Young Hen Paralyzed/Lethargic

[Yinjing]

Hi everyone,
There are a lot of wild chickens in my neighborhood, and I've been taking care of them occasionally for about a year. I dont know much about chickens, but this past year I've seen so many baby chickens die that I felt like I needed to step up.

About 3 days ago I brought in a little hen (2 or 3 months old) because her mom abandoned her, and she was extremely unbalanced on her feet, sticking her wings out as support. The following day both her feet were curled up (paralyzed?), and she exhibits extreme lethargy (sleeping or closing her eyes 90% of the day), inability to use her legs, she drags herself left or right with her wings, and she had EXTREMELY foul smelling runny orange droppings.

I have been giving her pedialyte mixed with a little apple juice and B vitamin, blueberries, bird seed, and some cocci medicine.

Today, her droppings have gotten solid, though they are now green and mucousy and still smell VERY foul. She is still very lethargic. I sit with her in my lap or on a pillow with paper towels all day, feeding her and giving her water every hour if she takes it. Her appetite has slightly decreased. And her breathing has been consistently labored. If I coo at her, she responds with a very cute and light trill. She often preens herself.

She had one incident where she rolled off the pillow onto her back and made no attempt to fix herself. She doesnt make any attempt to utilize her legs either.

I'm very worried that this is Marecks, being that they are wild chickens with no caretaker and have no vaccines. HOWEVER, her toes are curled up instead of splayed out, so perhaps it is a riboflavin deficiency?

I would love some insight on this, and I really want to see this lovely girl recover!

EDIT: Her crop is usually quite empty, even after she has eaten. Her mouth and tongue look fine, no odor.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Look into Poultry Nutri-Dench..... being homeless she is probably vitamin deficient and lack of niacen which can cause lethargy and chickens unable to walk properly.

 

[Yinjing]

I looked into it, the earliest I can get it is the 9th and I dont know if she will survive that long. I really hope she can hang in there.

 

[micstrachan]

Can you get poly-v-sol baby vitamins without iron from the pharmacy or grocery store? Will she eat scrambled egg? Definitely keep her warm. It’s great you have her inside. I would keep her in an extra warm room, if you have one. You could also feed her baby bird formula from the pet store. At looks like Marek’s, but perhaps ahe’s Just malnourished. I hope she makes it!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have been giving her pedialyte mixed with a little apple juice and B vitamin, blueberries, bird seed, and some cocci medicine.

Today, her droppings have gotten solid, though they are now green and mucousy and still smell VERY foul. She is still very lethargic.

And her breathing has been consistently labored.

Can you tell us your location? (state/country)
Photos of the poop please.
You mention you are giving B-vitamins - what are those - does it have B2 Riboflavin? If it does that is good.
What is your Cocci medicine - amprolium, baycox, sulfa drugs?
I would continue with doing what you are doing until we find out a little more. I would also add in a source of protein for the chick - see if she will take some egg or a little fish/meat.

Let us know how she is.

 

[Yinjing]

Can you get poly-v-sol baby vitamins without iron from the pharmacy or grocery store? Will she eat scrambled eggs?

I tried giving her scrambled eggs on day 2 but she was not that enticed and only dug her beak around in them- she ate about 1 gram of protein yesterday in yogurt. I'll keep my eyes out for the baby vitamins!

Can you tell us your location? (state/country)
Photos of the poop please.
You mention you are giving B-vitamins - what are those - does it have B2 Riboflavin? If it does that is good.
What is your Cocci medicine - amprolium, baycox, sulfa drugs?

I live on Oahu (Hawaii), and we are giving her a B multivitamin powder which does have B2. Liquid amprolium is the medicine we have.

Her poops are mucousy, greenish brown. The foul smell is slightly less pungent. Actually, the one she had last night barely had smell. I try to get rid of the poo immediately to keep her area sanitary, but I'll snap some pictures as soon as I can!

EDIT: she woke up and made this one

~~

Yesterday we built a hammock sling for her so that she could stretch out her legs. She instantly fell in love with it, though she will only have her legs hang down through the holes for a brief period of time before protesting. I noticed when picking her up, her breastbone is very prominent and she barely fills her crop when she eats.

I've been trying to encourage her to eat more, and one thing I discovered she loved is vanilla yogurt! She ate so much of it before bed that I was worried she might be eating too much.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have a feed store that carries poultry feed? See if you can get some Chick Starter or Flock Raiser.

What dosage of Amprolium are you giving = do you have CORID?
If you are giving Corid, then stop the B Vitamins until you finish the course of treatment then resume with vitamins.

A sling can be helpful. Hopefully with proper nutrition and treatment she will start to recover.
Remember that chickens need a source of grit to process food so make that available to her free choice. Check her crop in the mornings before she eats/drinks to make sure that it has emptied overnight.

 

[Yinjing]

Yes its Corrid. I was giving the reccomended amount per gallon on the container.

There is only one feed store, but the chick starter they have has not been appealing to any of the chickens or chicks in the neighborhood and is always left untouched.

I dont have grit, sounds like I'll be needing to make a trip to the feed store and see if they have some. Thank you for all the help!

I massaged her feet and one of them flexed a tiny bit. I dont know if that was voluntary but I hope i can take that as a good sign. I'll keep updating!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just to make sure you have the correct dosage here it is - birds usually require a different dose than cattle.
Corid dosage is 1 1/2 teaspoons Corid powder or 2 teaspoons of 9.6% Corid liquid per gallon of water.
Give for 5-7 days - make sure this is the ONLY water available during that time period. Mix a fresh batch at least once a day.

 

[Yinjing]

Update! She seems to be exhibiting no more signs of being sick. Her droppings are normal, she has any more energy, she eats, and she is very loving.

Now that she has built up a little more mass and energy, I've been trying to help her stretch out her legs. She herself cannot push it past a 90* angle at the knee(?) So I've been gently applying pressure past that until she pulls away or protests. One of these times her knee made rapid trio of liquid "popping" sounds and the other time made a sound like a joint falling back into place.

However there is still extreme resistance in the joint area and I believe the joint might be inflamed, it's hard to tell because she lays on them all day and it feels just as warm as her skin.

I dont want to hurt her but if this is a joint problem I would like to get this taken care of as soon as possible as to prevent her future pain and complications. Does anyone have insight?