1) What type of bird , age and weight. Delaware, 15 months, 6 lbs. 2) What is the behavior, exactly. She is still eating but not as much, she doesn't come out from under the coop for treats like she normally does, she was the first one on the roost last night, she stands on one leg and holds the other foot curled up, at first I thought she hurt her leg but as I watched her she was switching feet. 3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? I noticed it yesterday 4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No 5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No 6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. She is molting, could that be all it is? 7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Flock Raiser crumbles, water, bugs she can find, scraps I feed them, scratch 8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Not sure, I haven't seen her go, will try and watch her to see what it looks like 9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Nothing 10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I will treat her myself 11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. 12) Describe the housing/bedding in use I have 12 LF and 3 Silkies in a 10x12 coop with attached 30x30 run (I'm guessing at the size) I use pine shavings for the bedding and the roosts are about 5 feet off the floor. Edited to add: weight 6 Lbs...also her poo is normal...but she is walking funny, she sits kind of low to the ground and leans to one side or the other, like she is off balance or can't see well.
Anyone have any other ideas? I'm really worried about her, she is foraging well but still walking low to the ground and leaning to the side as she goes.
Try giving her some Vit. B12/ Vit. E it worked for my hen that while in her moult see she unable to walk/stand. It took 5 plus days to get her better, but she is back to normal today. I looked it up here in the search engine and found it to be common condition in hens. They can get these vitamin deficiencies and it stops them from being able to walk, may help. Isolate her as well, the others may pick on her. Put her food/water close so she can eat. I mixed the Vitamins, it was powder capsules, opened up and sprinkled on corn. Sick or not my hens will eat corn no matter what . Good luck
A couple of my girls had a really heavy molt this year. They were less agressive and less active until the feathers were well in. I have one that is one of the boss hens just start this weekend. All of a sudden she is a meek thing. I noticed the molters have been among the first on the roosts at night ( and they have to be cold). Somewhere I read to make sure they have extra BOSS and other sources of protien because the growing feathers zaps it out of them for a little while. Anyone with better knowledge of the subject is very welcome to step in. I still consider myself new to chickens.
I had one with really bad molt this year, she hardly ever left the coop, and was looking very punk, I gave her some cottage cheese with garlic oil and honey and she seemed to perk up a bit. started eating better all my molters seem to coop up early at night. I have decided molting is like having the flue. you don't want to do anything.
So many possibilities. She may have an injury (roost is pretty high - is there room to provide alternate low roost?), she may be experiencing effects of molting (my hen Ellie is coming out the other side of a very difficult molt and during the worst of it she walked like a drunk, at best), and/or it could be something else. Make sure she's eating well and has really good nutrition right now (since she's not opting to eat much on her own, put Avia Charge 2000 in their water [can order on line - one container lasts and lasts - mix to light iced tea color] or administer 3 drops Polyvisol liquid children's vitamins (without added iron) daily gently along her beak line via dropper, so she swallows on her own and doesn't choke. Report back on condition of poop. If she gets any worse her future may depend on getting a prompt accurate diagnosis and treatment. JJ
Thanks everyone for all the ideas. I have been giving her scrambled eggs every morning and also polyvisol drops. I will try the B12 vitamins too because I have some in the medicine cabinet. The roost is high but they have a ramp and she usually uses it, some of the younger girls just jump down. I'm glad to hear that others have had the staggering, I try to look things up on here but it seems like I can never find what I'm looking for. Maybe I'm using the wrong keywords. Halcyon how would I know if she's eggbound? I didn't think they layed during molting. Is there something specific I should look for?
