unsteady on feet 4 year old hen. Any suggestions

[andrej33]

hi there,
Our flock of 6 just finished a molt. The last one to most went through a particularly heavy molt. She looks good now but is very thin and a few days ago became very unsteady. She is better now. She is now eating very ravenously. No problem eating and drinking. She was progressively getting more stable, but today is again off balance and stumbles when she turns. Outside of that she seems fine. Does not seem to be in any pain. Just unsteady. Not as bad as the other day when she would scratch her nose and fall over. She is not falling over but, just unsteady. Very alert. She is kind of the head chicken, and our favorite. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Andre and Soli

 

[andrej33]

Does anyone have any ideas?
If there is something I should be giving her, I would like some advice.
Thanks!
Andre

 

[enola]

Have you wormed your hens? Checked for lice?

 

[Krystle807]

I would check for mites and do a deworming. Does she have abnormal droppings? That usually is a big indicator to me as to what may be the problem, although it isn't always cut an dry, it will at least narrow down whether it could be something bacterial, worms, cocci, etc. Also, is she breathing normally? There have been a lot of reports of respiratory illnesses lately.

 

[andrej33]

Thanks for the replies!
I gave a dose of Wazine today to all of them. Her breathing seems fine. She is very active, although today after some time of activity she was sleeping standing up. But after that, very active again. Just her legs give out. It is better, but not gone. I have not seen anything on her skin, if that is what I should be checking for mites/lice (I am relatively new to some of the things I should be watching for - they have all been so healthy and active) I will have to do some research. Her droppings have seemed pretty normal, although today a little watery. I will report tomorrow on how she is doing. I know I did not give much info, but any more ideas would be much appreciated. This is such a great group.
Thanks everyone.
Andre

 

[andrej33]

Well I'm happy to report that 3 days after treating with the Wazine my little girl is totally back to normal. I will follow up in a month.
I also checked them all for lice and mites and found nothing.
Thanks everyone for the advise!
Andre

 

[enola]

If your hens had an overload of round worms that the wazine took care of, you should probably follow up on your next worming with Valbazen or Safeguard. Wazine ONLY kills roundworms. There are many different types of worms that your chickens could be carrying around.

 

[seminolewind]

I agree. I would follow up with Valbazen. My silkie hen died from capillaria worms. It's hard to kill them.

 

[andrej33]

If your hens had an overload of round worms that the wazine took care of, you should probably follow up on your next worming with Valbazen or Safeguard. Wazine ONLY kills roundworms. There are many different types of worms that your chickens could be carrying around.

is there a preference for either Valbazen or Safeguard? I will call around tomorrow to see if i can get it locally. If not I will get it online.
Thanks!
Andre

 

[seminolewind]

I think Valbazen takes less doses to kill Capillaria .