Broody, egg bound or infection

[jjb1953]

HI All.
I posted yesterday in the chicken behavior forum.
Yesterday one of our chickens, Red, did not leave the coop/nesting box for four hours.

She did eventually come out but acting odd for her.
She has been puffing out and making all sorts of noises ... noises similar to when she lays.
The other birds have been targeting her quite a bit. She is usually the boss (her name is Bossy Red)

I checked for a lump to see if she was egg bound but could not feel anything obvious. I did see some clear watery discharge though.

This morning she left the coop for a little bit but went back a little time later and stayed there most of the day. She is out now. Still puffing up. Other birds still going after her (but no loss of feathers as of yet).
And she is also digging a hole outside of coop.

She still does not seem lethergic, and she is eating & drinking fine. She is just off in other ways.

In case of infection, I do have some organic apple cider on hand. How do I give this and what dose?
What form of garlic? I have powder.
And what antibiotic?
I am going to run out to Tractor supply and see what they have, otherwise I will have to wait until tomorrow to go to the farm store.

Thanks for you help.

Jen

 

[TOOCLOSE]

HI All.
I posted yesterday in the chicken behavior forum.
Yesterday one of our chickens, Red, did not leave the coop/nesting box for four hours.

She did eventually come out but acting odd for her.
She has been puffing out and making all sorts of noises ... noises similar to when she lays.
The other birds have been targeting her quite a bit. She is usually the boss (her name is Bossy Red)

I checked for a lump to see if she was egg bound but could not feel anything obvious. I did see some clear watery discharge though.

This morning she left the coop for a little bit but went back a little time later and stayed there most of the day. She is out now. Still puffing up. Other birds still going after her (but no loss of feathers as of yet).
And she is also digging a hole outside of coop.

She still does not seem lethergic, and she is eating & drinking fine. She is just off in other ways.

In case of infection, I do have some organic apple cider on hand. How do I give this and what dose?
What form of garlic? I have powder.
And what antibiotic?
I am going to run out to Tractor supply and see what they have, otherwise I will have to wait until tomorrow to go to the farm store.

Thanks for you help.

Jen

Is the liquid coming out of her mouth or her butt? If the mouth? Is her crawl feeling like a water balloon? If so it could be sourcrop! That's a killer of our chickens.
And by all means! Remove her from the group! She doesn't need to be beat up on while she's going thru this!


TC

 

[jjb1953]

Sorry,
the fluid was just coming from the backside.
And not a lot ... just enough to be noticeable.

 

[TOOCLOSE]

Sorry,
the fluid was just coming from the backside.
And not a lot ... just enough to be noticeable.

Can you check her for a soft shelled egg inside of her? Have you done that before in other words? It might be time to do that! Hens have a really tough time passing soft shelled eggs.

It could also be worms if you don't worm your chickens! She could be trying to pass them.

TC

 

[jjb1953]

HI there.
I did try to check but did not feel anything tot obvious. I will try again today.
I am hoping and praying she is just starting to go broody and is not sick.
So far she does not seem to act sick, just off.
Her appetite is fine.
When she does leave her nest, she is digging or wandering off by herself away from the flock.
She is seems like a differ bird personality wise.
She is consistently puffing and making noises when you get near her, but so far not aggressive .... which normally she is the aggressive bird.

Any other symptoms for worms?

 

[TOOCLOSE]

HI there.
I did try to check but did not feel anything tot obvious. I will try again today.
I am hoping and praying she is just starting to go broody and is not sick.
So far she does not seem to act sick, just off.
Her appetite is fine.
When she does leave her nest, she is digging or wandering off by herself away from the flock.
She is seems like a differ bird personality wise.
She is consistently puffing and making noises when you get near her, but so far not aggressive .... which normally she is the aggressive bird.

Any other symptoms for worms?

I'm a night owl! So sorry about not getting right back to ya on this!

Is she "clucking?" If she's clucking, then that's a sure sign she's getting ready to play mommy! If puffing means - throwing out her wings/and clucking - then she's going into mommy mode! Time to put her in a spot by herself so she can proceed on. If you are planning on hatching eggs that is? LOL
You don't want other hens getting into her nest and laying eggs too! Then you'll be hatching eggs every other day! And you won't know either if the ones left in the nest are still a work in progress or if it's a bad egg!

Let's us know how it goes!

TC

 

[jjb1953]

Thanks for your reply.
No, as much as I would love her to, she cannot be a mom.

But I am pretty sure thats is what the problem is.
She is now making a noise like this chicken

Cute.

I had intended on building her a wire cage to try and break the boodiness, but then she came out and spent a lot of time outside. Still not with the other hens ... she actually spent a lot of time with me gardening.
(which is not like her)
Later when all the other girls went into the run ... I coaxed her in there but they all chased her so I took her out. I just went to check on her tonight. She is up on the roost with the others, but still making that funny noise (like in the video)
She confused? She somewhat broody?

 

[TOOCLOSE]

Thanks for your reply.
No, as much as I would love her to, she cannot be a mom.

But I am pretty sure thats is what the problem is.
She is now making a noise like this chicken

Cute.

I had intended on building her a wire cage to try and break the boodiness, but then she came out and spent a lot of time outside. Still not with the other hens ... she actually spent a lot of time with me gardening.
(which is not like her)
Later when all the other girls went into the run ... I coaxed her in there but they all chased her so I took her out. I just went to check on her tonight. She is up on the roost with the others, but still making that funny noise (like in the video)
She confused? She somewhat broody?

Oh Yeah! LOL She's going into set mode if she's doing what the video hen is doing. Good luck trying to change her mind! I've never been successful at it. I usually just gave her a few ceramic eggs to sit on. When she finally figures out they weren't going to hatch she left them and went back to laying. But I'm talking over a month here on those dummy eggs! She will also leave them and go sit on fertile eggs if they are available for sitting on!

Other hens will peck her and beat her up while she's trying to be broody! So you might as well put her in a small cage with the dummy eggs and wait her out! Don't want a war in the chicken coop because of one hen and you sure don't want to be washing blood off her all the time from being beat up!

TC

 

[jjb1953]

Thanks.
Will get to work on the cage today.

 

[TOOCLOSE]

Thanks.
Will get to work on the cage today.

You are welcome!
Too bad she can't be a momma, but I do understand!
A silkies goal in life is to set and raise babies! LOL
I bought many a ceramic egg in order not to get ran over in chicks!

TC