Please Help! Odd Behavior Following Attack / Sick Chicken

[FluckFarmsCHI]

Hello! Any insight, advice or suggestions are MUCH appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!

We live in Chicago and a little over a week ago our coop was attacked by something in the night. It got in by prying open the bottom of the door to the run which had a lock on the top (a very tight space). It killed our Silkie and dragged her body outside of the coop. We found her in the morning in the bushes, headless but with nothing else eaten. My husband said that our Goldlace Wyandotte seemed shaken up and in shock that morning, but both her and our Buff Orpington didn't suffer any injuries. We were on vacation for a week with our tenant watching the chickens to make sure they had enough food/water and collect eggs. Both haven't been laying and our tenant report that the chickens haven't been coming out of the coop to eat/drink.

Upon returning today, it was clear that there is something wrong with the Wyandotte. She is walking around off balance, frequently falling over and catching herself with her wing or trying to counterbalance by tucking her backside. The oddest part is her posture, he head is tucked way back and to one side.

I gave her water by hand which she drank. I tried to feed her mealworms and she did not want them - which is super odd. I gave both her and the Orpington corns of cob from the garden and they didn't touch them - also very strange since usually they eat them down to a skeleton in minutes. I then mashed up the corn in a food processor and added some water, I was able to hand feed this to her but she seemed to have trouble to depth and how to actually got her beak to it. I saw her drinking water and having the same off balance/depth perception issue. She tried to scratch around in the fresh hay I laid down and it was so sad to see her falling down and with her neck all tucked back. I felt around her crop and it is squishy just like the Buff Orpington's. I extended her neck a bit and saw no wounds, everything looked normal. I saw her shaking her head/body like normal (only falling down instead) and scratching her beak to get corn off like normal (except of the lose of balance). Her eating even seemed off (besides the balance issue), with her tongue sticking out/having difficulty navigating into her mouth - thought I suppose this could all be a part of the balance.

Could it be that while we were away she didn't eat or drink anything because of the stress of the attack and is extremely dehydrated and malnourished? Could that have caused another health issue? Or is this something completed unrelated? REALLY would love to hear your thoughts on this - her posture and balance are really concerning and I don't want her to pass too.

Thank you so much !

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello! Any insight, advice or suggestions are MUCH appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!

We live in Chicago and a little over a week ago our coop was attacked by something in the night. It got in by prying open the bottom of the door to the run which had a lock on the top (a very tight space). It killed our Silkie and dragged her body outside of the coop. We found her in the morning in the bushes, headless but with nothing else eaten. My husband said that our Goldlace Wyandotte seemed shaken up and in shock that morning, but both her and our Buff Orpington didn't suffer any injuries. We were on vacation for a week with our tenant watching the chickens to make sure they had enough food/water and collect eggs. Both haven't been laying and our tenant report that the chickens haven't been coming out of the coop to eat/drink.

Upon returning today, it was clear that there is something wrong with the Wyandotte. She is walking around off balance, frequently falling over and catching herself with her wing or trying to counterbalance by tucking her backside. The oddest part is her posture, he head is tucked way back and to one side.

I gave her water by hand which she drank. I tried to feed her mealworms and she did not want them - which is super odd. I gave both her and the Orpington corns of cob from the garden and they didn't touch them - also very strange since usually they eat them down to a skeleton in minutes. I then mashed up the corn in a food processor and added some water, I was able to hand feed this to her but she seemed to have trouble to depth and how to actually got her beak to it. I saw her drinking water and having the same off balance/depth perception issue. She tried to scratch around in the fresh hay I laid down and it was so sad to see her falling down and with her neck all tucked back. I felt around her crop and it is squishy just like the Buff Orpington's. I extended her neck a bit and saw no wounds, everything looked normal. I saw her shaking her head/body like normal (only falling down instead) and scratching her beak to get corn off like normal (except of the lose of balance). Her eating even seemed off (besides the balance issue), with her tongue sticking out/having difficulty navigating into her mouth - thought I suppose this could all be a part of the balance.

Could it be that while we were away she didn't eat or drink anything because of the stress of the attack and is extremely dehydrated and malnourished? Could that have caused another health issue? Or is this something completed unrelated? REALLY would love to hear your thoughts on this - her posture and balance are really concerning and I don't want her to pass too.

