Special Needs Chick

[doxietimes3]

Hi y’all! I sure could use your help. On June 23rd, I had a broody cochin bantam hatch nine chicks, with moms being silkie bantams, Cochin bantams, a d’uccle and a starlight Easter egger. Dad to all is Izzie, a dark blue silkie bantam. The chick I’m coming to you about is Hannah, the Easter egger’s baby. Hannah is twelve weeks old.

When Hannah was four weeks old, she became very wobbly on her legs so I brought her inside so I could keep an eye on her. By the next day, she was flopping around like a fish. I mixed together egg yolk, Poultry Cell vitamins, 1/4 tab baby aspirin and a few drops of Rescue Relief tincture and gave her a little three times a day. It was amazing the turn around she made after starting this mixture. Two weeks after her symptoms started, she was completely better! A few days later she was able to go to her new home with five of her hatch mates. Three weeks later she started showing symptoms again, this time though it was only her right leg being weak and that same foot and toes wanting to curl. Hannah came back for me to treat. I started her on the mixture I had her on before. One day she would seem better, but then she would have a bad day, like yesterday. Her foot and toes were really turning and she was shaking her head a lot. However, I had stopped giving her the baby aspirin three days earlier because I didn’t think she needed it. But, now I’m wondering if she was in discomfort and that’s why she was worse yesterday. Today the head shaking has stopped. After a lot of discussion with her new mama, we have decided with my setup, it would be best for Hannah to stay with me. Sooo………

I now have a special needs girl and I’m wanting to give her the best care and life I can. Right now the plan for her is to be an inside/outside hen. I have her in a large dog cage set up on my closed in porch. I’ve been letting her come inside the house several times a day and she loves it. So do I! I just started letting her go outside (supervised) in our fenced in back yard. I don’t think I’ll be able to integrate her into my bantam flock of 17 because of her handicap.

I would love to hear your experiences with your mobility challenged chicken. Tips on having a house chicken. Which chicken diapers are the best. What can I do to help her with her issues? I want to do what I can to support her and keep her healthy. And I know that it’s hard to know what is going on with her, but any ideas?

I have a couple of videos, but just realized I can’t upload a video.

 

[Debbie292d]

It's a wonderful thing you are doing. One person I know may be of help to you is @triciayoung

Good luck with Hannah! She's gorgeous!

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[triciayoung]

I have two disabled hens. One that cannot walk at all. Her name is Penny. She is 25 months old. Her leg was not fixed as a baby and now it is permanently fixed at 90 degrees. Her curly toe paralysis was also not corrected, so even her good leg is not that good at the foot. She can hop in a crate to food (not easily), but cannot drink without us because she tips her water. She has a wheelchair, but her wings are so strong from using them to balance that she flies out of the wheelchair. She has a sling also, but I am still trying to figure out what I can do with it. I take her outside and hold her on the ground so that she can eat grass and see other chickens, but I cannot leave her there. I keep BYC videos of chickens on my ipad for her to watch. My grandson also takes her in his room and props her up almost like she is standing, to change her scenery and she really likes it. She likes to snuggle in my neck. I do not use diapers for Penny because she would just be laying in it. She has not laid and my vet thinks she will not- thank God, that is, if there is not an internal laying issue - if so, I will get her an implant. I am going to tag @janiedoe. She has a similar situation as you.

 

[janiedoe]

Hi y’all! I sure could use your help. On June 23rd, I had a broody cochin bantam hatch nine chicks, with moms being silkie bantams, Cochin bantams, a d’uccle and a starlight Easter egger. Dad to all is Izzie, a dark blue silkie bantam. The chick I’m coming to you about is Hannah, the Easter egger’s baby. Hannah is twelve weeks old.

When Hannah was four weeks old, she became very wobbly on her legs so I brought her inside so I could keep an eye on her. By the next day, she was flopping around like a fish. I mixed together egg yolk, Poultry Cell vitamins, 1/4 tab baby aspirin and a few drops of Rescue Relief tincture and gave her a little three times a day. It was amazing the turn around she made after starting this mixture. Two weeks after her symptoms started, she was completely better! A few days later she was able to go to her new home with five of her hatch mates. Three weeks later she started showing symptoms again, this time though it was only her right leg being weak and that same foot and toes wanting to curl. Hannah came back for me to treat. I started her on the mixture I had her on before. One day she would seem better, but then she would have a bad day, like yesterday. Her foot and toes were really turning and she was shaking her head a lot. However, I had stopped giving her the baby aspirin three days earlier because I didn’t think she needed it. But, now I’m wondering if she was in discomfort and that’s why she was worse yesterday. Today the head shaking has stopped. After a lot of discussion with her new mama, we have decided with my setup, it would be best for Hannah to stay with me. Sooo………

I now have a special needs girl and I’m wanting to give her the best care and life I can. Right now the plan for her is to be an inside/outside hen. I have her in a large dog cage set up on my closed in porch. I’ve been letting her come inside the house several times a day and she loves it. So do I! I just started letting her go outside (supervised) in our fenced in back yard. I don’t think I’ll be able to integrate her into my bantam flock of 17 because of her handicap.

I would love to hear your experiences with your mobility challenged chicken. Tips on having a house chicken. Which chicken diapers are the best. What can I do to help her with her issues? I want to do what I can to support her and keep her healthy. And I know that it’s hard to know what is going on with her, but any ideas?

I have a couple of videos, but just realized I can’t upload a video.

I don't honestly think I'll be much help, although my Hope has pretty much the same problems as your girl. Her toes are curled and one leg is splayed out. I have not been able to correct these problems despite using "boots" & "braces" for several weeks, and using vitamin e & selinium & other supplements.
Hope has a little gazebo in the chicken yard for outdoor time. She enjoys being out with the other chickens. Indoors she has a medium dog kennel. She cannot drink on her own because she tips into the dish. She eats wet food. I usually help her, but she can eat on her own if I mold the wet food into a ball and place it on a saucer. (Big mess, but she enjoys it)
I don't use commercial diapers. When Hope is out I wrap her bum in homemade diapers fashioned from old tshirts. She cannot walk at all, though she scoots where she wants to go pretty well.
Hope has such a sweet personality that I would not put her down unless I felt that she was in pain. She loves to lay her head on me and chirp. She talks to my cat a lot, and she prefers Curious George videos and Sesame Street to chicken videos.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have a couple of videos, but just realized I can’t upload a video.

I believe the only way to upload a video is to post your video on YouTube and don't make it private; then, you can post the link of it from there to here. I had to do it once, and it was easier than I thought!

If you don't have a YouTube account, it's free to make one.

 

[doxietimes3]

I believe the only way to upload a video is to post your video on YouTube and don't make it private; then, you can post the link of it from there to here. I had to do it once, and it was easier than I thought!

If you don't have a YouTube account, it's free to make one.

Thank you! I do have an account. I’ll try to upload..