Wobbly Hen-Injury or Mareks (or ?)

[Closing Time]

UPDATE: I was fortunate to find a vet that would come out to our house to see my girls. He does poultry so it was perfect. None of the exotic/avian vets in our area would see a chicken right now because of HPAI.

He came out today and was able to examine both George and Esther (my other pullet with a suspected genetic eye issue). Both girls were strong, in good weight, no signs of lice or mites, everything normal upon examination. He’s running a fecal to just check the whole flock for parasites so we can treat accordingly if needed.

So…drum roll…he feels she does not have Mareks. What he is thinking is vestibular event or traumatic brain injury. He originally thought vitamin deficiency when he first saw her but leaning more towards the first two options. Her symptoms are mild but he felt she was even stronger physically than my other girl when he examined her. I’ll continue to provide the vitamin supplementation since it won’t hurt, but he feels she will just need supportive care and may or may not return to normal in the future. I’ve had dogs experience the same and return to almost normal after a period of time, so .

I’m just so excited I was able to find a vet that both knows chickens and does farm calls. We have four chickens and two are special needs now. Island of Misfit Toys over here . But I’m also glad we are most likely not looking at something more insidious.

Thank you everyone for all of your help. Hoping this post may help someone else in the future.

 

[PennelopeSpeaks]

Omg! I had a head hen named George who looked just like her
I hope she gets better!

 

[2ndTink]

UPDATE: I was fortunate to find a vet that would come out to our house to see my girls. He does poultry so it was perfect. None of the exotic/avian vets in our area would see a chicken right now because of HPAI.

He came out today and was able to examine both George and Esther (my other pullet with a suspected genetic eye issue). Both girls were strong, in good weight, no signs of lice or mites, everything normal upon examination. He’s running a fecal to just check the whole flock for parasites so we can treat accordingly if needed.

So…drum roll…he feels she does not have Mareks. What he is thinking is vestibular event or traumatic brain injury. He originally thought vitamin deficiency when he first saw her but leaning more towards the first two options. Her symptoms are mild but he felt she was even stronger physically than my other girl when he examined her. I’ll continue to provide the vitamin supplementation since it won’t hurt, but he feels she will just need supportive care and may or may not return to normal in the future. I’ve had dogs experience the same and return to almost normal after a period of time, so .

I’m just so excited I was able to find a vet that both knows chickens and does farm calls. We have four chickens and two are special needs now. Island of Misfit Toys over here . But I’m also glad we are most likely not looking at something more insidious.

Thank you everyone for all of your help. Hoping this post may help someone else in the future.

That's wonderful!!

 

[Closing Time]

That's wonderful!!

Well, I’m not so sure now. I honestly am feeling like the vet may have made things worse. He held her upside down for a bit when he was examining her, and I’ve read you shouldn’t do that with a sick bird (or any bird really). She was immediately struggling to walk and would fall on her side when he put her on the ground. And I don’t feel she’s recovered well from that at all. This morning she is falling a lot and just lying there for a while before she can get up. She was no where near this bad at all prior to him handling her. This is a massive step backwards.

I’m so mad at myself for not advocating for her but I also have never had a chicken examined by a vet so I was trusting him here. I put her back in the crate today because honestly I was afraid being this disabled may cause the others to finally start picking on her. Ugh, I’m so upset about this and almost wish I never had called him at this point. I thought I was doing the right thing calling for a vet.

 

[TOMTE]

Well, I’m not so sure now. I honestly am feeling like the vet may have made things worse. He held her upside down for a bit when he was examining her, and I’ve read you shouldn’t do that with a sick bird (or any bird really). She was immediately struggling to walk and would fall on her side when he put her on the ground. And I don’t feel she’s recovered well from that at all. This morning she is falling a lot and just lying there for a while before she can get up. She was no where near this bad at all prior to him handling her. This is a massive step backwards.

I’m so mad at myself for not advocating for her but I also have never had a chicken examined by a vet so I was trusting him here. I put her back in the crate today because honestly I was afraid being this disabled may cause the others to finally start picking on her. Ugh, I’m so upset about this and almost wish I never had called him at this point. I thought I was doing the right thing calling for a vet.

Chickens hate change and are wary of new situations, so being picked up and examined by the vet may have stressed her enough that she's started to relapse a bit. Give it a few days to a week and see how she recovers? I hope that's all it is

 

[2ndTink]

Well, I’m not so sure now. I honestly am feeling like the vet may have made things worse. He held her upside down for a bit when he was examining her, and I’ve read you shouldn’t do that with a sick bird (or any bird really). She was immediately struggling to walk and would fall on her side when he put her on the ground. And I don’t feel she’s recovered well from that at all. This morning she is falling a lot and just lying there for a while before she can get up. She was no where near this bad at all prior to him handling her. This is a massive step backwards.

I’m so mad at myself for not advocating for her but I also have never had a chicken examined by a vet so I was trusting him here. I put her back in the crate today because honestly I was afraid being this disabled may cause the others to finally start picking on her. Ugh, I’m so upset about this and almost wish I never had called him at this point. I thought I was doing the right thing calling for a vet.

Like @TOMTE said, maybe it's the stress of being handled and she'll recover. I think putting her in the crate is a good idea, being in a quiet spot without being disturbed will be good for her no matter what. If you have a really mellow buddy that could be in with her would be nice, but, if you don't is ok.

