Hi everyone- we have a 5 year old Easter egger hen who has a jiggly mass under her. It is impacting her walking although she eats regularly and has energy. My husband tried to insert a needle with syringe to drain fluid thinking it was water belly but blood started to come out so he stopped (18...
Hi everyone- wondering if anyone can offer input/advice/reassurace: some quick background..
A little over a month ago, I introduced two 8 month old EE hens to my flock of 4 (4 three year old hens). We quarantined for a month and then integrated them all together- just providing separate night...
Hi all. I posted earlier about how I am looking to get two new adult hens and integrate them into my already existing flock of 4 (they are 3 year olds). I have a few options I am weighing and wanted to see if anyone had an opinion on these choices.
Choice 1- a family about an hour from me is...
Hi everyone, long story short- we have had a couple of predator attacks the last few years and our flock of 6 has dwindled down to 4 (4 adult hens around 3 years old). We are looking to add 2 adult chickens to the flock of 4. These 4 have only ever had each other, a couple can be a bit...
Her behavior since laying the egg this morning seems pretty normal. Eating, drinking, walking, alert. When I feel back where the swelling was last night (in the back and to the right of her vent, behind the leg) I don't feel it to be like a water balloon in just one spot anymore. Could her whole...
Thank you everyone for your suggestions and replies. She laid an egg this morning- this is a good sign, right? It appears to be normal size and shape.
Will give calcium this evening and monitor closely. I will update here.
She is in the nesting box now as well. Kind of standing so not sitting. Looks to be straining a bit. Could the watery lump have been some kind of egg? I have to leave for work but my husband is monitoring. Hen looks alert and drank water first thing.
Thank you. Will add calcium today. This morning she seems to be walking better and also, the large mass I felt last night seems to have gone down almost. Or atleast does not feel prominent like it did. Her behind feels similar to the other hens now. Are there any conditions that worsen during...
Unfortunately I cannot remember, sometime in the last two weeks I think because we still have a couple of her eggs.
Can I drain the water to prolong her life? I watched a few videos on that last night...
Thank you
My 3 year old EE hen has been eating and drinking normally but walking oddly. She walks like she is carrying a heavy load, lower to the ground and with her butt kind of down. Her crop feels normal to me. I took pictures of her vent. I felt a large round watery/jiggly lump in the area of the...
If it's abdomen bloating or a reproductive issue, is there anything I can do to help her? Is whatever this is treatable? I feel terrible..I noticed this five days ago but I didn't act on it because it didn't seem as bad as when my RSL hen was eggbound (the RSL survived after a hot bath and some...
Thank you for the reply. I have not noticed any strange poops- maybe some darker diarrhea type ones on the coop floor in the morning but I'm not sure who they are from. I will observe that more closely tomorrow. Should I do anything immediately tonight? I cleaned the stuck poops out about an...
Hi everyone, for about a week now I have noticed that my 3 year old BO hen has been walking differently- with her butt sort of tilted downward- almost looks like her bottom is too heavy to lift. I cleaned poop from her butt (she had a lot of it hardened and stuck) and her vent looked normal when...
Glad yours did okay despite the cold though! We got the radiant heaters at Tractor Supply for 40 bucks. They look like flat screen TVs. Worth the money because hens liked them and they were easy to install. I bet if your door had worked it would have been warmer but those things happen! Hope the...
Thanks for the replies. Mine did well all night. I went out to wake them up (-18 degrees outside, 28 degrees in the coop) and they seemed tired and unwilling to go down for food/water. Since the Temps are going to go back up at noon, I brought them into my garage for a few hours to eat, drink...
We shut the door to the run and now the coop temp. Is up to 29 degrees. Still going to get colder tonight so it will still drop but I'm hoping we may be OK.
Is it currently 0 degrees outside (wind chill of -15). It is still 18-20 degrees in our coop thanks to a few radiant heaters, pine shavings and chicken bodies warming it. I am concerned though that when it goes down to -15 degrees (with a -45 degree wind chills) that the coop temp will be near 0...