Very Wobbly Chicken....can't stand up!!

[1USAVET]

Our male Light Brahma has something wrong with him all of the sudden tonight!! Late this afternoon, the girls let the chickens out for only about 45 min. He was fine as they all ran out together as usual, but the girls noticed he was "wobbly" when they put him up. I didn't get to see him until about 7:45 pm tonight and he couldn't really stand up! He acts like he is dizzy or has vertigo really bad. We took him out of the pen and tried to have him stand up, but he would kind of wobble back and end up on his "knees?"

We picked him up and tried to check him over for some obvious outward injuries and could not see or feel anything. We gave him water and food and put HIM in the little hutch (instead of the hen that we had been isolating for behavior) because the other roosters were trying to attack him. After dinner at about 10 pm, my husband and my youngest checked on him with a flashlight....they said he appeared to be standing up in his hutch (not sure how stable he is at this point). We are wondering if maybe he could have eaten a poisonous bug, spider, or lizard? (We live in West Central Florida.) Not sure what to do for the poor baby except give him food, water, and keep him away from the others until he is better. Any ideas or suggestions? Also, we are STILL waiting for eggs!!!

THANKS EVERYONE!!

p.s. Even when he was not able to stand up and hiding in the corner to get away from the other roosters earlier this evening, he was still crowing as usual!

 

[white01]

my hen did this, and she needed vit B, gave her vit B for a few days, and separated her.and now you cant tell which one she was,hope this helps

 

[flash5153]

I had one of my hens act that way when it was 12 weeks old,,,it could not stand up and was trying to bury itself in the dirt. Was fine one moment and then this behavior out of nowhere. I thought it was dying??

I did nothing,,

. Came back out to check on it a few hours later and ,out of the 9 hens. I could NOT tell which one had this problem. They all look alike,,,are where alert and very active and happy.

I have not seen any issues since. Now are 17 weeks and half are laying.

I found some mushrooms in their run after that ,,and removed them. I have no idea if this was the problem,,but sure was strange how only one chicken acted this way,,, and no symptoms since.

Good Luck

 

[Rebecka]

Bob did this too. Turns out she is Barbie instead

Couldnt stand, when we stood her up she would fall over on her side and couldnt right herself. Acted like she was dizzy. We thought for sure she was going to die. We kept her isolated till she got stronger then started supervised visits with the rest of the chickens. There are lots of them and they kept going after her. It took about 2 weeks for her to recover. Some of my reading implied that she might have had a stroke but I never did figure it out. About a week after we put her back with the rest of the chickens, she had another episode. She recovered from that one quickly and has had no other issues since. Now she insists on being held while I fill feeders.

 

[GrandmaAnn]

It is possible the chicken just has a slightly injured leg. If the leg is broken, the chickens do not recover. (We have tried splinting broken chicken legs, but they always died.) Right now, we have a young pullet that belongs to one of my grandchildren as a pet. A couple weeks ago, she jumped out of my arms and hurt herself when she landed. She could not stand up. I checked her legs and they did not apper to be broken. We separated her and added vitamins to her water. She is now able to walk just fine and use the roost. We have put another chicken in with her now so that she won't be lonely. In a few days, we'll be able to put her back with the rest of the chickens.

 

[1USAVET]

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Thank you! Sorry for getting back to you guys so late...I'm a teacher and we are preparing for our students to come back to school on Monday..I stayed late to get ready! I will go to Tractor Supply and see if I can get some of these vitamins and give it to him. He seems slightly better. Still wobbles when you take him out of the hutch, but he is able to stand up and eat/drink while in the hutch. He is staying in there again today. Will let you know later this weekend how things are going with the vitamins.

 

[1USAVET]

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Thanks! I hadn't thought about him finding a mushroom and eating it! I have a very large koi pond with a stream in my front yard under a bunch of shade trees. The chickens love to hang out there and that is where they while out for their short run. I have seen mushrooms there before.... I hope he will be ok!

 

[1USAVET]

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Thanks for sharing....I hope it isn't a stroke..... I'm glad your chick is doing better now! So cute, trying to get all the attention still!!!

 

[1USAVET]

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Thanks for sharing your story....These chicks are getting big and when the jump to the ground, you can really hear a thud!

I don't know if it is that because he ran out of the pen fine with all the others.....while out in the front yard, he shouldn't have been jumping from anything. The girls did say that they have noticed quite a few mushrooms around and said that they think a chicken or chickens had been pecking at them...?

 

[Bessie4616]

My hen, Bessie cannot stand up. Bessie was a rescue 3 1/2 years ago. All the other aninmals at that property (ducks, chickens, etc.) died from lack of food and water. We saved her and she grew like a weed and laid for 18 months. We are still not sure if she was an undernourished young chicken or older. She is a large white hen some think is a Florida Leghorn. We keep her in a large dog kennel on our porch at night and is outside all day in fenced three acres.

She went down Sunday and until today (Thursday) she was eating and drinking well. She appears to be a little off on her water today. I've been feeding her 3 x daily. I put clean food and water as close as possible so she can reach the bowls. She uses her wings to reposition herself/legs. Her usual food is cracked corn, romaine lettuce, cantalope, etc.

Her legs and body show no signs of truma, cuts, open wounds.

We moved her dog kennel in the house on Sunday when she went down so we could better care for her.

I've read some your suggestions to others that suggest giving them antibiotics or vitamin B. Where do you get these from? I have been unable to find vets in my area knowledgeable about chickens.

She doesn't appear to be in pain thank God. We would like to do more but feel helpless.

I would sincerely appreciate any help out there. This is my first EVER talking, posting (not sure what it is called) online.