Hello, I'm new 
(Great emoticons here!! 
)
Looking for some advice or words of wisdom about my poor sick chicken.
We have 5 hens. All are about 10 months old. Nobody new has come or gone recently, we've had them all since last summer. 4 are beautiful and healthy.
But one has been "off" for nearly a month now. She's a white, supposedly, EO. We've had her since she was about 6-ish weeks old, and she's always been healthy and looked normal, until about a month ago.
I've now had her isolated for over a week. She had a lot of bugs (I'm assuming lice) on her just before we isolated her. Yet, the other girls had none (thankfully! But we treated them all too.)
So since isolating sick chicken, we bathed her, and doused her with dusting powder. She's lice free now, no more creepy crawlies on her, although I know I need to re-dust and inspect her in about a week because the eggs will be hatching.
So her issue: she stands like a runner duck or a penguin. Extremely upright. We can't pick her up like we used to, we now have to gently scoop her up from underneath without touching or pinning her wings, or she has a fit as if it's hurting her. She doesn't really walk, mostly stands still. Doesn't sit, just stands. And she's tippy when she does move. When she does walk, she highsteps...it's incredibly odd to see, she pulls those feet up like she's stepping on hot coals.
She's eating and drinking well, I've been cooking her up all sorts of different things and she's eating it all up. Loves cooked egg yolk with shredded apple, spinach, berries and yogurt.
So, for a chicken in a rubbermaid tote, she's doing great! But she can't live in my garage in a tote forever.
Doesn't, "to me" (and I'm nooooo expert!!
) seem as if it's Marek's. But it's something wierd and neurological. She's still laying, almost daily. (I'm tossing them.) One of her legs is quite turned-in as well, and I had never noticed that before when she was younger.
Any thoughts or advice or experience with a chicken that stands like a duck and walks like a Tennesee Walker?
She's a lovely pet, and seems healthy otherwise. I'd hate to have to off her. But realistically, not sure if I'll be able to integrate her back into the coop. And I worry....could this be contagious? I'm thinking likely not, but again I"m no expert.
Thanks all.
(Great emoticons here!! )Looking for some advice or words of wisdom about my poor sick chicken.
We have 5 hens. All are about 10 months old. Nobody new has come or gone recently, we've had them all since last summer. 4 are beautiful and healthy.
But one has been "off" for nearly a month now. She's a white, supposedly, EO. We've had her since she was about 6-ish weeks old, and she's always been healthy and looked normal, until about a month ago.
I've now had her isolated for over a week. She had a lot of bugs (I'm assuming lice) on her just before we isolated her. Yet, the other girls had none (thankfully! But we treated them all too.)
So since isolating sick chicken, we bathed her, and doused her with dusting powder. She's lice free now, no more creepy crawlies on her, although I know I need to re-dust and inspect her in about a week because the eggs will be hatching.
So her issue: she stands like a runner duck or a penguin. Extremely upright. We can't pick her up like we used to, we now have to gently scoop her up from underneath without touching or pinning her wings, or she has a fit as if it's hurting her. She doesn't really walk, mostly stands still. Doesn't sit, just stands. And she's tippy when she does move. When she does walk, she highsteps...it's incredibly odd to see, she pulls those feet up like she's stepping on hot coals.
She's eating and drinking well, I've been cooking her up all sorts of different things and she's eating it all up. Loves cooked egg yolk with shredded apple, spinach, berries and yogurt.
So, for a chicken in a rubbermaid tote, she's doing great! But she can't live in my garage in a tote forever.
Doesn't, "to me" (and I'm nooooo expert!!
) seem as if it's Marek's. But it's something wierd and neurological. She's still laying, almost daily. (I'm tossing them.) One of her legs is quite turned-in as well, and I had never noticed that before when she was younger.Any thoughts or advice or experience with a chicken that stands like a duck and walks like a Tennesee Walker?
She's a lovely pet, and seems healthy otherwise. I'd hate to have to off her. But realistically, not sure if I'll be able to integrate her back into the coop. And I worry....could this be contagious? I'm thinking likely not, but again I"m no expert.
Thanks all.
