If you’re raising chickens, their health is of utmost importance.
If you notice some unusual behavior in your chicken, such as your chicken stumbling and falling down, then you’d be right to be concerned. This article looks into why this happens.
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Chicken stumbling and falling down:
If the bird falls down occasionally then the bird may have tripped on something or may have simply lost its balance, but a chicken falling down consistently should have you worried.
Illnesses:
Illnesses can make birds lose balance, stumble and fall down, illnesses like botulism and Marek’s disease can cause your bird to stumble and fall down.
Chickens get botulism through eating overripe or rotten food, toxins in these foods can cause your bird to stagger.
Mareks disease is another illness that can cause birds to stagger, stumble and fall down. This illness will cause your bird’s legs to slowly become paralyzed over a long period of time
What to do:
A number of illnesses can cause your bird to stumble and fall down.
Figuring out which disease your bird has can be a time-consuming and fruitless exercise. The time that it takes for you to try to figure out what your bird has can cause the bird to deteriorate.
The best thing you can do for your bird is to take it to the vet and have it examined, diagnosed and treated by a professional.
Foot injuries:
If your bird’s foot becomes scraped or cut, bacteria can enter the site of the scrape or cut and cause the bird to develop an inflammatory reaction like bumblefoot.
Bumblefoot will look like an abscess or swell under the bird’s foot and can cause the bird to stumble and fall down.
What to do:
You’d need to assess the bird to figure out if it is indeed injured, check under the bird’s foot to see if the bird is injured or has bumblefoot.
Treatments for this ailment include opening the wound and draining the pus, giving the bird antibiotics, soaking the foot in Epsom salts, applying antiseptics on the wound, and then closing it up
The bird’s injury needs time to heal, the bird also needs to be isolated from the rest of the flock to give it the opportunity to relax and heal.
Vitamin deficiency:
Not feeding a bird the right foods, and not giving birds foods that are nutritionally dense can cause birds to become ill, this can cause birds to stumble and fall down.
Protein deficiencies, in particular, can cause your bird to stumble and fall down and a vitamin B deficiency can also cause your bird to stumble and fall down.
What to do:
If you suspect that your bird has a protein deficiency then you’d need to up the protein in its diet. You can offer the bird cat food, not dog food, to up its protein. Soak the cat food in water so it’s easier for the bird to eat.
If your bird is not interested in cat food then you may have to give her lean minced beef and chick crumbs. If the bird has a vitamin b deficiency then you can offer the bird marmite.
Parasites:
A nutritional deficiency can develop if the bird has parasites.
If you’re feeding the bird correctly, but the bird is still acting as though it has a nutritional deficiency then the bird likely has a roundworm infection that is depleting nutrients from the bird’s body
What to do:
Giving the bird a dewormer will help get rid of the worms in your bird’s body. Apple cider vinegar is sometimes used to deworm birds as well, you can try it if you’re wanting to go the natural route.
If you’re unsure as to whether your bird has worms or not then you’d need to take the bird to the vet.
Legs are too long:
If your chicken is still growing then the bird’s legs may simply be too long for its body and this may cause the bird to lose its balance, stumble and fall down.
This isn’t something that you need to worry about, the bird will grow into its legs soon enough.
The bird is likely simply going through a period of adolescence where its legs are growing faster than its body.
What to do:
There isn’t anything you can do to tackle the issue of a chicken stumbling and falling down if the reason behind the bird falling down is that the bird’s legs are too long.
The only thing you can do is ensure that the bird gets enough feed and that the bird grows into its long legs in good time.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Walking Like It’s Drunk, Chicken Walking Funny, Chicken Walking Like A Penguin