Zombie Chicken - cold reintroduction

[jtodek]

Hello again friends,
I have a chicken who about 3 weeks ago was outside with the other chickens in their pen when I noticed was making a weird noise. I went over to her and she was struggaling to walk. I'm sure the roosters had their way with her, a bit too much i'm guessing. She was always picked on so she has a little limp. Once I came to her rescue she was having a hard time holding her head up so I put her inside the coop where we have a cage for mama chicken and her baby so that the others wont beat the baby up. The injured chicken climbed on the roost and went to bed for the night. In the morning, my hubby went out to find her sprawled around the ground, barely moving. He called me and told me she wasn't going to make it throughout the day.

I of course rushed home from work and moved her from the coop to the house where she coudl warm up. She still didn't move and was twitching. She looked like she was in pain. She laid there for the entire next day. On the third day, I managed to get some electrolite water in her mouth by means of a straw. I went christmas shopping and when I returned she was standing. Albiet, barely. She went from not being able to hold her head up to standing and almost rocking back and forth. Miraculously, she has recovered but now still is in a bin in the back room. Its' in the teens here in michigan but there is a warm spell today through friday. I was hoping to reintroduce her to the cold. Even keep her in the cage with baby and let mama out. The baby was born around halloween so he is basically a teenager now. I'm just worried the flock will kill him like they did his brother. Since I haven't really let them out of the coop. When it gets warmer and they have a run of the pen then I will let him explore a little more.

Any suggestions to what happened to the chicky? Her poop has looked weird ever sine than day. Could a rooster have injured her internally to the point where she was immobile? She couldn't even open her eye, hold up her head or anything. Now she is fine. So weird! I also heard sudden change in temperatures can injure the chicken. Will putting her outside on a 40 degree day send her into shock? I don't want to keep her in a bin throughout the rest of winter.

Whats the best way to get them used to the cold after a few weeks of being warm? And by cold last week we were in the single digits. Looks like next week it is going to stay in the teens after this little warm weather season we are in right now.

Thanks alot!

 

[Lauren Kim]

Is she younger than the rest? What are the ages of the chickens in your coop? Describe the composition of your coop(by breed) and what the chicken's breed is.

 

[Chicken Boy 101]

That's a lot like what happened to my chicken just she died.

 

[Lauren Kim]

That's a lot like what happened to my chicken just she died.

aww. Requiesat in pace.

 

[rebrascora]

It sounds like it could be Marek's disease. How old is she? A common trigger is stress from too much mating, particularly when there are young males in the flock. I've had them recover from an attack without treatment almost as suddenly as they came down with it. I've also had others deteriorate and die. It can affects the nerves and causes them to be unable to coordinate their limbs and sometimes neck or tail as well. If it is Marek's then she will most likely suffer a further attack at some point in the future.

Of course it may be as simple as her being bullied from the food/water and having got extremely weak.

I don't know how many "roosters" you have in the flock but it is often not a healthy or happy situation to have more than one, particularly if they are cockerels under a year old and confined to a small area like a pen or coop, as often is necessary at this time of year.

She will almost certainly be targeted again if she is reintroduced to that environment and you may not be so lucky next time. You have to decide whether the "roosters" are more important to you than the wellbeing of your pullets and hens. It is the hard reality of chicken keeping. If you must keep them, it is better to create a bachelor pad for the boys than let them "rape and pillage" the lowest girls in the pecking order, day after day..... I have been there and seen it and learned the lesson the hard way. Those male hormones can make them pretty unpleasant and it will probably get worse as spring approaches.

 

[Lauren Kim]

True. ^ I saw a Youtube video on how Marek's disease paralyzed the chicken's legs and the chicken could not use them at all and was just flapping around everywhere.