My 4yr old hen is sitting on her butt/hocks and kind of dragging one foot

[JuliaRose]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out what is going on with my hen. She is sitting on her butt, with her legs out in front. She is sitting almost ALL DAY. She also can't walk well, dragging and swinging one foot that seems maybe it's paralyzed. It doesn't seem to hurt her, is not hot or show any trauma. I originally thought she may have Marek's but she's older, and no one else is showing this behavior in a flock of 16 adult hens. I wonder if she has a vitamin deficiency making her leg go weak? What else should I be looking and checking her over for to help me figure out what the problem is?

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Olive Egger, 4 years, normal weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. When resting, she is sitting on her butt, not tilting forward onto her breast, and has her legs out in front. Her left leg is also not working right, she sort of drags or swings her foot forward in an effort to hobble away.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Noticed her acting fluffed up and a little less social than usual for 3 days, then for the past 30hrs she's been sitting weird and hobbling like this.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No, she's the only one exhibiting these behaviors out of 16 hens.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No, I gave her a full DE bath when I did the initial full body check (found lice), no wounds or sensitive areas that I could tell.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Nothing I know of.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Typical feed for the flock is Scratch and Peck layer, and ACV in the water. Her appetite isn't huge, even with special foods given (see #9) and doesn't seem thirsty.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal, stinky.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Isolated her, full body DE bath, checked for other symptoms of Mareks (no raised folicles, no grey eyes, seems pretty old to start showing symptoms, wings are not paralyzed), tended to possible mineral deficiency (given poyvisol, scrambled egg, tuna, vit b12 powder).
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? Completely myself
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Pictures are below, and a link to a video
https://youtube.com/shorts/qITkhyT3Noo?feature=share

 

[SmiYa0126]

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock help, sick hen

 

[azygous]

Has it been suddenly very cold there where you are? Hypothermia can cause such symptoms.

Start your hen off with a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and baking soda stirred in. Then give a B-complex tablet each day. Raising her glucose and electrolytes might be enough to fix this. It's the first thing I always try with a chicken showing these symptoms.

She needs not only B-12 but B-2 and 6. B-complex will cover all. These are the vitamins that will cure a B deficiency that causes leg weakness and paralysis.

 

[TesoroSena]

She may have splay leg, which means you simply have to band her legs close together, that way they are retrained back to their original position

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, I gave her a full DE bath when I did the initial full body check (found lice), no wounds or sensitive areas that I could tell.

tended to possible mineral deficiency (given poyvisol, scrambled egg, tuna, vit b12 powder).

I would get a Permethrin based poultry dust or spray and treat her for the lice.

I agree with getting B-100 or B-Complex and starting her on vitamin therapy. You want the B2(Riboflavin) that is in the B-100 or Complex. B12 is just Cobalamin.

When was her last egg?

In the video, she moves like her leg is injured. You can try stabilizing it by wrapping it, but you'll need to check it daily and make sure it's not too tight or there's no swelling.
I would not recommend hobbling or banding the legs together, this method is only used on just hatched chicks that are 1-2 days old, not in grown chickens.

 

[kbroom]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me figure out what is going on with my hen. She is sitting on her butt, with her legs out in front. She is sitting almost ALL DAY. She also can't walk well, dragging and swinging one foot that seems maybe it's paralyzed. It doesn't seem to hurt her, is not hot or show any trauma. I originally thought she may have Marek's but she's older, and no one else is showing this behavior in a flock of 16 adult hens. I wonder if she has a vitamin deficiency making her leg go weak? What else should I be looking and checking her over for to help me figure out what the problem is?

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Olive Egger, 4 years, normal weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. When resting, she is sitting on her butt, not tilting forward onto her breast, and has her legs out in front. Her left leg is also not working right, she sort of drags or swings her foot forward in an effort to hobble away.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Noticed her acting fluffed up and a little less social than usual for 3 days, then for the past 30hrs she's been sitting weird and hobbling like this.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No, she's the only one exhibiting these behaviors out of 16 hens.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No, I gave her a full DE bath when I did the initial full body check (found lice), no wounds or sensitive areas that I could tell.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Nothing I know of.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Typical feed for the flock is Scratch and Peck layer, and ACV in the water. Her appetite isn't huge, even with special foods given (see #9) and doesn't seem thirsty.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal, stinky.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Isolated her, full body DE bath, checked for other symptoms of Mareks (no raised folicles, no grey eyes, seems pretty old to start showing symptoms, wings are not paralyzed), tended to possible mineral deficiency (given poyvisol, scrambled egg, tuna, vit b12 powder).
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? Completely myself
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Pictures are below, and a link to a video
https://youtube.com/shorts/qITkhyT3Noo?feature=share


View attachment 3404253

View attachment 3404252

I don't know if this would help you, but maybe you could try what this lady did in this video, when her hen was acting very sick. She soaked the chicken for 5 mins. in warm water and Epsom Salts.

 

[JuliaRose]

I would get a Permethrin based poultry dust or spray and treat her for the lice.

I agree with getting B-100 or B-Complex and starting her on vitamin therapy. You want the B2(Riboflavin) that is in the B-100 or Complex. B12 is just Cobalamin.

When was her last egg?

In the video, she moves like her leg is injured. You can try stabilizing it by wrapping it, but you'll need to check it daily and make sure it's not too tight or there's no swelling.
I would not recommend hobbling or banding the legs together, this method is only used on just hatched chicks that are 1-2 days old, not in grown chickens.

Thanks for your suggestions.

I am giving her human B-100 vitamins (emptying the capsule into her special foods).

She hasn't laid any eggs in months, I'm attributing it to winter because my flock always slows way down during winter.

I did another thorough assessment of her leg, no swelling or hot to the touch. She lets me move it around, which surprises me because I too think it looks injured. It's so weird.

I'm hoping the forced rest in the dog crate and vitamins help.

 

[JuliaRose]

Has it been suddenly very cold there where you are? Hypothermia can cause such symptoms.

Start your hen off with a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and baking soda stirred in. Then give a B-complex tablet each day. Raising her glucose and electrolytes might be enough to fix this. It's the first thing I always try with a chicken showing these symptoms.

She needs not only B-12 but B-2 and 6. B-complex will cover all. These are the vitamins that will cure a B deficiency that causes leg weakness and paralysis.

It hasn't been suprisingly cold, pretty typical of PNW winter weather. I will give her that warm water mixture, thank you for the suggestions. She doesn't seem thirsty at all so I'll have to dip her beak in it.

I'm giving her the polyvisol as well as human b-100 vitamins (emptying the capsule into her special food). I'm hoping this help.

Thank you

 

[JuliaRose]

Has it been suddenly very cold there where you are? Hypothermia can cause such symptoms.

Start your hen off with a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and baking soda stirred in. Then give a B-complex tablet each day. Raising her glucose and electrolytes might be enough to fix this. It's the first thing I always try with a chicken showing these symptoms.

She needs not only B-12 but B-2 and 6. B-complex will cover all. These are the vitamins that will cure a B deficiency that causes leg weakness and paralysis.

She enjoyed the sugar water mixture! She wasn’t really drinking the plain or ACV dosed water I was offering, so this was a happy little win for me. Thanks.

Also, do you know about how long it would typically take to see any kind of improvement once started on the B vitamins? Immediately or weeks?

 

[azygous]

Some have seen improvement in just a few days, but it's been my experience that it takes more like three or four weeks.