Chickens, unlike humans, cannot talk as a way of expressing how they feel and what is going on with them.
However, chickens will change their behavior sometimes, a change in behavior communicates that something is either going well or going badly with the bird.
If your chicken is walking sideways you’d be right to worry. This article looks into why this happens.
Table of Contents
Chicken walking sideways:
Hypervigilance is necessary if you’re raising chickens, keeping a close eye on your birds will help you spot any issues that your birds may be suffering with. If one of your birds is walking sideways reasons for this include:
A hard molt:
Molting is when birds shed their feathers and make room for new feathers, birds of all types do this.
Birds molt every year and it is quite normal and natural. Molting may be normal and natural to birds but this doesn’t mean that this process isn’t uncomfortable for birds.
If your bird is going through a hard molt, it may walk sideways because it is in pain. If your bird is in pain it may also shriek like crazy when you touch it.
Molting can take a toll on your bird, this process can cause your bird to develop a deficiency or an imbalance which can cause the bird to walk sideways.
Because molting uses up so many nutrients, the bird will not have enough nutrients for its whole body.
A lack of nutrients signals to the brain that nutrients need to be taken from other parts of the body, this lack of nutrients in some body parts can cause a bird to walk sideways.
What should you do:
Because molting is a normal and natural process you can’t do anything to stop your bird from molting but you can ease some of the discomforts that the bird feels when it is molting.
Do this by regularly misting the bird with water or aloe vera juice.
Giving your bird extra protein and vitamins can also help. Poultry cell vitamins can be given to your bird or you can give your bird Poly-Vi-Sol (this is a children’s vitamin that can be given to chickens as well).
Give the bird this vitamin three times a day through a dropper, two or three drops at a time, until the bird improves. If you buy this for your bird, do not get the one with iron, get the regular one.
Giving your bird cat food and probiotics, in the form of yogurt, is also helpful. Adding apple cider vinegar to your bird’s food can also help.
Putting your bird on the ‘sick chick diet’ is also recommended. This diet involves giving your bird a homemade feed that can be given to birds when they are going through a health crisis.
Feed your bird this feed once a day in the morning for 3 days, or until the bird’s condition improves. Note: some birds take up to three weeks to improve. This is what this feed is made up of:
- 2 Tablespoons of grated apple
- 1 Very small drizzle of honey
- 1 Dessert spoon of beef tinned cat food, do not feed your chicken any dog food
- 1 Teaspoon cod liver oil
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons of rolled oats or baby rice
- 2 Tablespoons of natural yogurt with no sugar
- ½ to 1 Cooked egg crumbed
- A few grains of multi vitamin powder
Mix these ingredients together until they form a crumble, feed this crumble to the bird, and make sure that the feed is not runny.
If the bird is not eating the feed, or if the bird is too weak to feed itself, then you may have to help the bird eat by force-feeding the bird.
When force-feeding, massage the bird’s neck to help the feed make its way into the crop.
If the bird doesn’t finish the feed within 12 hours then throw the leftover out and make a new batch.
In addition, ensure that the bird always has access to clean fresh water and give the bird access to ordinary feed as well as good quality food.
Getting your bird to an isolated area and confining her in there will also be helpful in reducing your bird’s stress levels, this will force her to rest a bit.
FAQ:
Why is my chicken leaning to one side?
If your chicken is leaning to one side then the animal may have a condition called wry neck.
This condition is also called start gazing and it can cause the bird to lean on one side, walk in circles, or display a twisting of the neck.
In severe cases, it can cause the bird to develop serious mobility issues.
The treatment for this condition will depend on the cause of the wry neck. Taking your pet to a vet for an examination and treatment is recommended.
Why is my chicken walking like it’s drunk?
A variety of ailments or conditions can cause your pet to walk like it’s drunk, these include nutritional deficiencies, exposure to toxins, and encephalitis (viral, bacterial, fungal in origin)
An examination from a vet is needed to determine why the animal is acting this way.
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 Low On Ground, Chicken Lifting Legs High When Walking, Chicken Hunched Up Tail Down