Barred rock hen acting off

[chickychicks5]

I noticed my barred rock hen yesterday being a bit stand of from the rest of the flock and looked like she was straining and squatting a bit. Today she was again by herself not interested in coming over for treats and not really moving around too much. I brought her inside gave her a soak in the sink. She is doing the straining thing still. I felt inside her vent and could not feel an egg so I don’t think she is egg bound. She has decreased appetite and where I found her in the run was by the watered so I assume she was drinking. She’s having watery white stools. She seems also to maybe have a little excess air near her crop. Any ideas what’s going on?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. How old is she? Has she been laying eggs recently, and were they normal? Can you try to get her drinking some water? If you have some Poultry NutriDrench, you can give her a few drops of that up to 2 ml a day. White urates in the poop sometimes mean that they are very dehydrated. Is her crop full or is it empty? Can you also feel of her lower belly between her legs to see if it is enlarged, spongy or tight?

 

[chickychicks5]

I believe she’s about 22-23 weeks she started laying a couple weeks ago. I’m not sure exactly if she’s been laying I have a couple brown layers. All the brown eggs have been pretty normal with the exception of a few oblong/pointy ones. I do have some nutri drench I kinda forgot about so I can give her that. She’s not super tight or spongey in the abdomen and nothing enlarged but it seems she may have gas near her crop? If I massage that area I can hear the gas seems to come out of her mouth l. It deflates a bit but seems to fill back up. Not sure if you can tell in the photos

thank you for your help

 

[Eggcessive]

Gosh her chest is swollen. Can you tell if her crop is empty or full with the air there? Could she have been injured in her chest and now has a leaking air air sac? I do not have experience with swallowed air in the crop. But if is is a leaking or ruptured air sac, sometimes air can be withdrawn by inserting a needle and squeezing out or pulling out the air with a syringe. If @casportpony is online, she might be of help.

 

[chickychicks5]

I can not feel any food in there and she’s hasn’t touched any of her food since I brought her in this afternoon I tried yogurt as well as her regular feed. I did have chick awhile ago that had the air sac trauma that I removed air a couple times and then she seemed to heal up so maybe the same thing. Hopefully that’s all it is and she just needs some time to heal. Thanks for your help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Is she having any trouble breathing?

 

[chickychicks5]

No her breathing seems normal. She just gurgly sounding a bit and that’s only when touching her crop.

 

[Eggcessive]

She might have a large boggy puffy crop. But it is important to distinguish between that and a leaking air sac.

 

[chickychicks5]

She started eating again yesterday and perked up a bit. Today she had normal stools, eating well much less air in her crop. I brought her back out to the flock as she was showing she wasn’t happy being caged and she went right to foraging and running around. Guessing maybe just a small air sac injury that needed a little time to heal. Thanks for your help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Well, huh, I am glad that she is better. I’m glad the injury wasn’t so bad that it required deflating.