serama chicken/chicken/hen about 2-3 months old equilibrium off?!?

[redbone]

Yesterday everyone looked fine....

Today I went out to the coop and noticed one hen laying on her side kind of kicking around away from the rest of the flock. Its almost like the left side is near paralyzed. I took it out and couldn't see any injuries or apparent bites of any kind. Put the beak down in the water and it drank. Held it a few minutes in my hands tight and warmed it up. I set it back down... it was real wobbly and then pooped some grey/brown and kind of clear poop. It walked toward the rest of the flock very wobbly and ate a little... I picked it up and made it drink some more water which it did... set it back down and wobbled away and ate a little more.

Thoughts of whats wrong?

 

[redbone]

No ideas at all? I helped it up on the lower roost tonight.

It was just on the ground cheepin'

Any thoughts at all? Disease? Just sick?

 

[trstep1107]

I am having the same problem. My little Cochin hen just sits there like she is trying to hatch some babies.I pick her up and she looks fine. She was walking around fine then all of a sudden she sits; fumbling around to get to the water. Falling over to one side trying to eat. If anyone knows anything that can help me out too, please let us know.

 

[threehorses]

This chicken needs to be taken away from the other chicks and kept in a pen where, without walking, it can access feed and water. Otherwise it won't be able to eat and drink - and it's just merciful.

As the bird can't eat and drink, you will need to make sure it eats and drinks a few times during the day. For eating, try wetting some crumbles and letting them sit til the water absorbs and they're just soft - not mushy. I call this a "damp mash". try tempting her with the yolk of a boiled egg, or parts of a whole cooked egg. (Refrigerate what you don't use.).

She should get some vitamins - it's possible this is nutritional, though maybe not. You could try baby vitamins directly in the beak - Enfamil, Polyvisol (not the iron fortified kind - I got mine at walmart in the vitamin section) 2-3 drops in the beak daily. I would also consider giving vitamin E (400-700) with selenium (LESS THAN 50 micrograms per pill) at a pill to half pill daily.

Really though we need more information - please answer the questions from the second sticky in this forum - but answer in here.
Also check her carefully to see how heavy she is - thin, not thin, fat, etc - to see if she has lice or mites (check at night for that, check a ffew times this week), etc.

The more information you provide to us, the more (accurately) helpful we can be.

 

[redbone]

I didn't read the sticky post, but after reading it... I answered nearly all questions. However, here it is verbatim:



1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Serama, 2-3 months, weighs average compared to the others of the same age

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
I noticed one hen laying on her side kind of kicking around away from the rest of the flock. it was real wobbly and uncordinated. It can not fly up to roost


3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
I took it out and couldn't see any injuries or apparent bites of any kind

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
nothing that I am aware of


5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
water and chick crumbles like all the others. I throw some grass clippings in when I cut grass


6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
grey/brown and kind of transparent


7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
assisted watering... and eating... buttermilk/crumble mixture It does appear to be doing this on its own as well.


8 ) 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?
I will treat it myself


9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
bird looks normal except for wobbling around... not moving fast or coordinated.


10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
inside a barn. no exterior run. bedding from TSC... horse bedding. There is a mixture of wood. I do not notice an overwhelming amount of cedar. I'm sure it is primarily pine.



I checked on it this morning. She is still slow... uncoordinated, but alive and moving. At least she isn't laying on her side and not able to get up like I saw the one time yesterday.

 

[threehorses]

OK well it's good that her weight (thinness/fatness) is healthy and comparable to the others. When you say this, I'm going to assume you mean her keel feels more like a V than a Y when you feel it - and not overly fat, either.

On the feed, is she on chick starter/grower or grower? If she's on starter alone, she should be bumped up to a grower from now until about 5.5 months (at which time, when her comb starts to grow and turn red, layer or layer-breeder needs to start being slowly incorporated until she lays or 6 months at which time she gets straight laying or layer/breeder.)
Would you say if you open the back you can smell the ingredients, still, very fresh and wholesome? Or is it more like cardboard or smell-free? If the latter, I'd be concerned that maybe part of this might be nutritional if not all of it. In fact, I am quite concerned about nutritional aspects, which I'll address later in the post.

