Oh no!!! First sick hen - worried!

I think I many have my first sick hen and I am terribly worried about her! She is an 8 month old heritage breed cross. I let them all out this morning and she seemed fine then. When I went to put them back in she was in her nesting box with her eyes closed and her bum up, which I thought was strange, but I am pretty new to the whole chicken scene. I checked on her and she opened her eyes and stood up for me but then laid back down and closed her eyes again. I went back outside a couple hours later to let them back out and she was still in the box, but did jump down to have a drink and go outside. I looked in the box and there was what looked like very thick white mucus that could be pus or egg white? It wasn't really distinguishable. And the bedding was soaked with what looked like a mixture of yolk and egg white. Could she have had an egg break inside her? There is no shell to be seen. While outside she wasn't moving as quickly as normal but was still walking around and munching on grass. She did find a little water spot and drank for about 10 minutes though..... and then I saw her (what I thought was defecate) but when I looked it was yellow like yolk. Putting her back in the coop she continued to drink like she's severely dehydrated. We looked at her vent and everything looks clean.

I have had a hen that has been laying rubber eggs since that lot started laying about 3 months ago and I had it narrowed down to her and another hen. Maybe it's been her? On the advice of a lady on here, I added some apple cider vinegar to their water on Sat to see if that helped with the rubber egg incident.

Hopefully someone has some ideas! Thanks so much!

You mean your egg shells are very thin? I would recommend you give oyster shells to your chickens to increase egg quality.

If you are already doing this, I hope your chicken isn't actually sick! Are you giving them medicated feed, or were the chickens vaccinated when you got them? If you give them medicated feed once they are vaccinated, you can't stop giving them medicated feed, because the vaccination will have been wrecked.

Hope this helps!

Yes the eggs are really thin, or they are half hard and half thin. And many times (at least once a week) and egg looks like it was laid while they are roosting, but it's thin shelled as well.

They actually do already get oyster shells. They love to throw them all over the coop..haha! But they are available if they want them.

The chickens were only 2 weeks old when I got them and they did live in awful conditions. It was sad. I am sure they were no vaccinated. They were on medicated grower from the day I got them until they needed layer. Do you put them on medicated layer as well?

Mine is non-medicated, as they were vaccinated. That is strange! I am sorry, I have no idea what the problem might be.

Also, they don't get sick if you had them vaccinated then fed them medicated- you just can't use non medicated, or else they will have no medication. The medicated feed sort of overrules the vaccination, and makes them non-vaccinated.

mizjones said:

[COLOR=4B0082]Whatever the problem is, a warm epsom salt bath can be very calming.  She sounds like she's got an egg bound deal going on.  They can be laying soft eggs and still get egg bound.  Have you ever done an epsom salt bath?  You just get a small tub or even your bath tub, fill it with a few inches of epsom salt-laced water and set her in there.  Hens like warm baths and it's very soothing when they don't feel well.  After the bath, try applying a little olive or coconut oil to her vent, then place her in a separate crate where there is no draft.  Some old towels are nice for the floor.  Hopefully she'll improve with the absorption of the magnesium and sulfur from the water.  [/COLOR]

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I have never done an Epsom salt bath, but that sounds like a great idea. I can keep her in the house for the night to make sure she doesn't get chilled, it's still not very warm up here on the east coast of Canada. Thanks so much for the advice!

I think it may had worked!!! When I went to get her from the coop she was still in her nesting box the poor thing, As I lifted her out, more what looked like egg came pouring out. So I put her in the warm bath and she happily sat in there. I wrapped her in a towel for a bit to get most of the water off, put her in a dog kennel with towels and went to get her some food. By the time I got back she had laid a very soft shelled egg and there were what looked like to be remains of some of the other broken egg. Now she's happily kicking food all over the kennel and grooming herself. Fingers crossed this worked!!! Thanks so much for the advice!