Hen wont eat...Help

[fowlplayer2]

I have a 1 year old Polish hen, approx. 2 days ago she quit eating, She still drinks some and poops, (looks normal), She just stands with her tail down, she moves a little sometimes ,mostly just stands,, I have given her 3 doses of amoxicllin, some molassess, and I have syring fed her some salmon pate cat food offered her scrambled egg but she never touched it. When she does move she doesnt stumble or anything or act like it hurts, she did lay a no shell egg Sat morning and turned and ate it before I got to her..What do I need to do?

 

[azygous]

Sometimes when a hen lays a shell-less egg, there is another egg close behind the first. There isn't enough calcium stored in the shell gland for two eggs within a 25 hour cycle, so an egg can be shell-less or thin-shelled. That causes problems, one being that it's difficult to pass these two eggs so close together.

Try stopping the molasses, and give her a calcium supplement. That will strengthen her contractions and make it easier to expel the egg if there's another on coming down the chute and it's stuck.

Keeping up with the amoxicillin is a good idea in case there's any inflammation in her reproductive tract from this ordeal.

 

[fowlplayer2]

wh

Sometimes when a hen lays a shell-less egg, there is another egg close behind the first. There isn't enough calcium stored in the shell gland for two eggs within a 25 hour cycle, so an egg can be shell-less or thin-shelled. That causes problems, one being that it's difficult to pass these two eggs so close together.

Try stopping the molasses, and give her a calcium supplement. That will strengthen her contractions and make it easier to expel the egg if there's another on coming down the chute and it's stuck.

Keeping up with the amoxicillin is a good idea in case there's any inflammation in her reproductive tract from this ordeal


when you say calcium supplement what do you suggest? I have oyster-shell but she wont touch it

 

[azygous]

Oyster shell is calcium carbonate and some hens don't absorb it well. That's when you will start to see shell-less eggs. I use calcium citrate, a form of calcium that is absorbed easily. You get it where they sell vitamins. Give one tablet each day until the eggs come out with sturdy shells, then you can stop it.

However, I've found that some hens have egg quality issues repeatedly, and the calcium needs to be give again at intervals when you start seeing thin-shell eggs or shell-less eggs.

This can lead to egg binding when a shell-less egg gets stuck or a thin-shell egg collapses inside the hen, which can lead to infection. It's much better to treat with calcium citrate as soon as you see the hen is laying shell-less or thin-shell eggs.

I've had several hens with this problem, and calcium solves it most of the time.

 

[fowlplayer2]

Oyster shell is calcium carbonate and some hens don't absorb it well. That's when you will start to see shell-less eggs. I use calcium citrate, a form of calcium that is absorbed easily. You get it where they sell vitamins. Give one tablet each day until the eggs come out with sturdy shells, then you can stop it.

However, I've found that some hens have egg quality issues repeatedly, and the calcium needs to be give again at intervals when you start seeing thin-shell eggs or shell-less eggs.

This can lead to egg binding when a shell-less egg gets stuck or a thin-shell egg collapses inside the hen, which can lead to infection. It's much better to treat with calcium citrate as soon as you see the hen is laying shell-less or thin-shell eggs.

I've had several hens with this problem, and calcium solves it most of the time.

Thank you for the reply I will get her on this first thing tomorrow.