Chicken generally under the weather, help please :)

[Donnamf]

Hi I am quite new to chicken keeping and have 10 chooks which have all been re-homed from commercial premises. One of my girls, which I think is a white leghorn, has been a bit under the weather for a few days. She is occasionally hunching up and her legs look a bit wider apart than usual. When I have checked her over she isn't egg bound that we can see and there are no sign of worms in her poo. Her colour is still good and she is scratching and eating ok. Any ideas of what this could be? Many thanks

 

[Duckopolis]

I hope you find everything that you need to know. Good luck with your chicken raising adventure!

She may be stressed out. She would be happiest under the same routine.

 

[Donnamf]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I don't think she's stressed as she has had the same routine for quite a while now. Maybe the weather is just throwing her out a bit.

 

[Duckopolis]

Maybe, I would give her some time.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

Have you done an internal exam of her vent to be sure she is not egg bound? Get a latex glove and some KY jelly on the index finger and gently insert your finger into her vent. If she has a stuck egg, you will feel it there. If she is egg bound, you can offer her some broken up Tums tablets. The calcium will get that stuck egg to move. You can also soak her lower half in warm water for 10 mins. Both of these will get those stuck eggs to expel.

Feel her abdomen, on the outside, between her legs. This are should be relatively firm. If it feels like a squishy water balloon, she could be suffering from internal laying or reproductive cancer. Fluid is leaking into the abdominal cavity. You can't fix either of these conditions, but sometimes antibiotics will help control the infections they get.

Also, feel her crop to make sure it is not bloated like a water balloon or impacted and hard. Both of these can have them sitting wrong.

If she doesn't improve, you might post this question in our emergency section here on BYC for more help....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Good luck with your hen. I hope she is going to be ok.

 

[Donnamf]

Hi, thanks for the info, I haven't checked inside her vent, I will do that tomorrow, thanks for the help.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC - good luck with your hen.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hen, hope she gets better. TwoCrows gave you some good ideas, and maybe posting on the Emergencies forum. How long have you had the hen, do you know if she has laid any eggs since you got her?

 

[Donnamf]

I have had her about 8 months and she is laying well. Usually big white eggs, they have been getting bigger of late so maybe thats it. I will check her vent today.

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe in having the larger eggs, she may have damaged herself, to some extent.