Hen on her side, still alive but not standing up!

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kbr42

kbr42

Hatching
8 Years
Aug 15, 2011
6
0
7
Hi All,

This is my first post, but have found your site very helpful. I'm new to backyards chickens. In fact, I'm only 3 weeks into it. I have 4 bantams a red frizzle, light brahma, and 2 cochins. With that said, this morning I found my light braham, who is a year old, on her side in the nesting box. It appeared that she had broken her neck. But this afternoon, that doesn't seem to be the case. If I hold her she'll drink water and try and bread dipped in egg. Her output is normal. Nothing different there.

I've completely cleaned my hen house (which is a tracker style) and none of the other girls seem to be sick. I've been adding to their diet with whole wheat bread, some fruits and veggies. No mold on anything. They are eating standard layer mash from the feed store.

I'm not sure at this point what my next step should be? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

Kbr42:)
 
My first guess is that she may be egg bound. There are lots of good threads here that discuss how to check for this. Is her vent pulsing because that would be a good indicator.
 
Yes, her vent is pulsing. Not sure what I should do...any help would be great...thanks
 
It could be heat exhaustion if it's hot where you live. You'll have to bring her inside into the A/C for the night and keep her hydrated with cool water, not cold water. You can wrap a cool damp towel around her to help draw the heat away from her body.
If you suspect she's eggbound, place her in a container of warm water up to her sides and gently massage her underside for about 20 minutes. The warm water will expand her innards and massaging will help move the egg along. Then put on a disposable plastic glove and put olive oil on it and insert your finger into her vent feeling for any obstructions. Remove your finger and put olive oil around her vent. The finger in the vent expands it and the olive oil makes it easier for the to lay the egg. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the information. We live in Canada, I'm not worry about heat - lol! We put her into a warm bath for about 40 minutes and added a little olive oil to her vent. Nothing happened. It's after 9pm now and typically the girls are in bed now. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. But she went to sleep. At this point I'm not sure what else to do tonight.

Hopefully, it has moved the egg - which I think I feel but I'm not sure - and she'll lay the egg in the morning.
 
You need to feel around in there and oil her up good. Did you feel anything? I have medium sized hands and long fingers. I can get the middle finger in there all the way and fish around. Be careful, don't do it if it hurts her (you'll know). Feel around for something rough or something shaped like an egg. Don't insert down, insert straight in all the way and then probe around. If you can't go in far, she probably has peritonitis in which case cease the probing. Here's another thing, to shrink any swelling you can give her about 1/8 crush plain aspirin. Put a little crushed Tums for calcium. Put it in a little water and splash of something tasty like gatorade. Dribble it on top of her beak with a dropper. It will help with the egg laying too.

BTW, I just read the last line of your post. You can give her the aspirin mixture in the a.m.
 
She's dry I just checked on her and I think I can feel an egg in her abdomen. I'll try again in the morning to 'oil her up' and I have some aspirin but no gatorade- would vitamin water work? She'll drink if I hold her and put her head to the water. She's also eating a little bread dipped in eggs. I'll try the rest again in the morning. thanks for all the advise.
 
Morning, I checked on her this morning and gave her the aspirin with vitamin water. I put some more oil in her vent, I can feel the egg very close to the opening of the vent. So, I'm guessing it moved over night. I have to go to work but will be work in a few hours, I'll try putting her in another warm bath. It seemed to move the egg the first time. Unless someone has any other suggestions.

Thanks again.
 
Update on my hen! She just passed her egg
big_smile.png
That's the good news....the not so good news is that she's still not standing up. In fact she still favouring her right side and her head is kinda wrapped around itself - if that makes sense. She eating her feed as well as the tums and aspirin. I'm hoping it will just take time for her to come back. Any thoughts?


Just so you know, I ended up giving her another bath about an hour long. Then I used a small syringe with a tube on the end. It was for my dogs ears and I put some oil in her vent.


Thanks for your help.
 

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