Will my hen stand again?

[nappy501]

Hi Everyone,

Last week Tuesday I found one of my rescue chickens sitting in the run and was not interested in eating. So we brought her into the house in a box and we expected her to die within twenty four hours. However, she didn't die and was honking, not managing to raise her head. We have force fed her with chicken crumb and water. In the beginning the water had sugar in.

The last couple of days the honking is less, her wings are moving more. She is exhibiting more chicken like behaviour, like preening her wings and looking over the top of the box. She is getting this upright position by resting on her back end, not by standing on her feet. The toes are curled up.

As she is doing so well I have put outside in the box, beside the run so the other chickens can see her.

My question is, will she get up onto her feet again? How do I facilitate this?

I am hoping as she gets better she will feed and drink herself.

Thank you in advance.

 

[franksflock]

I can't really help here, but I have a hen who is doing pretty much the same thing. I've also got her inside and have been feeding her aby food (mixed vegetables and brown rice, yummy) with a syringe. She does show some intrest in pecking at her crumble and will stand for short periods.

I'll let you know if I find anything helpful out.

 

[nappy501]

Update

Well everyday the hen is getting better. Yesterday she had some water and some food by herself, but I am still feeding her water and food.

It has been strange watching her as she moves around her box with a wing over the edge. She looks just like a new ice skater grasping the edge of the rink. Today she spent sometime actually standing on one leg, but on the other still on the elbow.

I am finding it really difficult at the moment, I spend a lot of my time thinking is it time for her to die? What sort of quality of life is this? On the other side everyday she appears to be better. For over a week she hasn't appeared to be suffering from the original illness, but I have felt that maybe she is now disabled, which leads to my questions about her quality of life. On the other hand everyday she appears to be getting better. How long for recuperation? When is it time to give up?

 

[franksflock]

I force feed mine for 3 days or so and kept her in the house at night. I slowly started taking her outside and let her hand around the other hens. When she was around the other chickens she perked up quite a bit. I built her a chicken tractor and now have her in there with two other docile polish crested chickens. She is doing better everyday. As I was reading on this forum chickens are flock animals and seem to do better in a group. I just picked out the mellow chickens to keep her happy. Good luck!

 

[nappy501]

Further Update

This morning when we came downstairs, she was perched on the side of the cardboard box. When I presented the food she didn't bother, but after I touched her head she started eating. I was so pleased. I immediately put her outside on the grass with food and water in a little run, I suppose you would call it a portable tractor. She is still not moving around much.

This afternoon, I let the other chickens out into the outer run, so they can get up close, but not get to her.

I was really shocked on Friday, I put her out with the calmest of the pair. It looked to be going well until she jumped on her neck, I thought she had killed her as she wasn't moving.

I have been looking at introducing chickens to other hens on the forum. I will continue to try them together in the day. I won't try the night introduction yet as I am worried about her falling off the perch.

It is all looking good now. I feel positive she is getting better.