Wobbly 2 yr old hen

If she's been like this off and on for 6 months, then likely something else is going on.
Possible Marek's disease or AVL. Her flock picking on her to the point she needed separation could also point to illness.

Since you haven't tried any supportive care with supplements, medications or vitamins, I would try vitamin therapy just to see if that helps her.

Focus on her eating her normal nutritionally balanced feed and limit extra goodies that she gets.

IF it's due to vitamin therapy, you should see some improvement fairly quickly.

I would give her 1/2 tablet B-Complex daily and 400IU Vitamin E daily. Egg, sunflower seeds or tuna can be given to help with the uptake of E.
I would give the vitamins for 2 weeks minimum.
Do look her over again for parasites. Consider getting a fecal float to rule out internal parasites as a contributing factor of chronic waxing and waning as well.

When you have time, a video of her actions, of her and her poop may also be helpful.
If vet care is an option, that would be best. If you lose her, then sending the body to your state lab for diagnosis will give you the answers you seek.




71LHtJCCxIL.jpg
71iFocatgXL.jpg
 
Wow so I made her an egg and Tuna and she wolfed the whole thing down also added vitamin B. Her food and food scraps were available but she’s not eating it much. I will post pictures of her feet and a video. I did notice her front nails are way longer than her sisters.
 
If you have dog nail clippers you can clip her toenails back in small sections, leave a couple of mm between the quick and the nail, not too short. To clip her nails, wrap her in a towel, place her across your lap, stretch her legs behind her, then hold her foot and carefully trim in sections, then flip her to face the opposite side and do her other foot. Let her calm down as you move from stage to stage, talk and sing to her as you do so she associates you with gentleness. I have a terrible singing voice but the hens seem to like it.
 
I was able to trim a few of her nails yesterday but have a few more to go. She does walk kinda pigeon toed but is moving much faster. Still clumbsy and wobbly though. She likes the tuna and egg with her food. I noticed her comb is different than the rest… any ideas ?
 
You can also see the odd shaped beak. I did see her lay an egg but she ate it :confused: At this point is there any fixing this poor thing ?
 
You can also see the odd shaped beak. I did see her lay an egg but she ate it :confused: At this point is there any fixing this poor thing ?
I actually think it's a good sign she ate her egg. (Bad habit obviously, but good sign.) It gives me hope that her main problem may just be nutritional. If she has always been low on the pecking order the others may have been preventing her from getting enough food and she could have gotten weaker and weaker. Or sometimes a similar thing can happen during a hard molt when a chicken loses their appetite.

If the pellet food you have is 16% protein I'd look into finding one that is 18-20% and in the meantime continue giving your girl a little extra boost with some egg or tuna and giving her vitamins. Hopefully over the next couple weeks she'll continue improving and when she's getting all the nutrition she needs in her food she'll stop eating her eggs.

As for her comb it looks like she may have lost some of her tips to frostbite?
 
Thanks. I will keep the course. She has a heated lamp to keep her warm at night since she’s by herself but frost bite is still possible from prior to us using the heat lamp.
 
I was able to trim a few of her nails yesterday but have a few more to go. She does walk kinda pigeon toed but is moving much faster. Still clumbsy and wobbly though. She likes the tuna and egg with her food. I noticed her comb is different than the rest… any ideas ?

You can also see the odd shaped beak. I did see her lay an egg but she ate it :confused: At this point is there any fixing this poor thing ?
Hard to tell what's going on with the beak, the photo is not clear enough. Did you raise her from a chick or was she purchased as a started pullet? She may have damaged it a some point.
Comb looks to have a bit of minor frostbite which is not that uncommon in the winter.

I would focus on her eating her normal feed, omit the scraps and give her the egg or tuna as a treat. Get the vitamins into her daily.
Being separated for 6 months with her own food/water, you would think that vitamin deficiency would not be an issue, but it's worth a shot.
Sometimes all it takes is for a hen to have some time taken with her, get a little extra TLC and encouragement to eat/drink to see improvement.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom