Katsu won't walk

[4Adobo]

My Rhode Island Red/ Leghorn, Katsu, is 14 months old. She has been an active egg layer for about 4 months now. The other day I noticed she wasn't coming out to scratch, upon closer examination I realized she wasn't walking at all. I thought she might be egg bound so I treated her as such and low and behold she layer an egg. However, she is still not walking. She is still eating, her "poop" looks like normal chicken poop. She is alert and still vocal. Could she have a second egg stuck?

 

[Collete]

my pullet, Sweetie, did the same thing. she is probably brooding; which means she is sitting on her eggs to hatch them into chicks, in case you didn't know. Sweetie is still brooding, and in two weeks we may have fuzzy feather balls (it actually would be down balls). it takes 21 days or 3 weeks to hatch eggs. they will become very stubborn on walking, like yours is. if she has eggs under her, collect them and she will most likely snap out of it in a few minutes or hours. beweare, ( i didn't spell that right. ) they will hoard other hen's eggs! ( i found 9 eggs under Sweetie yesterday!!) if you do not want to have too many chicks,mark a few eggs with sharpie that you want to hatch and collect all of the others. at 5-7 days, candle the eggs. the two easiest ways to candle them is use a flashlight and hold it under the egg and check for any signs of embryo. another way to candle them is to go out to the coop in the middle of the day and hold the eggs up to the sun to check the embryo. do it quick!--if the air is cold or the eggs are out of 90' f for too long, it could die instantly. slip the eggs back under the pullet--try to stay away from it's head-it could peck, and believe me, it hurts (personal experience!) !! hope this helps!


~Hopefully Helpful (Collete)

P.S.
Sorry for blabbering on and on and on!
there just was a lot of information to be
told! now i will put a zip on the lip, promise!

 

[4Adobo]

Thank you for the info... unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be what we are dealing with in this case. We do have another girl who sits in the nesting box all day (the favorite of the two nesting boxes, that's how I think Katsu got bound int he first place). We have trained the other girl to go into the other box to "brood". If we take the other girl out of the nesting box, her trance like stage lasts for a couple minutes and then she goes to hang out with the other girls.
Katsu will not stand up at all, she will not walk, if we pick her up and put her down, she flops to her side and stays wherever she lands. Should I keep treating her as an egg bound chicken? We have no idea what to do and even through research I have not found an answer for what is wrong with her.

 

[4Adobo]

Katsu is still not walking or standing. I went tot he hatchery we bought her from and picked up some medicated starter crumble. I am going to feed her this for a while and see if she gets her legs back. Will use this post as kind of a diary so I can document this process. We continue to "show" her to her sisters so that they do not pick on her when she is able to return to them. Even if I never find out what is wrong with her, I hope she gets better and back to normal soon!!

 

[4Adobo]

forgot to mention... her tail is back up and her comb is getting it's color back.

 

[4Adobo]

Katsu is still not walking. I am wondering if her legs can get atrophy from lack of use. She has no visible injuries and doesn't seem to want to try to walk. She is still eating the medicated chick crumble. Checked to see if there is another stuck egg, but there is none. She is still eating and drinking, her poop still looks normal and her tail is still up. Her comb continues to improve in color, she just won't walk.

 

[4Adobo]

it's been about a week since we noticed Katsu flapping around on the ground instead of walking. She is looking better everyday, but she still won't get up and go. she has been "crouch" walking. (walking without lifting off the ground) She started cleaning her feathers and is turning around in her cage. I was looking up some possible ailments and found a really old ailment that fits all of her symptoms. Has Anyone ever heard of "layers cramp"? This seems to be what she has, although layers cramp comes from a poor diet and my girls are fed pellets, greens and other grain. The cure is epsom salt in the water. She is still eating the medicated crumble and we have added a tsp of epsom to her drinking water.

 

[chickenzoo]

Have you ever wormed her? Sometimes internal parasites can make them very weak and not walk. Also..any possible injury to her back?

 

[4Adobo]

we have not tried to worm her. That will be the next thing for us to try. Thank you for the suggestion!!

 

[4Adobo]

As we approach two weeks of Katsu not walking, I am pleased to report that she is starting to get up on her "toes", she is still not straightening her legs. She is eating and drinking and even getting a bit of an attitude when we try to pick her up. She spends most of her days outside in an enclosed area. (not in her "hospital" cage). Called the hatchery I got her from, they said I should give her a chance to heal from the trauma of pushing out such a large egg, especially because it was stuck for three days.