Eglu Cube Coop and Accessories

[bouldercroft]

Tikka seems to be very unsteady on her feet - she's having trouble jumping up into the borders and is a little slower than her usual self. She's comes running for s"Ooops, word censored!"s but is quite wobbly. She seems to resting a lot in the eglu. I've also noticed her tail feathers are down too.

 

She's eating, drinking and pooping fine and seems good and bright in the eyes and face. She hasn't laid yet (nor have any of my girls). They are about 5-6 months old.

 

I gave her some extra protein today (tuna) to help her along a bit..

 

Any ideas or advice?

[Egluntyne]

I would give her a **basic health check** and take it from there if anything shows up.

[bouldercroft]

nothing jumps out at me after the health check - I gave her some extra protein today (tuna and eggs) and I'll give her a few drops of vitamins in her porridge tomorrow and keep an eye on her...

[Egluntyne]

When you say wobbly, is she holding her wings out to steady herself?

 

Have your chickens been vaccinated?

[bouldercroft]

I don't think so - if she is its subtle...

she was up and out of the coop today picking out the grapes from her porridge and was pecking about the dust bath

 

like I said she seems ok just unsteady...

I'm keeping a close eye on her...

[bouldercroft]

I've made myself dizzy from reading everything on the web and I'd decided that she was either egg-bound or has a calcium deficiency.

 

So I tried the warm bath (hubby thinks I have completely lost the plot) and I'm adding extra calcium & fish oil to her breakfast, along with a sliced grape that has some baby vitamin dropped into the center.

 

She seems a little stronger on her feet but still has the waddle thing going on...

[Egluntyne]

Am wondering if she has an ear infection. That can make them unsteady.

[Plum]

Waddle describes peritonitis does her abdomen feel full or fluidy?

[bouldercroft]

Waddle describes peritonitis does her abdomen feel full or fluidy?

 

I had a good squeeze and she didn't seem bloated or fluidy....

I did notice that she was up and about a lot more today - yes - I waste too much time at work watching my chickens on the webcam - but it's been quite a reassurance..

 

I'll continue with vits and a little extra calcium and see how she goes...

[bouldercroft]

Tikka got much worse and could barely walk. I took her to the vets this evening and she has been euthanized.

They are doing an autopsy and histopatholgy to eliminate the possibility of Mareks and to find out what happened.

 

Poor Tikka....

[bouldercroft]

Autopsy has ruled out Mareks which is a huge relief (I was worrying about the other girls). Lymph nodes, spleen, upper respiratory, lungs and GI tract were all healthy.

Her kidney was very enlarged and this was probably causing the unsteadiness as the kidneys were pressing on the nerves as the kidneys are fused into the pelvis in chickens.

More results on the kidney will be available in a few weeks.

 

Poor tikka......

[Plum]

So sorry she went

 

Learn something all the time about them

[bouldercroft]

So sorry she went

 

Learn something all the time about them

 

 

thanks Plum...hit me much harder than I was expecting...poor thing....

[Egluntyne]

Sad news.

[Charlottechicken]

So sorry

 

You never know how attached you can get to a chicken until something happens to them

[Tiggy]

Am wondering if she has an ear infection. That can make them unsteady.

 

Saffy had this recently, a shot of antibiotic and a course of Baytril did the trick

[Egghead68]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[caerfai]

I have just had a dreadful time with my Dora and she has not made it.

She started by looking as if she was dizzy. We took her to the vets who thought she had had a trauma-not really possible however. She seemed to get a little more steady on her feet but as the days wore on she did not want to come down the steps of the cube and then she stopped eating. We went back to the vet who gave her antibotics every so many days and vitamin e. Poor Dora would take food from tweezers but then I had to open her beak as time went on. She then lost her mobility-her muscles seem to have siezed up and she stretched out her legs like some sort of motor nerone illness. The vet has tested for worms,salmonela, Cocci.Negative.

What have I done wrong? I have really taken a knock over this and feel as thou I do not want any more.

[Plum]

So sorry, it's hard when you lose one and sometimes you just don't know what is going on. They are prone to as many illness as we are and we can only do our best to get help for them or ease their suffering. There just hasn't been the same investment in understanding poultry illness.

 

Did the vet consider Marek's?

[gongladosh]

poor girl, you did the right thing.