URGENT - progressive paralysis in 9-month-old hen

[MomotheBest]

I have a 9-month-old silver laced Wyandotte hen. For the past two weeks she's been slowing down, limping more and more, and finally two days ago she sat down and can't stand up. If she tries to walk, she stumbles and tumbles head over heels until she's laying on her side.

Her appetite hasn't changed at all and she's been drinking fine. She is, if anything, fatter than the other chickens. Poop is a little runny but the color is good.

I have a flock of eleven and she's the only one showing symptoms. They free range all day on the farmland around my house and I lock them in the coop at night.

I've checked her over for injuries, felt all up and down her legs and hips for swelling, checked for eggbind and crop problems, treated her for mites (at first I thought that might be why she was limping), fed her extra calcium, put vitamin supplements in her water... She's old enough that I don't think it's Marek's. I'm at a loss.

Any ideas?

 

[pvaldes]

Pesticides?
Slug pellets?

 

[MomotheBest]

Pesticides?
Slug pellets?

Unlikely. I live way out in the country and we don't use any of those. Plus if it were some kind of poison the others probably would have gotten into it as well.

 

[pvaldes]

Lack of vitamin B1?

Use Thiamin suplements and see if it improves.

 

[MomotheBest]

Lack of vitamin B1?

Use Thiamin suplements and see if it improves.

I got a B complex multivitamin and dissolved it in water. I fed her about a quarter of the water (a quarter of the tablet by extension) in a syringe and she seemed to perk up a little. I'll try more tomorrow and see if it continues helping. I'm not giving up until she does!

 

[Ellen333]

She may need Biotin. Beef liver is high in Biotin. Let her have as much as she wants. Broiler Booster already comes with it.

 

[MomotheBest]

Update - I ended up putting her down last week. She'd stopped eating, stopped drinking, and the others were starting to trample her. It was the kindest option.