Hello all, I hope maybe my thread will be descriptive enough to possibly point in the right direction of what may be happening. We have a little hen who is about to be 7 years old, bantam in size. No longer lays eggs for us but just a sweet and friendly pet.
I noticed a few days ago she seemed to have some trouble walking and I thought maybe she had a stroke or something, and as of yesterday she is immobile for the most part. She is not paralyzed and has movement in her legs, but she cannot stand herself up on them. She lays on her side and tries to kick her feet and flap her wings to move. She cannot stand on her own and sort of squats when you hold her up and try to let her put weight. When you let her go, she has extreme balance and coordination difficulties - she tips over forward or falls sideways and flaps her wings to try and right herself to sitting up as she can. I don't see a lot of rapid movement of head/eyes or anything of that sort. She's in good spirits, helping her drink and eat and she's very alert. I put her in the soil and she wants to scratch but her legs just won't go because she cannot stand on them let alone scratch. Behavior is all normal, comb color good, just a sudden issue with balance that makes me question if it may be neurological.
Background of similar interest. In her past we have had two similar instances with not being able to stand but never with the balance issue. She was traumatized as a youngster post-dog attack even though she was unaffected, she saw it happen (separate pen) and for about a year we couldn't get her to stand up. We were recommended back then to give her vitamin B and after as mentioned about a year of care, one day we walked out to see her acting totally normal. But she never had the balance problem. We had a spell of this last year that was a temporary lack of mobility but she seemed partially paralyzed in her legs then and no balance issues. This was only a few days. Her appetite was very low then and we offered her other foods which perked her up and she went back to normal. We had no prior signs of this other than the initial trouble walking followed by balance issues a few days later.
To sum it up - nearly 7 year old hen, behaving all normal but with sudden loss of ability to stand or balance. Past background of mobility issues but none concerning ability to balance self.
Any input is greatly appreciated and please let me know if I can contribute any other information, thank you kindly.
I noticed a few days ago she seemed to have some trouble walking and I thought maybe she had a stroke or something, and as of yesterday she is immobile for the most part. She is not paralyzed and has movement in her legs, but she cannot stand herself up on them. She lays on her side and tries to kick her feet and flap her wings to move. She cannot stand on her own and sort of squats when you hold her up and try to let her put weight. When you let her go, she has extreme balance and coordination difficulties - she tips over forward or falls sideways and flaps her wings to try and right herself to sitting up as she can. I don't see a lot of rapid movement of head/eyes or anything of that sort. She's in good spirits, helping her drink and eat and she's very alert. I put her in the soil and she wants to scratch but her legs just won't go because she cannot stand on them let alone scratch. Behavior is all normal, comb color good, just a sudden issue with balance that makes me question if it may be neurological.
Background of similar interest. In her past we have had two similar instances with not being able to stand but never with the balance issue. She was traumatized as a youngster post-dog attack even though she was unaffected, she saw it happen (separate pen) and for about a year we couldn't get her to stand up. We were recommended back then to give her vitamin B and after as mentioned about a year of care, one day we walked out to see her acting totally normal. But she never had the balance problem. We had a spell of this last year that was a temporary lack of mobility but she seemed partially paralyzed in her legs then and no balance issues. This was only a few days. Her appetite was very low then and we offered her other foods which perked her up and she went back to normal. We had no prior signs of this other than the initial trouble walking followed by balance issues a few days later.
To sum it up - nearly 7 year old hen, behaving all normal but with sudden loss of ability to stand or balance. Past background of mobility issues but none concerning ability to balance self.
Any input is greatly appreciated and please let me know if I can contribute any other information, thank you kindly.
