unsteady/off-balance hen - what to look for?

[cityeggs]

My 1 yr old Wyandotte has been acting oddly. I noticed her weaving a little as she walked last night, but it wasn't significant and I thought she might have just lost her footing. This morning, though, it's obvious that she's having trouble keeping her balance - she's definitely weaving, and stumbles annd puts out her wing to steady herself. She's also moving her neck back and forth periodically. Everyone else seems fine *so far*. I did a quick search but no similar threads came up, though I know I've seen similar threads posted in the past - I must just not have the right search terms.

I know strange neurological things can happen when molting or broody, but she is neither. She's eating and drinking, though having a little trouble with the balance part of eating (I put out mash and she kept stumbling and looked like she was having trouble getting her neck/head to do what it needed too, though she clearly was getting food.) She's even mustering up enough energy to half-heartedly chase the chicks, though I know that doesn't mean much.

It's warmer in the last 2 days than it has been - up to 80, and she is usually the first one to pant (she's by far my least heat tolerant hen), but she's not panting so far, and she's never acted like this in the heat, so while it could be related, it's still unusual. She does have some shade and I put up more just in case.

So far as I know, there's no dangerous plants or spoiled/fermented food that she could've gotten into, unless she dug something moldy up under the wood chips.

What can I do for her? What do I check?

 

[azygous]

Yes, you can syringe anything into the crop safely. But tubing is even easier, believe it or not. Instead of inserting the syringe over and over and over, the tube is inserted only once, and then you use a large volume syringe to put a lot of food or fluids into the tube, and you're finished in a fraction of the time it takes to syringe directly into the crop. It's so much less stress for both you and your chicken.

The principle is exactly the same. Look at this photo and you'll see where the syringe is going, and that's just how the tube goes in, too. When you do it the first time, you'll see how easy and efficient it is, and it's easier each time you do it. Get yourself a tubing kit from your vet for a small animal and I'll give you tips how to do it the easiest way.

 

[cityeggs]

She got worse quickly - yesterday, she laid an egg, pushed out the other hens when I put out egg shells and gobbled them up and just looked a little odd on her feet when I closed up the coop. At noon today, she was clearly unsteady but still chasing off the chicks; by roost time, she was hobbling in circles with her head almost on the ground and kept falling over under the feeder. She fell over backwards multiple times when trying to drink by herself after I gave her a syringe of Nutridrench.

I had been on the fence about putting her in the broody cage/sick bay, thinking that might upset her more and no one was bugging her still, but when it was clear that she was going to try to roost even though she could barely walk and I was afraid she would fall or get trampled, I set it up and put her in. I gave her 400IU Vit E and 1/4 tab of B-complex. I forgot about adding egg for the selenium, but I will make sure to give it to her with tomorrow's dose. Here's hoping vitamin deficiency is all it is...

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi. Sorry your hen is having issues. Let me tag some folks who may be able to help you.
@azygous
@EggCentric
@Wyorp Rock

 

[azygous]

I think you nailed it with the vitamin E. She has all the signs of torticollis. You'll find out soon enough if she improves. Give the E every day until the symptoms are completely gone.

 

[azygous]

A couple years ago, my oldest hen, nearly fourteen years, declined with torticollis. She was certainly interested in eating and drinking, but when she tried to target the food bowl, her head would flip upside down. So, I had to tube feed her.

Tubing is something anyone can do with the proper supplies. You can buy a tubing kit from any vet for just a few dollars. I would feed this hen twice a day until the vitamin E gave her relief. She was a large breed, and I would tube a half a cup of food and fluids into her crop at once.

This is something you can do.

 

[cityeggs]

Thank you!! That does make sense. I'll try to pick some up tomorrow and will let you know - I would love any of your pointers.

The syringe took forever tonight, made worse because the ones I have on hand are ones I was given for human newborns, so the bore is tiny and the food kept getting stuck. I managed to get some mash "balls" in her beak that she could then swallow fine by herself, and that was by far the easiest. But even that would take forever twice a day for who knows how many days!

 

[cityeggs]

So far, I've struck out with the local vets that are open today for tube feeding supplies - they don't carry them and can't suggest any place that might - but I have a few more to try.

I'm cautiously optimistic about her condition, though; she's better today than she was yesterday, so I'm hoping it really is just a vitamin deficiency and not anything viral/bacterial/toxic. Yesterday, I never observed her do anything but lie there and she fell over any time she tried to move; she would still talk to me, but that was it. This morning, before I got out to feed her, she had at least attempted to drink water on her own (though clearly had put her beak too far in because her whole face was wet, so I removed much of the water so it's not deep enough to submerge her face) and stood up when I came in. After her vitamin doses with some scrambled egg, I gave her a serving of chick crumble mash in bite-sized chunks, and she ate those fine. I just dribbled some water from the syringe slowly onto her beak, and she lapped that up, so I didn't have to put it down her throat. And after breakfast, she was on her feet, and was attempting (unsuccessfully still) to preen - something I didn't even see her attempt yesterday. She still can't come close to straightening her neck or controlling her movements, but standing on her feet without immediately falling over is an improvement over yesterday.

 

[cityeggs]

Today's update - she seemed very weak this morning - perhaps bc it had been so long since she'd had water - I don't know.

Poop is bright green, and obviously, she hasn't been eating any greens in days. I know it can just be sign of starvation - she likely didn't get enough food on Friday, and perhaps meals were too spread out yesterday, but I'm also seeing it come up as a sign of Marek's Can it also signify just failing digestive system? To my knowledge, all of the chicks and adults have been vaccinated against Marek's, but I know that just decreases the risk and doesn't fully eliminate it. I don't have a place to fully isolate her, and at this point, if she has something contagious, I'm sure everyone has been exposed, so she is separated for her safety, but not quarantined.

Before all this, her vent feathers were already to the point where I knew I needed to find time to clip them and clean her up, but now they're badly caked with poop, so I'll figure out a time to tackle that today. I didn't want to do it right after feeding her to give her time to rest and digest.

When I placed her back in her crate, I had to position her so that her beak didn't fill with wood chips and the eye that seems to work better could see. At one point, it looked like maybe we'd given her too much water - she had clear fluid/bubbles leaking out of her mouth; it seemed to stop once I propped her head a little more upright with something under her neck, so I don't know if this was just positional and/or points to rapid decline.

I didn't find tube feeding supplies locally, but I'm going to order some - it seems like they'll be useful to have on hand no matter what. And, I've found a vet that sees chickens, but they're not open on Sundays, so assuming she makes it until tomorrow, I think I'll likely take her in - if nothing else, get a professional opinion on whether she has a chance of recovery, or whether euthanasia would be most humane.

 

[cityeggs]

At some point in the last few hours, she died. I'm looking into local necropsy options - it sounds like there's an affordable state lab within an hour drive in Davis, CA.