Severely injured hen that seems paralyzed

[MorganLynne]

I would like to start this by saying that this is my friends’ hen, not mine, and what they ultimately decide to do with her is not my choice. I just want to see if anyone here can help me figure out what is wrong with her and how I can help.

Their Rhode Island Red hen is at least 3 years old (they don’t know much about her, but they got her as an older hen 3 years ago so she could be 10 for all I know). Anyway we found her on her belly unable to move on Sunday morning and its now Wednesday night. She’s not used to people touching her so when we went to pick her up she tried to get away by kind of dragging her wings but she was seemingly unable to move her legs. We checked her for visible injuries and all we found was a little dried blood on her comb. So we put her in a dog cage with food and water for her to rest. She can move her wings (mostly), neck, and head, but can’t use her legs or lift herself from the ground. She pretty much can’t move herself around.
Her eyes look bright and she’s eating and drinking. She’s alert as well. She’s only declined a very small amount since we put her in the cage.
Today, when I checked on her, she had black diarrhea all around her vent. I’m not sure what to make of that.
The only thing we can think of is that she got attacked by the neighbor’s dog.
Do you think she will make it? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[MorganLynne]

I didn’t mean to add the picture of the black chick lol. I’m still new to this site!

 

[Eggcessive]

It might be good to bathe her rearend to get her bottom cleaned up. That way we can see if there are any injuries there. Do they know if she has been laying eggs recently? Are there any signs of injuries, cuts, puncture wounds, scrapes, missing feathers? If she is older she could have some reproductive disorder or organ putting pressure on a nerve that is causing her leg paralysis. We really cannot know for sure. Mareks disease can be a possibility, especially if she was exposed by a carrier in recent months.
Sometimes they can get eggbound and have pressure put on a nerve. Keep her near food and water for observation. Give her some Poultry NutriDrnech or other vitamin supplement daily. I would feel inside her vent for a stuck egg, if she has been laying recently