Very ill chicken. What do I do??

[tashpotato]

Ahh so that is probably about right for my girls. I keep feeling her belly but there is nothing abnormal - she's just so skinny but she's eating.
So far she has started worming treatment, she has had anti-mite/tick treatment, has yoghurt and ACV.

She was trashing her cage this morning, tipped her water & food over and tipped her bed up & was singing a lot so I felt bad as she is obviously bored, so I took her back outside. She started scratching around and investigating. She has since laid down in the soil (I've dug over a lot of the run as the ground was frozen) and she's having a soil bath.

Fingers crossed that's the start of her being better!

 

[seminolewind]

It's unfortunate that it is so common that hens get egg peritonitis. For years and years , chickens have been bred to lay more eggs. This has probably made things worse.

I've had a hen that laid an egg almost every day of her life-for 3 years. All my other hens laid well the first year. But every year they lay less. In egg production farms, they use a hen for 18 months, then they don't lay enough (for high production).

I've noticed every year that my hens have taken longer breaks between laying cycles, esp over the winter.

I'm really not into this tho for the eggs. In fact when they lay lots and lots of them, I give them away, LOL.

Enough rambling!

 

[tashpotato]

Same here
We love our girls as pets and yes the eggs help, but I do have to give eggs away a lot
How would I know if it is egg peritonitis?

 

[tashpotato]

Well my bocboc has been outside since Thursday and seems back to normal, little fed up but ill put that down to the freezing weather.

They're all huddled in the coop today. I fed them some warm scrambled egg mixed with some natural yoghurt.

I think that whatever it was I have cured, it could of been worms

 

[seminolewind]

Same here

We love our girls as pets and yes the eggs help, but I do have to give eggs away a lot
How would I know if it is egg peritonitis?

I oil up a finger and give an internal exam if I'm thinking the egg is stuck. But with egg peritonitis, I think you will only find out with a necropsy.

 

[tashpotato]

After a month of being well, she has fallen ill again. Exactly the same as before.
I'm not sure whether it is a good idea to bring her in and repeat the previous steps as it is reoccurring and there must be an underlying problem, it's not fair on poor frenchy to keep going through this illness.
I'm wondering wether my local vet will just put her to sleep like they did the last chuck, do you think a farm vet will be better suited to this?

 

[seminolewind]

It's hard to dx on the internet. I would think that you could call around and see if any vet was willing to examine her.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

After a month of being well, she has fallen ill again. Exactly the same as before.
I'm not sure whether it is a good idea to bring her in and repeat the previous steps as it is reoccurring and there must be an underlying problem, it's not fair on poor frenchy to keep going through this illness.
I'm wondering wether my local vet will just put her to sleep like they did the last chuck, do you think a farm vet will be better suited to this?

I hate to be the pessimist, as I don't tend to htink that way ... but, there's no advantage to seeking medical attention, as there's nothing that they can do to actually cure her condition: No matter which underlying cause, I'm afraid the eventual result is almost always the same.

I'm really sorry to type such a thing, but wouldn't if I believed there were any reasonably effective treatment ... it's something that tends to repeat, 'til they've finally gone through all they can. There's often infections that occur, which shortens their time even more, or the pressure/stress within finally overcomes their internal organs.

So long as you feel it's appropriate, you could just let her enjoy the time she has left, and arrange to have somebody take care of what may eventually need to be done, on your behalf -- there's no reason to increase your own suffering, should you decide that it's time to end hers.

 

[tashpotato]

Well, she seemed a little perkier yesterday and finally left the coop, today they're in the garden and she's out but not happy and her tail is down. I'm just gonna leave her i think as she's been treated before for many things so whatever it is that's wrong is something I can't cure. Here she is today, tail down

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Well, she seemed a little perkier yesterday and finally left the coop, today they're in the garden and she's out but not happy and her tail is down. I'm just gonna leave her i think as she's been treated before for many things so whatever it is that's wrong is something I can't cure. Here she is today, tail down

She appears to not only carry her tail/head down ... she looks to be a bit distended in her abdomen. When you pick her up, compared to others of the same breed, you'll likely notice she's got a bit more in her gut than the rest.

Could just be the feathers, but I'm guessin' she's carryin' a a half kg or more of excess fluid and/or another mass, which would cause her to adjust her stance/walk to accomodate.

Sure wish there was some way to effectively prevent/cure this, as it seems to happen more often than I originally thought ... not that anything I've typed is likely to be of any help. Except, perhaps, to make sure you realize that it's not 'your fault' that it's happenin' to her )-;~