Video: Reba Squat-Walks ~Update ~ RIP, Beautiful Reba

[speckledhen]

1) What type of bird , age and weight. Hatchery RIR, 5.5 yrs old, good chunky weight, maybe 7 lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She is squat walking and loses her balance, tail down.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Since yesterday, but yesterday, it came and went. Today, she can't stand up normally. She has some fluid in her abdomen, but not overly so.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. She quit laying about 4 wks ago and has been on and off the nest over and over, but no eggs. She acts like she has to get something out so I suspect internal laying/egg peritonitis.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Layer pellets, small amount of scratch, drinks well.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? A couple weeks ago, we gave her a round of penicillin in case of peritonitis. Today, tried to drain her abdomen, but cannot get any fluid out.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Will treat her ourselves
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Short Video of Reba:
http://s673.photobucket.com/albums/... Necropsies/?action=view&current=DSCN1994.mp4
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Nice coop, no drafts, good ventilation, not crowded, pine bedding w/straw in nests.


I think perhaps some solid mass of infection or fluid is pressing on nerves and making it where she can't walk normally, but wanted other opinions. There is no rooster in with the old ladies except a banty who is afraid of her so no injury from a rooster mating her. She is bright eyed and in good feather condition, no molt going on, as you can see in the video. She was laying eggs with okay shell quality up until about 4 weeks ago, maybe 3-4 every week, even at her age. She did have some break due to brittle shell, but most of them were good quality shells. She does not act like she's in pain when we move the legs or even when we were trying to drain her abdomen, was a very good patient. She just can't stand up right. She has never had a health issue in her life till now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You sure have more expertice in this than most of us, I just wanted to say how sad that is, and sorry you have another one going through this. Wish I could help.

She does look very healthy other wise..

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, I appreciate that. She is extremely healthy other than what's happening now and was laying quite well till recently. I never saw one walk that way unless she had a humongous abdomen like my Olivia did, and hers was the size of a kickball before we drained it, but Reba's isn't big enough to cause this, not unless something is just pressing on nerves.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I know that this is an outside chance...but do you think it could be cocci, Cyn? Doesn't explain the lack of eggs, but at her age, she may not be laying much anymore. I lost three juveniles over the past 3 months with that same reluctance to walk and when they did, they squat walked. After talking to Dr. Peter Brown, I'm certain that it was cocci. No diarrhea, no bloody stool, still eating and drinking for the most part...just acting like they didn't feel well and squat walking when they walked at all.

He recommends treating all birds, adult and juveniles with Corid once a month for 2 days.

 

[speckledhen]

Actually, I just treated that entire coop for cocci after some bloody poop showed up. There are 3 D'Uccles in there, about 20 weeks old, and I wasn't sure they were resistant to it, so I did treat the entire group since mostly, they aren't laying anymore.

That is very interesting info from Doc. I've never heard that before.

 

[speckledhen]

We brought Reba inside and gave her a very warm sitz bath. DH lubed up his fingers and started the internal exam. At first, he said he could feel nothing, then suddenly, he went much deeper and found something roundish, said it did feel "egg-like" and he moved it. Couldn't remove it, but maybe shifting it will allow her to walk again and maybe it can be expelled. Reba was groaning a bit, but was the best girl you could imagine. She's just a great hen and I hate to lose her this way, though I realize she is considered quite elderly.

 

[Veggie4life55]

Chickens normal life span is 5-10 but they can live 12 to 15 years... so she isn't to old...

We have had two internal layers and in both cases they started off by first have problems with being egg bound over and over again.

But when they internally lay their tummies will start expanding and you will be able to really cup her abdomen. So cup one of your other chickens that are of similar breed and then cup that chicken. Also the abdomen will be hard from the eggs kind of internally cooking....

My RIR walked low kinda on her knees alot but not with her butt dropped that much. But we had her on baytril for a long time waiting for her to get well enough to be spayed after being attacked by a raccoon... But she was spayed because she was an internal layer it has nothing to do with the raccoon attack just bad timing. So she probably didn't get peritinitis because she had been on baytril for a couple of months. Her tummy got really big though.

But with a month of internal laying it might have went so long enough that it has turned into peritonitis from all the eggs in her abdomen.

on the other hand ..A friend of mine has a chicken they call Grandma and she walks similar to this. They take her out of the coop and put her back every night and they said she has been living like that for over a year...

 

[RustyHen]

I see you did an internal on her I hope that does the trick, but was just wondering if (we always called that the oil gland) I don't know the correct term could be impacted and pressing on her spine?

 

[speckledhen]

No, her crop and oil gland are not impacted. She is still walking the same today, even tries to run and loses her balance. Between her and my Lexie, who is dying from internal laying and crop failure, it's not a good day. These are such special hens to me, that if someone lived near me and could handle it better than I and my DH, I'd ask them to come put them both down for me in exchange for a few chicks. I should be able to do it myself, I know, I know. But these are my originals, the ones who started it all, so it's not the same for us as a mean rooster or a hen who is non-responsive.

 

[speckledhen]

Update:

Reba is not pooping. Either something is obstructing her intestines and thereby obstructing her egglaying or vice versa. When doing internal exam, we can get a small amount of poop to come out, but we are finding NO poop in her hospital cage and she still cannot stand up fully, so whatever the obstruction, definite nerve involvement, I'd say. In any case, I'm afraid unless whatever it is moves along, this is a death sentence. The only thing I can think to do is give her a laxative of some sort, but all I have is epsom salts, no molasses. Ideas? This is new territory for us.