Hi folks,
Sorry for the long post, but I want to be as detailed as possible so maybe we can unravel this medical mystery.
We have a very strange chicken health concern and there aren’t poultry vets in our area. This is the second time this has happened and we’d love to identify the cause. We have 3 chickens and she’s the only one to have any symptoms. The girls have a large coop and run (cleaned weekly) as well as access to our large backyard during daylight hours. They eat layer crumbles which we keep stored in an airtight container and receive a modest amount of treats daily. They also have free access to supplemental calcium in the form of heat treated crushed egg shells (they refused oyster shells in any form). They’re treated for parasites regularly and we do all we can to best care for them.
Several months ago, Kiwi, our Rhode Island Red (age unknown but 3+ years), stopped leaving the coop. We’d get help her out of the coop and she’d move around but was getting more and more listless. I suspected an impacted crop, but eventually was able to determine it was empty. We finally brought her indoors and put her in a large crate. She seemed unable to see, couldn’t peck accurately at her food, and any attempt to walk was just a mess. She’d tip forward and stumble and wasn’t opening her feet. When she was at her worst, her appetite wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. It was back to normal far before any of her other symptoms improved.
My partner was able to pinpoint a lot of her symptoms as dehydration so we started watering her. We learned how to insert a tube, making sure to bypass her airway, and gave her water with electrolytes that way. Along with supportive care, we gave her a variety of foods that were heavy in liquids and eventually she started drinking again. We started doing some PT for her feet to ensure she kept her range of motion and could open her toes. She slowly improved over the course of a month and was eventually returned outside; first to her own coop/run, and was finally reintegrated with her flock. We also discovered that one of our cats is horribly allergic to chicken dander and he suffered some terrible asthma attacks.
When she first went back out to her own coop, she laid and egg that was… gross. I would have said it was a lash egg, but it was absolutely odorless. Just seemed to be lots of tissue and was generally weird and had no shell. I was shocked when she went back to normal daily laying within a week of most of her symptoms resolving.
She had one brief spell where she was off and we felt compelled to water her for a couple days again, but has otherwise been fairly normal, even laying daily again. She’s probably not as smart as she used to be, but she’s plenty happy.
Well, her symptoms are back. They started suddenly; she was normal on Friday, not leaving the coop on Saturday, and not really willing to move. We were out of town, but immediately started supportive care again on Sunday when we returned. She definitely didn’t get as bad this time, probably because we were much faster to react. This time she’s in a “hospital” under the coop, where she is close to her sisters, warm, and has easy access to everything she needs. We’re working on training our cat, Case, on an inhaler, but I’m hesitant to bring Kiwi indoors again until we can be certain his life won’t be put at risk. Luckily the weather is nice, 60s at night, 70s during the day, so I feel ok about the current arrangement.
Kiwi gas been steadily improving and is finally beginning to drink a tiny bit of water on her own again. She is eating with gusto and doesn’t have any issues picking out her favorite treats from her food bowl first. Her feet are still curled, like she’s walking on her knuckles, but her mobility has definitely improved. We’re doing PT again and are hopeful she’ll be back to normal soon.
We’ve researched her symptoms and have examined her for various maladies but can’t ID any one cause. We don’t suspect parasites, nor any of the usual diseases. Her sisters are totally fine, so it doesn’t seem contagious. Her eyes are bright and, while her comb is dry, it isn’t pale. It’s not an impacted crop, nor does she seem egg bound. I checked for the later with abdominal palpitations as well as a gloved and lubricated finger. Best we can match up her symptoms is would be a head injury, but we’ve seen no physical signs of that, or a stroke. Is it possible she had a stroke and then had had more mini-strokes? Have I missed something?
Thanks for your help! Let me know what other information I can provide. We just want our girl healthy again and, if there’s something we can do to prevent this from happening again, we’re all ears.
Sorry for the long post, but I want to be as detailed as possible so maybe we can unravel this medical mystery.
We have a very strange chicken health concern and there aren’t poultry vets in our area. This is the second time this has happened and we’d love to identify the cause. We have 3 chickens and she’s the only one to have any symptoms. The girls have a large coop and run (cleaned weekly) as well as access to our large backyard during daylight hours. They eat layer crumbles which we keep stored in an airtight container and receive a modest amount of treats daily. They also have free access to supplemental calcium in the form of heat treated crushed egg shells (they refused oyster shells in any form). They’re treated for parasites regularly and we do all we can to best care for them.
Several months ago, Kiwi, our Rhode Island Red (age unknown but 3+ years), stopped leaving the coop. We’d get help her out of the coop and she’d move around but was getting more and more listless. I suspected an impacted crop, but eventually was able to determine it was empty. We finally brought her indoors and put her in a large crate. She seemed unable to see, couldn’t peck accurately at her food, and any attempt to walk was just a mess. She’d tip forward and stumble and wasn’t opening her feet. When she was at her worst, her appetite wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. It was back to normal far before any of her other symptoms improved.
My partner was able to pinpoint a lot of her symptoms as dehydration so we started watering her. We learned how to insert a tube, making sure to bypass her airway, and gave her water with electrolytes that way. Along with supportive care, we gave her a variety of foods that were heavy in liquids and eventually she started drinking again. We started doing some PT for her feet to ensure she kept her range of motion and could open her toes. She slowly improved over the course of a month and was eventually returned outside; first to her own coop/run, and was finally reintegrated with her flock. We also discovered that one of our cats is horribly allergic to chicken dander and he suffered some terrible asthma attacks.
When she first went back out to her own coop, she laid and egg that was… gross. I would have said it was a lash egg, but it was absolutely odorless. Just seemed to be lots of tissue and was generally weird and had no shell. I was shocked when she went back to normal daily laying within a week of most of her symptoms resolving.
She had one brief spell where she was off and we felt compelled to water her for a couple days again, but has otherwise been fairly normal, even laying daily again. She’s probably not as smart as she used to be, but she’s plenty happy.
Well, her symptoms are back. They started suddenly; she was normal on Friday, not leaving the coop on Saturday, and not really willing to move. We were out of town, but immediately started supportive care again on Sunday when we returned. She definitely didn’t get as bad this time, probably because we were much faster to react. This time she’s in a “hospital” under the coop, where she is close to her sisters, warm, and has easy access to everything she needs. We’re working on training our cat, Case, on an inhaler, but I’m hesitant to bring Kiwi indoors again until we can be certain his life won’t be put at risk. Luckily the weather is nice, 60s at night, 70s during the day, so I feel ok about the current arrangement.
Kiwi gas been steadily improving and is finally beginning to drink a tiny bit of water on her own again. She is eating with gusto and doesn’t have any issues picking out her favorite treats from her food bowl first. Her feet are still curled, like she’s walking on her knuckles, but her mobility has definitely improved. We’re doing PT again and are hopeful she’ll be back to normal soon.
We’ve researched her symptoms and have examined her for various maladies but can’t ID any one cause. We don’t suspect parasites, nor any of the usual diseases. Her sisters are totally fine, so it doesn’t seem contagious. Her eyes are bright and, while her comb is dry, it isn’t pale. It’s not an impacted crop, nor does she seem egg bound. I checked for the later with abdominal palpitations as well as a gloved and lubricated finger. Best we can match up her symptoms is would be a head injury, but we’ve seen no physical signs of that, or a stroke. Is it possible she had a stroke and then had had more mini-strokes? Have I missed something?
Thanks for your help! Let me know what other information I can provide. We just want our girl healthy again and, if there’s something we can do to prevent this from happening again, we’re all ears.
Last edited:
