing that she is in pain and that points to an injury.

When she is calm, is she still shaking? Shaking may have been caused by stress, but if she is still shaking there may be a bigger issue like trauma to an important area of the body or an illness that may cause spasms.

Is she starting to stand at all? Can she move her legs? Try to do some exercises with her to see if she can get some movement back. Basically pump her legs back and forth, stretch them out a little (not too far) just to get them going. Try to find out the extent to which she can move on her own.

Watch to make sure no one else is showing an signs of illness. Chances are if this is some sort of disease the rest will have come in contact with it also and might show symptoms. If not, it may be more likely that she was injured.

Like I said before, try to see if there is any vet that can take her. Hope she will be ok!