Thank you so much !

Welcome to BYC.

Can you post a video of her actions?
Were they vaccinated for Marek's?
Any abnormalities of the eyes - do the eyes look different?
Is she able to walk around at all or is she laying down most of the time?

Any possibility the feed it off- moldy?

Did they not eat or drink the whole time you were on vacation?

It's possible they could be suffering from dehydration and malnourishment. Offer some electrolytes for a couple of days then switch to poultry vitamins in the water. Offer their normal poultry feed which should be balanced nutritionally - add in some scrambled/hard boiled egg, tuna, mackerel or meat to give extra protein. Limit treats to no more than 10% of daily intake.

Even if they were not harmed in the attack, they can still suffer from stress and shock which can take a while to get over. Stressors can also make symptoms of any diseases/illnesses they may have come to the surface, so that is always a possibility.


Let us know how they are doing.

 

[jessthesheepy]

A fox got into my chicken coop but luckily we heard the hens and scared the fox off before they could get seriously hurt, they were shaken up for a few days apart from one who was showing very similar behaviour to yours, we had to feed her by hand and use a syringe to slowly drop water to her but she still stayed the same, we took her to the vet and I believe she was given an antibiotic and some sort of injection to 'boost her immune system', basically the vet said that the 'shock' caused her to go into this weird state of not eating or drinking or going outside the coop which caused her to become extremely weak, within a week of the injection she was back to her normal self! My advice would be to keep making sure they are eating and drinking and talk to a vet, wish I could help more!

 

[FluckFarmsCHI]

I will post a video when I get home, but here are some pictures.

To answer your questions:
Can you post a video of her actions? Yes I will post later today after work
Were they vaccinated for Marek's? I have no idea - I got them from a local chicken supply shop here in Chicago called Belmont Feed and Seed at 2days old.
Any abnormalities of the eyes - do the eyes look different? The eyes look totally normal
Is she able to walk around at all or is she laying down most of the time? She is getting around but is wobbling/falling. She looks like she's drunk and is very off balance/disoriented. Her neck is waaaay back and it seems like it's difficult for her to eat/drink because of it's current position.

Any possibility the feed it off- moldy? Yes there is that possibility, we had heavy rains that could have come sideways into the run and gotten their pellets wet.

Did they not eat or drink the whole time you were on vacation? I do not believe so, we didn't know this until our tenant told us upon our return home the other day. She told us that she didn't see the chickens in the run at all, that they were sitting in the nesting boxes all day (but with no egg laying).

 

[FluckFarmsCHI]

Thanks for your response! Was your chickens neck being held back in this position too?
Another thing I noticed a while long ago was that she had kind of a pasty/white butt, but a friend of mine mentioned that some of them just have that and she wasn't acting sick so I didn't pay it too much attention. I'm wondering if she is in shock and stressed and that brought on another kind of illness while her immune system was down. Possibly ate mold as mentioned above?

Another interesting thing that happened was that our dog became ill (vomiting, nausea, lack of appetite, lethargy and walking gingerly on his back legs/not putting weight on them). He was eating the chickens poop in the yard, thinking maybe these two things are related in same strange way?

 

[FluckFarmsCHI]

Here is a video of the chicken and her odd posture minus her wobbly/drunken movements

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for your response! Was your chickens neck being held back in this position too?
Another thing I noticed a while long ago was that she had kind of a pasty/white butt, but a friend of mine mentioned that some of them just have that and she wasn't acting sick so I didn't pay it too much attention. I'm wondering if she is in shock and stressed and that brought on another kind of illness while her immune system was down. Possibly ate mold as mentioned above?

Another interesting thing that happened was that our dog became ill (vomiting, nausea, lack of appetite, lethargy and walking gingerly on his back legs/not putting weight on them). He was eating the chickens poop in the yard, thinking maybe these two things are related in same strange way?

Quote:
You may want to take a fecal sample of the dog and the chicken to your vet to have tested for any bacteria, cocci or toxins.

Is your hen eating at all?
How does her crop feel?

It's possible she could have strained her neck or injured her spine somehow.
You may want to provide her with some poultry vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench or Poultry Cell.

Make sure you are feeding fresh food - if it by chance got moldy it can make them sick.

Let us know how they are doing.