My gut says botulism, but could use some help

[Shadrach]

I feel guilty just writing this but a visit to my lovely vet Gloria here costs on average 20 Euros and if I hadn't had enough money to cover a particular treatment she has accepted one of the lamps I make.

 

[lilmillefleur]

So sorry for your hen. She is so beautiful, I hate to see her like that. I hope she pulls through!

 

[PouleChick]

I'm so sorry to hear about your lovely hen doing so badly

I feel guilty just writing this but a visit to my lovely vet Gloria here costs on average 20 Euros and if I hadn't had enough money to cover a particular treatment she has accepted one of the lamps I make.

That is amazing I'm guessing ours won't be like that! I'll have to ask my friend who has sheep what he charges!

 

[Nksg75]

My loving thoughts are with you and Mrs. Lee. In the last video, so wondered if she was thirsty or hungry with what she was doing with her beak. Have you seen the wry neck videos where they steady the chixken’s head by grasping the neck feathers so she can eat?

No, I have not seen those videos. I will have to look for them.
I have been tube feeding her a mixture of water , yougurt, poly visol, vitamin B, and a 20% protein feed.
I have been doing this 4 times a day, and she is more alert lateLy. She has pooped about 5 times so far.(I have a backup of laundry, and probably should get her a diaper of sorts) I have her in a poncho sort of thing that is preventing her from suffocating herself if her head would fall under her own body.
Her neck is still flaccid, but she appears to be much more alert lately. She even tried to peck at a mealworm in my hand. I ended up having to put it in her beak, and she swallowed several of them.
I was waiting for that 48 hour window for her to survive, and she did. Now I just wish she could somehow show me that she will make a recovery so I can be sure it was botulism after all, and not something else(I am crossing my fingers my gut was right, and she doesn't have Mereks)

I believe she may have been thirsty in the video. I have started dipping her beak in water, and she will drink some, but I feel as much as she and I dislike tube feeding, it's what she needs. There is no way I could get enough food and water in her simply by a syringe, and it would take me 10 times as long to do it.

 

[Nksg75]

Pleased to read there is some progress.

Yes, to me there is. I just thought with possible botulism, that once that 48 hour was up then the improvement would be more obvious.
Mabye I am naive but I thought once the poison was out of the system, they would be back to semi normal.
She still can't walk, she is able to lift her head slightly, but it still is bent.
I guess I am frustrated because as the time goes on, I am wondering if I made the wrong assumption about what she had.
After looking at the area where the others are freeranging, and doing research online as what could be the cause, I figured it was indeed the amount of rain we have had, and the river around here was very high, and flooding some areas of the pasture they are in. Then after it went down, she got ill.
So it stood to reason that the river had caused possible rotten vegetation. All the other chickens are fine, no issues so far.

 

[Eggcessive]

Most of us have never dealt with botulism, but it can be found if there has been flooding that has receded when there have been dead fish that were trapped on land. Even the mud or maggots can be infectious. It is more common in ducks. But I think if her neck is limp, the rest of her body would be as well. Only time will tell what she had, but Mareks is much more common. If you lose her, a necropsy could identify the cause, but hopefully, it won’t come to that. I am glad that she is brighter and tolerating food. In this article on Mareks, there is a section on lookalike diseases:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Nksg75]

Ok, here she is just now. I’d say a big improvement for sure!!

 

[Shadrach]

Ok, here she is just now. I’d say a big improvement for sure!!

Could I ask you to keep an accurate record of how you've treated her, including the videos and make an article of it so it doesn't get lost?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to see she is improving

 

[townchicks]

So, this is a long shot, but I'm just going to throw this out there because you said there was a new mare, and she eats the stool. I'm wondering if the mare might have just been dosed with ivermectin. Symptoms of ivermectin overdose is ataxia (uncoordinated jerky movement) and I have known of cases of dogs that ate sheep poop right after the sheep were treated, and got very ill, and/some died. Since you say she's prone to hogging treats to herself, she might have gotten too much, and that could be why the others are fine. Just a thought. I'm glad she is getting better.