On the feed - is the buttermilk still bacteria laced? If not, I'd consider using plain yogurt in replacement of some of the buttermilk so that you're giving her living bacteria to enhance her digestion and formation of B vitamins (very important as a lack of B's can cause these symptoms). This will also help her better digest her food and grow more correctly with more vigor. I use it weekly for the first 6 weeks, then occassionally during grow to finish, weekly during the first weeks of laying. I'd consider eliminating the buttermilk and using water and yogurt (or acidophilis capsule contents, or probios powder) if her droppings at all look runny.

It sounds like her droppings are otherwise normal. Mostly solid with some clear (urine) and some white urates on top, yes?

Were you able to rule out mites on her, or lice? For mites you have to check at night and then a few times over a couple of weeks as they don't spend all their time on their birds, actually most of it off the birds as they lay eggs inbetween the joints and cracks in the wood of the coops and nest boxes, even in the bedding. Check particularly carefully in the warm/moist areas of her body for mites, lice, lice eggs (looks like mini-snow to me)). Make sure her leg scales aren't raised, no swelling there. If you find any lice or mites, you must treat all the birds AND the premises - and then retreat the birds every 7 days until all parasites are gone - with permethrin (DE doesn't treat infestations - just hopefully prevents as many from happening).

Honestly, I'd consider doing a nutritional boost for her. I would make it a B-vitamin, E/selenium treatment (for neurological issues) treatment.

For B, you can use a b-spectrum vitamin or use brewers yeast on top of the feed. I'd recommend the former over the latter. For E, you use a human E vitamin capsule with something around 400-700 iU vitamin E and LESS THAN 50 MICROgrams of selenium. The "less than" is very important. Selenium helps E absorb but must be the right kind (human not horse or animal kind) and in the amounts less than 50 micrograms.

I still feel it's very important that she be kept apart from the other birds in case she does go down. And that also allows you keep an eye on her droppings, monitor her feed intake, etc. Also she'll be less vulnerable to attacks from being unable to roost. Plus she'll feel more safe - the way they feel, to me, is important to how they heal. Birds use up their energy on worrying when their bodies need it for healing.

A quick trip to Walmart can provide the B-spectrum vitamins, the E capsules, and you could pick up the acidophilus capsules from the vitamin section if you don't want to feed yogurt (tho if she likes buttermilk, she'll probably love yogurt). Or to mix with the buttermilk instead of feeding yogurt. Your choice. You should also consider a small bottle of Enfamil PolyViSol (non-iron-fortified) from the same vitamin section for use later. It has some B but not the same amount that you will get from the B tablets. You might be able to find brewer's yeast in that section. If this is nutritional, it's possible the entire flock might be close to the same.

But of course, since we're online, it's very hard to make a sure diagnosis.

I'd say barring any further symptoms, to try the nutrition.

To avoid retyping, I'd recommend how dlhunicorn has put it here in the following post:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2569364

She really has this down pat.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

Sorry I have been in the hospital so will try and catch up

to add to what Nathalie said I feel it is needing the
vit E and Vit B complex, Calcium,Vit D that I so often tell you all about using for these kinds of disorders

also use
2 tbsp of ACV per gallon of water to utilize the vit's into the body

here is my advise to use for either one of you all's birds


here is what to do
isolate her
then feed her twice a day for two weeks this
for her needs for nerve damage and her body needs
each hen this amt

WET MASH MEDICATED/VIT'S
3 tbsp of dry crumble feed
4 tbsp of milk any kind
1 tbspoon of yougart
1- Vit D tablet crushed ( smallest dosage)
1- calcium tablet crushed ( smallest dosage)
1-1000 mg Vit E cut tip off capsule and sqeeze it into the wet mash
1 Vit B complex crushed and put in the wet mash

mix all good
now put 1 tbsp of applesauce on top so she likes the wet mash

feed this twice a day for two weeks
when cleaned up in 30 minutes clean wet boewl and restock the dry feed

in her water give her 1 tbsp of ACV to qt of water
at all times
so she gets the Calcium and Vit D plus Vit E,vit Bcomplexshe needs in her system

any questions just email me and I will try and help you