pullet doing the penguin walk…

[romea]

this young bird is approximately 3 months old now:

unfortunately i am not 100% sure about her age - which is why i placed her next to a small garbage can and an empty beer bottle (for size ). admittedly i am also only assuming that this is a female bird.

in any event... suddenly today she is doing the ‘penguin walk’ (and standing fully erect as seen above):

i measured her temperature and, if i understand it correctly, 42.5 C/108.5 F in chickens is not a fever.
she eats and her poop looks normal but i took 1 runny version ‘apart’ to check for visible worms:

i am providing quality food, fresh water with additional electrolytes and all my birds are free ranging. today i gave a calcium supplement to this young bird (just in case).
although i can not imagine her to be egg-bound at this early age (she is definitely not fully grown yet), i also felt into her vent - approximately as far as an inch - and did not feel an egg...
i also have a "closed flock” and never encountered marek’s.

any thoughts of what might be going on?

 

[PirateGirl]

@Eggcessive ??

Do you know if this chicken has ever laid an egg? Although she has the classic eggbound penguin stance, since you did not feel an egg and she is eating and pooping relatively normal, I suspect perhaps something else is going on, possibly internal laying or an infection of the reproductive system.

 

[romea]

yes, i am fairly certain that she has never laid an egg.
she stems from standard sized chickens but lives with bantams. i find their eggs to be distinctly different plus i think she would be a blue-layer (or green/grey...) - so the colour would also give it away. however, i can not be 100% sure, of course.

 

[Gray Farms]

Looks like a birth defect to me, shortened spine.

 

[romea]

is it possible that such a young hen - prior to the age of egg-laying (most likely) - could already have an infection of the reproductive tract?

 

[romea]

@ gray farms: just yesterday, the spine had just the right length and the chicken was walking like any other... so no, i really don't think a short spine is to blame.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some chickens that walk more upright can be suffering from internal laying or other reproductive disorders. The way she is walking stiffly though, I would wonder about a back injury. There are spinal disorders such as kinky back which is a spondylopathy that a crooked spine. It can eventually cause problems leading to sitting with legs outword, the neck bent forward, sometimes backward walking, and eventual paralysis. What do you feed her, and have you tried any vitamins with minerals? Here is some reading:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/kinky-back

 

[aart]

just yesterday, the spine had just the right length and the chicken was walking like any other

Have you had this bird since hatch?

 

[bobbi-j]

That's what mine looked like when they has Ascites.

 

[romea]

Have you had this bird since hatch?

yes, the egg came from my chickens and stems from the same parent birds as many other chicks that have been raised by their mother hens without any issues.
however, this chick was a bit of an unplanned parenthood and has no siblings but 3 (bantam) moms who all cared for it (rather lovingly and without fighting).