Chicken in distress

[Mklein176]

We had a raccoon attack our flock at little over 2 weeks ago. Sadly we lost 4 or of 7. One of our girls was hidden away in the bushes right next to two of the hens who didn’t make it. She appeared to be in shock the remainder of that day but with no obvious injuries. After that she went back to normal behavior but hasn’t laid since. However, today I noticed she was puffed up, lethargic and not interested in eating. My first inclination was egg bound as I read it an happen from stress. We gave her a bath with epsom salt and afterwards applied some olive oil to her vent. She was a bit stressed by the bath. We put her in her nesting box about an hour ago where she still is and seems to sleeping. I’m so worried about her. Any other ideas on what to look out for or things to do/not do? I can’t bear the thought of losing her. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hello! Did you treat her for shock after the attack? Keep her in a semi dark place for 24 hours, offer sweetened water to drink.

 

[coach723]

Did you check her over thoroughly for any injuries hiding in feathers? Punctures in particular can be easily missed. If there was something missed there could be infection. It's also possible that she already had an underlying health issue that was hidden (they are very, very good at hiding illness) and the stress has caused it to get worse.

 

[Mklein176]

We did, but I suppose we could have missed something small. As for the latter that is entirely possible. It does seem like she’s straining to lay, though I can’t feel an egg. We did give her some electrolyte water the day this started and she has been acting much happier and healthier, eating and moving around. Still no egg though.

 

[coach723]

Stress, any kind, can put them off laying for a while. It may be just that. I would keep an eye on her, make sure nothing changes for the worse. She may just need time to recover from the trauma. If you do think at some point that she may be having difficulty laying, then a calcium citrate +D once a day (around 600 mg is what you are aiming for) may help.