black5wann
In the Brooder
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Chicken, we think she is about 4-5 years old. She's always been pretty light, not sure of exact weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Sabrina has been having soft egg issues for the past few months. She has been having issues laying and lays a soft egg every couple of weeks or so (with no regular eggs in between). We kind of chalked this up to her being older as this is our first time keeping chickens...Sometimes these eggs are more rubbery/squished than an actual soft egg without a shell. Last night she was acting a bit off, maybe seeming like she needed to pass a soft egg, so we brought her inside the house to keep her warm and quiet. She did pass a soft egg in the night along with small pieces of poop. It wasn't completely passed and was hanging from vent, but I managed to gently coax the rest of it out with soft pulling as she pumped. This has happened before. After that, she seemed more alert, but what was strange is that she was SO thirsty. She keeps chugging water and after 30 seconds or so, she'll spit out the water. It comes out mostly clear (only once did it have some food stuff in it) and it does not smell. She isn't lethargic but she isn't totally herself either. She is pecking around inside the bathroom and ate scrambled eggs with gusto. After she ate, she immediately sat down, seeming like she is trying to pass something... So we left her in the dark for a bit.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Soft egg issues for a few months, but this water chugging/slight lethargy since last night.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Sabrina's sister is also laying soft eggs from time to time, but no other alarming symptoms
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
nope
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
n/a
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She was pecking around the yard yesterday like normal up until early evening. Since we've isolated her she's been drinking A LOT of water, we've since switched to electrolyte water. Just fed her a bit of scrambled eggs. I only let her drink a little water at a time now otherwise she'll start moving and spit up a bunch of it.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Overnight the poop looks OK, a bit less than usual, lots of urates. After passing the soft egg, she did have 2 nice healthy poops, one with a bit of egg yolk residue in it, but last poop seemed healthy. Not much poop in general but she hasn't been eating much.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
We've isolated her in a bathroom inside the house. We figured we'd leave her in the dark to see if she continues passing any more soft egg.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
We don't have a poultry vet in our area so we are hoping to figure it out ourselves to help our Sabrina girl.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Just posting a pic of her latest poop and how she was sitting right after she ate her scrambled eggs...
We are not sure if the continued soft/deformed egg laying is due to an underlying issue or her just getting older... Aside from soft eggs, she previously didn't display any concerning symptoms. She's usually a beast and forages around the yard, dust bathing, sunning, etc. Top of pecking order. She's never had this chugging water and spewing it back up. Her crop doesn't feel impacted, perhaps a bit squishy? The water that she spews out doesn't smell foul. We tried to look down her throat and don't see anything alarming. Could it be worms? She doesn't really gape, but my husband said he could hear some very slight gurgling noises right after drinking... not totally sure it wasn't anything very apparent.
Should we try deworming her and the flock? What do you think? We love Sabrina so much and want to help her get back to her spunky self. Sorry this is so wordy, just trying to share as much info as we can. I appreciate any help and advice. We have posted about her in the past, but the water spewing is the new symptom which is alarming us.
Chicken, we think she is about 4-5 years old. She's always been pretty light, not sure of exact weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Sabrina has been having soft egg issues for the past few months. She has been having issues laying and lays a soft egg every couple of weeks or so (with no regular eggs in between). We kind of chalked this up to her being older as this is our first time keeping chickens...Sometimes these eggs are more rubbery/squished than an actual soft egg without a shell. Last night she was acting a bit off, maybe seeming like she needed to pass a soft egg, so we brought her inside the house to keep her warm and quiet. She did pass a soft egg in the night along with small pieces of poop. It wasn't completely passed and was hanging from vent, but I managed to gently coax the rest of it out with soft pulling as she pumped. This has happened before. After that, she seemed more alert, but what was strange is that she was SO thirsty. She keeps chugging water and after 30 seconds or so, she'll spit out the water. It comes out mostly clear (only once did it have some food stuff in it) and it does not smell. She isn't lethargic but she isn't totally herself either. She is pecking around inside the bathroom and ate scrambled eggs with gusto. After she ate, she immediately sat down, seeming like she is trying to pass something... So we left her in the dark for a bit.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Soft egg issues for a few months, but this water chugging/slight lethargy since last night.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Sabrina's sister is also laying soft eggs from time to time, but no other alarming symptoms
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
nope
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
n/a
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She was pecking around the yard yesterday like normal up until early evening. Since we've isolated her she's been drinking A LOT of water, we've since switched to electrolyte water. Just fed her a bit of scrambled eggs. I only let her drink a little water at a time now otherwise she'll start moving and spit up a bunch of it.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Overnight the poop looks OK, a bit less than usual, lots of urates. After passing the soft egg, she did have 2 nice healthy poops, one with a bit of egg yolk residue in it, but last poop seemed healthy. Not much poop in general but she hasn't been eating much.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
We've isolated her in a bathroom inside the house. We figured we'd leave her in the dark to see if she continues passing any more soft egg.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
We don't have a poultry vet in our area so we are hoping to figure it out ourselves to help our Sabrina girl.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Just posting a pic of her latest poop and how she was sitting right after she ate her scrambled eggs...
We are not sure if the continued soft/deformed egg laying is due to an underlying issue or her just getting older... Aside from soft eggs, she previously didn't display any concerning symptoms. She's usually a beast and forages around the yard, dust bathing, sunning, etc. Top of pecking order. She's never had this chugging water and spewing it back up. Her crop doesn't feel impacted, perhaps a bit squishy? The water that she spews out doesn't smell foul. We tried to look down her throat and don't see anything alarming. Could it be worms? She doesn't really gape, but my husband said he could hear some very slight gurgling noises right after drinking... not totally sure it wasn't anything very apparent.
Should we try deworming her and the flock? What do you think? We love Sabrina so much and want to help her get back to her spunky self. Sorry this is so wordy, just trying to share as much info as we can. I appreciate any help and advice. We have posted about her in the past, but the water spewing is the new symptom which is alarming us.
she’s behaving fairly normally other than that. She seems a little less interested in pellet feed but is still active and foraging.
