I have a 4 year old Rhode Islad Red hen who started separating herself from the rest of the flock about a week ago.
I examined her but the only thing I noticed was her abdomen seemed distended, but not unlike how it feels before they lay their egg for the day. I checked her in the morning before any eggs had been laid so I decided to keep an eye on her, add some vitamins and electrolytes to the water, and made sure she was pooping, which she was.
A couple days later I noticed she had pasty butt. It wasn't blocking her vent, but her bum was dirty and she's never dirty back there. It was all white feces. I tried to figure out what might be going on via the poultrydvm symptom checker, but it came up with too many possibilities.
Yesterday I noticed her poop seemed smaller in size than normal and was mostly milky white with a small string of normal green. And there is no change in her behavior. I decided to bring her inside, re-examine her and give her an Epsom salt bath in case she's egg bound. I have several brown egg layers but hers typically have a pinkish bloom so I was pretty sure she was laying eggs, but now that she's inside I'll be able to tell for sure. I also cleaned her up, gave her a scrambled egg to eat and some tums in water for extra calcium in case she is egg bound.
Her comb seems flopped over and and comb and wattles seem a darker shade of red than normal.
She ate the egg with gusto, she's drinking the water, she is still pooping, but it's still mostly white with a little green. She's still lethargic. Her abdomen still feels full. I haven't seen her try to lay an egg yet, but it's early in the morning and brought her in last night. Putting all these symptoms into the symptom tracker gave me three options: egg binding, pullorm, or Amyloidosis
Right now I'm really hoping for egg binding, but thought I'd come on here and see if anyone had any experience with the other two and if this sounds like either of them or something else entirely and what to do. I prefer holistic methods first, but will use chemical if needed.
I examined her but the only thing I noticed was her abdomen seemed distended, but not unlike how it feels before they lay their egg for the day. I checked her in the morning before any eggs had been laid so I decided to keep an eye on her, add some vitamins and electrolytes to the water, and made sure she was pooping, which she was.
A couple days later I noticed she had pasty butt. It wasn't blocking her vent, but her bum was dirty and she's never dirty back there. It was all white feces. I tried to figure out what might be going on via the poultrydvm symptom checker, but it came up with too many possibilities.
Yesterday I noticed her poop seemed smaller in size than normal and was mostly milky white with a small string of normal green. And there is no change in her behavior. I decided to bring her inside, re-examine her and give her an Epsom salt bath in case she's egg bound. I have several brown egg layers but hers typically have a pinkish bloom so I was pretty sure she was laying eggs, but now that she's inside I'll be able to tell for sure. I also cleaned her up, gave her a scrambled egg to eat and some tums in water for extra calcium in case she is egg bound.
Her comb seems flopped over and and comb and wattles seem a darker shade of red than normal.
She ate the egg with gusto, she's drinking the water, she is still pooping, but it's still mostly white with a little green. She's still lethargic. Her abdomen still feels full. I haven't seen her try to lay an egg yet, but it's early in the morning and brought her in last night. Putting all these symptoms into the symptom tracker gave me three options: egg binding, pullorm, or Amyloidosis
Right now I'm really hoping for egg binding, but thought I'd come on here and see if anyone had any experience with the other two and if this sounds like either of them or something else entirely and what to do. I prefer holistic methods first, but will use chemical if needed.