I hope she bounces back, you did the right thing at the time, having a vet check her out, it's amazing you even found one that does farm calls and knows anything about chickens. Chickens are always creating situations for us to learn from, you did your absolute best for her and that is all any of us can do! Keep up the supportive care and keep us posted.

 

[TOMTE]

I want to add that it's important to have honest and open dialogue with your vet. Call him up and address these concerns, see what he has to say. Ask questions! Lots and lots of questions. That way, you get a better feel for his level of experience and whether you feel comfortable with him and his practice. He should be as open and willing to ask and answer questions as you are. He should be understanding of your concerns and willing to talk about them. That's a sign of a good vet

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about the rough handling of the farm vet. Hopefully, she will get over it. I have posted many times about a 5 year old hen who had been vaccinated for Mareks as a chick. We have never seen Mareks in our flock before. She lost her ability to balance and walk normally for 5 weeks, although she always had strength in her legs and feet enough to move away from her droppings in her small pen. I fed her twice a day, watery chicken feed, some dry crumbles, chopped egg, canned cat food, plain yogurt, and Poultry NutriDrench. She would not drink water. After 5 weeks she finally got up and walked out of her nest on the floor, and outside. She was wobbly at first, so the flock attacked her. So for the next 6 months, she free ranged on the other side of the fence where she could see the others and stay safe. She slept in the coop at night on her nest on the floor. Eventually, they accepted her back, although she was lower in pecking order than before. So give her some time. We suspected vestibular disease, but we never knew what was wrong.

 

[Closing Time]

Thank you everyone for the support. I was in a bit of a state this morning and feeling quite guilty. We will provide some support here and treat this phase as an acute stress event. Fortunately her appetite has never wavered and, like the vet said, she was in extremely good flesh. So we must be doing something right.

@TOMTE good point about discussing with the vet. I was appreciative of his assistance and he evaluated our general husbandry skills while here and did give us five stars. He actually said I was the first backyard flock owner who offered him booties before entering the coop. But my former career lends itself to an awareness of biosecurity so almost a given with me. I appreciated his input and will discuss with him when he reaches out with the fecal results. I feel his experience is more on the commercial end, given where he practiced before moving here and some of the experiences he shared, so the handling may be explained as such.

@2ndTink @Eggcessive thank you for the feedback and support. I’m hoping she’ll recover from the handling and even if she stayed at the level she was at prior to yesterday, she will live a good life with some management. This girl is not a fan of eggs at all but I do have plenty of canned cat food to chose from so maybe a bit of a protein boost may help her out in the short term. I have poultry cell in her water right now in the crate. But maybe with the added stress, the nutridrench is a better option for today. Or maybe neither of that matters and she just needs to rest and recuperate. We will give her the time she needs and cross our fingers for hee.

Our coop is a large walk in barn type, so the crate is inside and when she’s in the crate, the other chickens typically all just lie around outside of it and hang out with her. So she won’t be alone but she can’t get picked on either.

Phew, ok, thanks for talking me off the proverbial ledge today . Like I told the vet, I’m learning that chickens are both incredibly resilient and ridiculously fragile all in the same pretty package. And I thought horses were the ones that needed bubble wrap…

 

[2ndTink]

Thank you everyone for the support. I was in a bit of a state this morning and feeling quite guilty. We will provide some support here and treat this phase as an acute stress event. Fortunately her appetite has never wavered and, like the vet said, she was in extremely good flesh. So we must be doing something right.

@TOMTE good point about discussing with the vet. I was appreciative of his assistance and he evaluated our general husbandry skills while here and did give us five stars. He actually said I was the first backyard flock owner who offered him booties before entering the coop. But my former career lends itself to an awareness of biosecurity so almost a given with me. I appreciated his input and will discuss with him when he reaches out with the fecal results. I feel his experience is more on the commercial end, given where he practiced before moving here and some of the experiences he shared, so the handling may be explained as such.

@2ndTink @Eggcessive thank you for the feedback and support. I’m hoping she’ll recover from the handling and even if she stayed at the level she was at prior to yesterday, she will live a good life with some management. This girl is not a fan of eggs at all but I do have plenty of canned cat food to chose from so maybe a bit of a protein boost may help her out in the short term. I have poultry cell in her water right now in the crate. But maybe with the added stress, the nutridrench is a better option for today. Or maybe neither of that matters and she just needs to rest and recuperate. We will give her the time she needs and cross our fingers for hee.

Our coop is a large walk in barn type, so the crate is inside and when she’s in the crate, the other chickens typically all just lie around outside of it and hang out with her. So she won’t be alone but she can’t get picked on either.

Phew, ok, thanks for talking me off the proverbial ledge today . Like I told the vet, I’m learning that chickens are both incredibly resilient and ridiculously fragile all in the same pretty package. And I thought horses were the ones that needed bubble wrap…

That's great the crate can be in the coop, if I put a crate in my coop the other chickens would probably be trying to get into the cage to eat the special food a lot of mine are silkies so they just pop their heads through and gobble up everything they can reach. Looking at them you'd think they couldn't get their head through but their crests just squish out of the way, it's the funniest thing to watch.

Yep, chickens are super tough and can live through anything and they are also super fragile and can die if you look at them incorrectly