Sick Legbar

[galois]

I have a young Legbar who until recently was very active,friendly and curious.Initially she seemed to have developed a slight limp.Within 3/4 days she deteriorated to the point where she could only stand using her wings as extra support and was very wobbly on her feet. She has been given antibiotics and some Red Cell for extra iron. She is slowly getting better but has a way to go yet. She is alert, eating and drinking well but still spends most of the day lying down with only the occasional stagger for a few yards. I have noticed though that although she is improving her right eye seems to be always nearly shut or half open while her left eye is fully open. There is no gumminess to the eye. Apart from the inability to stand,walk or run properly the 'lazy' eye seems to be the only other obvious symptom - any ideas?

 

[Judy]

I always think of worm load and lice/mites when they seem sluggish with vague symptoms. Could the eye be some sort of injury? You could use some antibiotic eye ointment from the feed store for a few days; if it's an injury this should help it clear up. Depending somewhat on age, it could also be internal laying or some other egg laying problem.

I hope you get it figured out.

 

[galois]

We have ruled out mites as the coop is clear of them and she was wormed about a month ago. Trauma of some sort is a possiblity as they are allowed to free range in the garden.

 

[thedubaifox]

I do not want to freak you out, but I have lost my most beloved hen to me this week because of similar symptoms. I will list to you the symptoms my hen had, and then you can compare. The key point in this that my chicken was not able to see with her tired eye after she became weak. She was also supporting herself with her wings ..

symptoms were:
============
1) chicken became weak
2) she used her wing to support and was not enough
3) later she was not able to see, but she was willing to eat if she can grab something off my hand
4) her poop was green, and it was solid sticks kind of poop

if all this you see in you chicken, please visit the vet and ask him to check if she has salmonella .. there is a medicine for that, but it was too late for me, and the hen left me forever ..

I am speaking of my last week experience .. hope your case is not that serious!

Best of luck,
Kareem

 

[Judy]

Ya, it could be a lot of things. I don't mean to sound callous here at all, but if you do lose her, you can get a necropsy done in the States for free or low cost. Best to chick it out beforehand, as there are different ways they want the body handled. See this link, from the top of this forum: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=40141

Sure hope you won't need this.

 

[galois]

She will eat from a bowl and doesn't have to be hand fed and she is managing to limp her way back into the coop at night. The eye seems a little worse today - a bit gummy in fact. She is alert and will struggle a bit when picked up but she lies around most of the day because she is so wobbly on her feet.

 

[galois]

Forgot - occasionally she will stretch her neck and shake her head with the beak wide open almost like a silent cry.