Acting Weird AFTER Egg Bound?

[BobDBirdDog]

Glad to hear she's doing better. Besides the chick starter, you might want to consider some Layer Pellet if you can find it, it will most likely have the 21%+ proteins and the calcium requirements. The oyster shell is good but my birds (Quail, Ringneck, and Golden Pheasants always seem to lay bumpy shells with the Oyster shell as it was too much. Then again I never really ever rationed it, just had a separate dish and even the roos would go for it.

 

[antiqsolo]

Well, it was a short lived victory. Coco has stopped eating her normal ration, however she will pick at the wild bird seed.. I isolated her in the house again. I can hear a slight rasp when she breathes.. I am stumped. Anyone have a guess? As I said, can't take her to a vet as we're in full gridlock atm with this blizzard.

 

[casportpony]

Well, it was a short lived victory. Coco has stopped eating her normal ration, however she will pick at the wild bird seed.. I isolated her in the house again. I can hear a slight rasp when she breathes.. I am stumped. Anyone have a guess? As I said, can't take her to a vet as we're in full gridlock atm with this blizzard. 

I suspect she has some sort of infection, possibly in her repro-tract and her respiratory system.

 

[antiqsolo]

I suspect she has some sort of infection, possibly in her repro-tract and her respiratory system.

Well, she's in my room tonight in the kennel.. I've given her water with ACV and garlic, and I will call the vet when the weather dies down. Hopefully she perks up soon

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The feed store suggested mixing the barley, oats and corn into the crumbles until I can grow all their feed myself, and then supplement with a nutri-mix. And the bird seed would be instead of cracked corn, as a scratch every few days or so.. especially with my three youngest, I'm trying to get them hand-tame still. So treats help

But did you add the vitamin/mineral nutri-mix to your 50:50 ratio of feed to grain? Does the nutri-mix contain lysine, methionine and other essential amino acids?
The a vitamin, mineral supplement will help if you want to mix grain into an already complete feed but lysine and methionine are the limiting amino acids in grains and seeds.
Chicken feed is already at the point of merely having sufficient levels of some amino acids. Adding grains without supplementing those will cause problems.

You might also consider a little extra calcium to the diet. I have always held theory that eggs like that are because they are not getting enough calcium and are depending on the bone and body to generate the shell in the begining. then when the body transitions to the body draw, the better egg forms.

She could be a little sore from the bad egg, so just keep a close watch on her and keep the room informed/updated.

Corrugated eggs are usually from a respiratory disease but can also be from excess calcium in the diet as well as other mineral imbalances.

http://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

I'll be adding oyster shells free choice in a couple days, and we always feed back their shells (but I know they're not enough, hence the oyster shells).

And no, I'm in Nova Scotia and we're experiencing a nor'easter to end all nor'easters! Tried to risk the highway today for chick starter, but it was almost totally white-out conditions. So vet is off the table. However, Coco is doing very well, I put her with the rest of the flock last night and they were all very excited to see her back! She's eating, drinking, and playing (albeit a bit less than normal, but she seems to be on the mend).

That's good. There's nothing wrong with the egg shells. I sometimes dry and grind them and mix with the oyster shell. Both are primarily calcium carbonate (CaCO3). When consumed, they react with the acidity in the proventriculus and are absorbed as calcium and carbon in the small intestine. Then, in the shell gland they are reformulated into CaCO3.
The advantage of OS over egg shells is that the larger particles spend more time in the upper digestive tract and then make contact with the calcium absorption sites in the intestine at night when the egg is usually in the shell gland.

Well, it was a short lived victory. Coco has stopped eating her normal ration, however she will pick at the wild bird seed.. I isolated her in the house again. I can hear a slight rasp when she breathes.. I am stumped. Anyone have a guess? As I said, can't take her to a vet as we're in full gridlock atm with this blizzard.

Respiratory issues this time of year are often a result of people closing off ventilation in the coop when weather becomes inclement. With very small respiratory systems, chickens need fresh air as much, if not more than food and water.

Well, she's in my room tonight in the kennel.. I've given her water with ACV and garlic, and I will call the vet when the weather dies down. Hopefully she perks up soon

Do you have a good avian vet near you?

 

[antiqsolo]

I haven't added the nutri mix yet.. the feed store said I didn't need to until I took them totally off the Purina crumbles. Should I pick some up then? I'm sure the package should say how much to add per volume or weight, right?

I don't think Coco has been getting excess calcium - execpt maybe after she passed the egg, while in isolation. I gave her a crushed calcium carbonate tablet dissolved in water with a syringe about ten minutes before she passed it, and then another yesterday.

I usually close off the coop at night, because the windows are at ground level and we're in the woods. Tonight I will put a secondary screen made with hardware cloth over the existing screen and keep it open to increase ventilation.. I remember reading about that, but it slipped my mind. It's hard not to think of the girls as pets, and as needing to be comfortable like cats and dogs... A good learning experience I suppose, hopefully this whole thing makes me a better chicken owner in the future.

There is a farm vet near us but they're closed - we're currently under 3-7 feet of snow depending on the drifts.. I may be able to call them tomorrow. I had called them before and they said they didn't deal with poultry, but a friend of mine called them and said they helped.. which I find weird, but if they do, then that's good. If not, the next closest avian vet is 2.5hrs away.

Also, is a respiratory infection contagious? I have the kennel in the same room as my brooder, going to move her though.