Year Old Chicken Stopped Walking! Please Help!

[billyb]

Hi everyone! Any help is much needed and appreciated! My Dominique Hen was acting a little goofy but normal eating drinking and roosting routines. All of a sudden I. Heckled to nights ago and she was bedded on the ground. She can not eat or drink with out me putting it right next to her because she can not stand up or walk a step without falling coward or putting her wings out to balance. She also does not make any noises. Unless it's a small squick. I checked her feet and legs they are not broken all joints are moving. She still has feelings in her legs though. The tops of her feet and legs are black and the rest are yellow I don't know if that is normal ether. My coop is heated and there's also food and water available. I have no idea what the problem is. Or should I consider of putting her out of her pain? Any help is very appreciated! Thanks so much - Billyb

 

[gander007]

Not good and sounds horrible so how are the other chickens
doing ????? is the food/water changed every couple of days
and did you check for mites or sores on the bottom of the feet
as the chicken is a year old this is a bit odd ..... The black
sounds off if it is not her regular color .... How cold is it where
you are and is she roosting in side a building or outside .....

gander007

 

[billyb]

The other chickens are totally fine. There are no visa leg mites or sores. Food and water is normal. I don't believe it's her normal color but I could be wrong. The windchill has gotten down to -5 here in Cleveland but they are inside the coop which is 45 degrees.

-billyb

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I had a younger hen have something like that happen and, crude as it may sound, we believe she had some tendon strain from the rooster. After about a week or so of us babying her, she was back to walking, though gingerly and today she is 100% fine. We moved her to a separate coop while she recovered and made sure she could reach the food and water and was warm.

 

[gander007]

Sounds like you are doing it right correctly with the heat and care
just keep her separated for now and watch closely ........

gander007

 

[billyb]

Ok thanks!

 

[alawson12]

This sounds like what is happening to my small flock. It started with struggling to walk in one of our easter egger hens who we quarantined, gave electrolytes, eggs, got a powder from tractor supply to treat mites, she appeared to get better for a day and then died. I am also looking for answers as we just lost another hen one of our bantam hens. This all happened about 2 weeks apart. My husband is thinking Mareks. I am still looking for answered to save the rest of our flock. I will be following this post! Ps. We did just find out we have a rooster in our batch of Easter eggers we got...

 

[billyb]

Okay. Yes my hen has now completely stopped walking. She is on Electrolytes and Duramitocen water. I'm not feeding her chicken food right now, I cooked a scrambled egg with 1/4 a cup of oats and then some chopped up small carrot pieces and then took the eggshell and smashed it and mixed it in. She seemed to like it. I did put a syringe of her water into her mouth and she took it. Just so she gets some extra energy. Hope your bird does better! I am going to start some more research. But I don't know if I should put her out of her misery.

 

[Gardner]

Hi there - sounds like Marek's disease. Loss of mobility, wobbly walking or falling over. Often the chicken will be found on the ground at night, unable to roost. Loss of appetite, laboured breathing.

Unfortunately in my experience the chicken never recovers. Either we euthanized it or eventually it died.

Sad days.

 

[Gardner]

Day old chicks are normally inoculated, but the virus is still present, can be quite contagious. Definitely keep her quarantined.