Penguin posture but NO OTHER SYMPTOMS

[Katiewitt20]

For over a week now, my 5 month old black australorp has been waddling like a penguin and standing straight up with her tail touching the ground most of the time. I took her to the vet on Monday 2/26...she was not egg bound, was negative for worms, but did display some mouth breathing while at the vet and on/off the rest of that day. No cough/discharge/wheezing/lameness, etc. They said she maybe had some mild inflammation to the left ovary, but otherwise seemed like a healthy bird upon assessment. She has consistently been eating/drinking/poooping like normal, and did just start laying eggs on Tuesday 2/27. She has laid 2 eggs total so far and both looked completely normal in size/shape/shell. No one else in my 20 bird flock are acting different. I have isolated her in a dog crate in my house since Monday after the vet with no change in behavior. She is very vocal and wants to be back out with her flock, but I fear the roosters will peck on her and mate often and further bother whatever is going on.
I have talked to a few of my friends with chickens and no one has experienced this --- pleaseeee help.

What is going on and what do I do with her???

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens are born with two oviducts, but the right one shrinks away normally. The left oviduct is the one most hens end up with. If the right oviduct persist is, it can end up collecting clear fluid inside the abdomen. If the vet said her left oviduct was inflamed, she may have salpingitis or inflammation of the oviduct. Hens with an upright positive and lowered tail can suffer from internal laying from salpingitis, if they are not egg bound.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't think chickens have left/right ovaries. It's just a big clump. Any swellings between the legs or under the vent?

Here's an informative article you may be interested in.

Excerpt
""" In almost all species of birds, including poultry, only the left ovary and oviduct are functional. Although the female embryo has two ovaries, only the left one develops. The right one typically regresses during development and is nonfunctional in the adult bird. (There have been cases in which the left ovary has been damaged and the right one has developed to replace it.)
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

 

[Eggcessive]

For any interested, here is some reading about cystic roping oviduct and a good picture of it by scrolling down the page:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7106171/

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to know for sure that she has salpingitis—you can only notice her symptoms. If antibiotics are used early, then those might help, but there is an egg withdrawal time, and many people prefer not to give antibiotics. If you use one, amoxicllin or enrofloxacin are used. Amoxicillin is impossible to get without a prescription at this time, unless you have some put away. Enrofloxacin or Baytril is found online from Jedds.com. It is banned for chickens because the FDA worries about antibiotic resistance of campylobacter, a common bacteria we can get from handling chickens or eating undercooked chicken. If that doesn’t bother you, the 10% liquid dosage is 0.25 ml twice a day for 5 days. But without having a diagnosis, I might watch her.

I tend to leave all hens in the coop with the others to maintain the current pecking order. Is she being roughed up or bullied? If that is a problem, I would keep her in the coop and run inside a dog crate with food and water. If the coop is too small, maybe just bring her out in the mornings to spend the day.

 

[Katiewitt20]

Also I searched something and it said that chickens only have one ovary, I'm not sure is that is true or not.

LOL! Yes thank you, I'm sure you can tell I am new to having chickens, this is my first flock (ended up with 17 hens & 3 roosters) and I got them as 1 day old chicks in September of 2023.

 

[Katiewitt20]

Have you tried soaking her in some warm water? If there is something stuck in her vent she might be able to push it out when her body is relaxed in warmth.

I did give her an epsom salt bath 1 day last week when we thought it could have been her being egg bound, but now that she is laying eggs, I didnt think that would be the concern -- I could certainly try giving her another bath though!

 

[Katiewitt20]

Have you seen any blood on her eggs, or have you cracked one of her eggs open to see if there is blood inside of it?

Do you keep any species of waterfowl with your chickens, including ducks and geese? If waterfowl mates with a landfowl hen, they will kill the hen due to difference in organs.

Her eggs look completely normal but I have not cracked them open, they are now mixed with other eggs so I cant tell which one would be hers but I will crack open the next one she lays.
We do not keep any other waterfowl animals, only chickens!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Her eggs look completely normal but I have not cracked them open, they are now mixed with other eggs so I cant tell which one would be hers but I will crack open the next one she lays.
We do not keep any other waterfowl animals, only chickens!

Have you tried soaking her in some warm water? If there is something stuck in her vent she might be able to push it out when her body is relaxed in warmth.

 

[Katiewitt20]

Chickens are born with two oviducts, but the right one shrinks away normally. The left oviduct is the one most hens end up with. If the right oviduct persist is, it can end up collecting clear fluid inside the abdomen. If the vet said her left oviduct was inflamed, she may have salpingitis or inflammation of the oviduct. Hens with an upright positive and lowered tail can suffer from internal laying from salpingitis, if they are not egg bound.

Thank you, yes she has laid 2 normal looking eggs since Monday (those were her first 2 eggs ever). I have done a quick google search on the salpingitis before, but do you know an easy way to treat that if that is what it is? or just ride it out and she could recover on her own? If this were your hen would you isolate her from the flock so the roosters dont take advantage of her weakness/slowness and aggravate her discomfort? I have her sleeping in a crate inside my house.