Hen walking backwards and raising her feet to her chest

[travelerGirl]

My hen keeps raising her feet to her chest when she’s walking and walking backwards, shaking her head with her head down. She’s done this off and on her whole entire life. None of my other girls are doing this. I’ve attached a video here to show an example of her walking her crop is empty. She just woke up. She doesn’t have mites or lice and although her feet are dirty from the mud she doesn’t have bumble foot. Like I said she’s been doing this off and on her whole life, but it seems the last two days she’s been doing this a lot. She’s molting really bad. Any advice from anyone would really be great. She is eating and drinking normally. For some reason I can’t attach the video or any photos

 

[TOMTE]

Do you know exactly how old she was when this started?

Without video (you'll have to upload to youtube and link the video), it sounds like it could be neurological, maybe a vitamin deficiency, or Marek's

 

[mydaisy]

I don't see an attachment here, but maybe I can offer advice as far as during molting. I had a hen that was my healthiest hen, but when she went through her first hard molt she had issues walking. She would walk backward, then side to side like she was drunk. It was like she was winding up to move forward, bless her heart. I searched everywhere for an answer why she was doing this and found a video of someone's hen doing the same exact thing and it was also during a hard molt. I can't answer why your hen has done this always, but I can say that when mine did this during a molt I upped her protein and gave her vitamins in the water. She grew feathers back and perked up in no time. It was the weirdest thing because I honestly thought she was going to die before I searched for answers.

 

[coach723]

For video's you usually have to upload to another host(like youtube) and put the link here, then we can see it.
She may have a neurological issue since she has done it her entire life, as long as she can eat and drink and is not attacked by others, then it may be something she can live with. How old is she?
But if she's having trouble eating, or isn't eating because molt is making her feel bad, then she may be deficient in some vitamins, which can also cause neurological symptoms. I would get a b complex or super b complex tablet or capsule, human ones, brand does not matter, any pharmacy, walmart, etc should have them. Give her one every day, just put in her beak and push it back, she'll swallow it. Make sure she's eating, separate her and feed her so you can watch and assist if needed. See if she will eat her feed, you can mix it with a little water to make a mash, they often like it that way, try scrambled egg or canned tuna if she won't. Sometimes molt is really hard on them.

 

[travelerGirl]

She i

Do you know exactly how old she was when this started?

Without video (you'll have to upload to youtube and link the video), it sounds like it could be neurological, maybe a vitamin deficiency, or Marek's

she is a year and a half old. She has done this off and on her entire life every once in a while. Just seems she has been doing it a lot more over the past 2 days. As I mentioned she is molting pretty bad at this time. She has been vaccinated for Merek and not displaying any other symptoms of Merek. I will work on getting the video uploaded. She is acting normal in every way except for this.

 

[coach723]

I had a roo that had a similar issue, he started with odd head shaking intermittently, hard enough to lose his balance, when he was about 6 months to a year old. No known cause. He was able to eat, drink, do all his normal roo activities. Nothing seemed to make it better, or worse, no treatments made any difference. He never passed anything on to any chick hatched from him. He did it for years. Then somewhere around 8 or 9 years old it just stopped. He lived to be almost 13. Sometimes there just isn't a known cause. Once you have ruled everything else possible out, it's just an unknown.
But I would try vitamins for sure, they are a very common reason for neurological issues, and are very safe to try.

 

[TOMTE]

She i

she is a year and a half old. She has done this off and on her entire life every once in a while. Just seems she has been doing it a lot more over the past 2 days. As I mentioned she is molting pretty bad at this time. She has been vaccinated for Merek and not displaying any other symptoms of Merek. I will work on getting the video uploaded. She is acting normal in every way except for this.

A Marek's vaccination isn't a cure. A chicken vaccinated for Marek's may still become infected with the virus but will (hopefully) be able to fight it. That doesn't mean they can't still contract and shed it.

I'm not saying it is Marek's, but it is a possibility. Some chickens with the disease are asymptomatic, some have one or two symptoms, some have a bunch of symptoms. Some live and some die.

It's something to keep in mind. Especially since, if one of your chickens has Marek's, all of them do.