One of my two Mille Fleur D'uccle bantam hens suddenly became immobile and laying half on her side with her legs stiff and straight back.She was panting and breathing fairly rapidly My first thought was egg binding and after reading a few articles gave her a warm bath (her lower half for 15 minutes along with a few small pieces of Rolaids, then dried her off. She gave a few loud cries ( not unlike after they are laying an egg..we call that their celebratory cry) and then when offered some grain ate moderately well. We then kept her wrapped up warm in two towels over night. This morning she seemed improved though was moving slowly without much energy. Came home late this afternoon and found her not improved, not appearing to be in distress but still moving slowly and low to the ground with limited energy. I did not do an internal last night as I did not have gloves but her lower abdomen feels soft so that led me to think she may not be egg bound. I will get the gloves and do the internal just to be sure but if no egg then what to do?? Very concerned poppa Hal
Welcome to BYC. How old is she? Do you know if she was vaccinated for Mareks disease? She sounds like she could be showing neurological symptoms of Mareks, or possibly from other causes, such as injury or dehydration. Sometimes I have heard that a temporary paralysis can happen with egg binding. I would try to feed her sips of water with electrolytes, such as SaveAChick, or pedialyte , even gatorade. Vitamins which are in SaveAChick and orher poultry gitamins may be helpful if there is a vitamin deficiency. I hope she comes around, and isn't injured, but Mareks can cause paralysis in one or both legs or wings from tumors on nerves, and it can cause many other symptoms including a lack of immunity. Hopefully, it is not that.
