- Apr 5, 2012
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So. We have a Very Strange Chicken.
We rescued her from a random yard in the neighboring town last fall, where chickens were forbidden - she's been generally happy and healthy as far as we can tell, and integrated well with out other ladies.
Until two weeks ago.
See, she's never been very bright, and tended to try to roost on the windows, and fall down when trying to settle on the roost bars or the gazebo. (she would lean too far forward and overbalance!) A few weeks ago she stopped even trying to roost, and cuddled up in a deck chair in the evening instead. So we've been picking her up and putting her in the coop at night - I put a garden saucer in the floor of it just for her.
Now she's stopped walking.
There's no evidence of mites. Her feet grip fine when you offer her a hand to cling to. If you hold her, she can push back against your hand just as strongly as the other chickens. But - when she tries to walk, she loses her balance, and falls over, fluttering like mad. So she kind of scoots and flutters along the ground instead.
She doesn't seem to be in pain, and she manages to get herself in the nestbox and give us eggs, and wander her slow way around the yard anyway. But.. it's wierd! And now her breast feathers are looking bedraggled, as well as her primaries.
What the heck? What do I do? What is wrong with my chicken?
We rescued her from a random yard in the neighboring town last fall, where chickens were forbidden - she's been generally happy and healthy as far as we can tell, and integrated well with out other ladies.
Until two weeks ago.
See, she's never been very bright, and tended to try to roost on the windows, and fall down when trying to settle on the roost bars or the gazebo. (she would lean too far forward and overbalance!) A few weeks ago she stopped even trying to roost, and cuddled up in a deck chair in the evening instead. So we've been picking her up and putting her in the coop at night - I put a garden saucer in the floor of it just for her.
Now she's stopped walking.
There's no evidence of mites. Her feet grip fine when you offer her a hand to cling to. If you hold her, she can push back against your hand just as strongly as the other chickens. But - when she tries to walk, she loses her balance, and falls over, fluttering like mad. So she kind of scoots and flutters along the ground instead.
She doesn't seem to be in pain, and she manages to get herself in the nestbox and give us eggs, and wander her slow way around the yard anyway. But.. it's wierd! And now her breast feathers are looking bedraggled, as well as her primaries.
What the heck? What do I do? What is wrong with my chicken?
