Chicken Ruby Has a Puffy Neck, Walks Gingerly, Seems Sad + Listless

[MargoTrue]

Hi everyone--our chicken Ruby isn't doing so well. She's part of a flock of five we keep here at Sunset; she's a 2 1/2-year-old Rhode Island Red. We're not sure how much she weighs--we've never weighed her.

She's my favorite chicken, so I'm worried. Since yesterday morning, she's been creeping around the cage as though her body hurts, stepping tentatively and slowly. She doesn't make her characteristic mad dash for the sunflower seeds when I sprinkle them in the coop in the evenings as a treat. Instead of greeting me with her husky croaks whenever I come in the cage or leave it, she's noiseless. She frequently tilts her head from side to side, as though she's not able to see very well.

No broken bones or visible trauma, but her neck is all puffed up.

Also, she's just started to pluck out her leg feathers--is this a expression of frustration?

She's drinking, but not eating, at least not that I can see--she's distinctly disinterested.

Lastly, her vent is dribbly/caked. And the poop seems unusually green.

So far, we haven't done anything except observe. We sure would appreciate your advice--if you have any ideas about what's troubling Ruby and how to help her, please let us know.

 

[Mrs.H]

Im not a chicken expert and can offer no help, but she sure is pretty. Hope someone on here can help you and that she gets better!

 

[chickenzoo]

When did she last lay? I would check her for a stuck egg by feeling around between her belly and vent for anything hard inside. She looks a little inflated in the bottom, could just be the pick but check and see if she is filled with fluid.

 

[MargoTrue]

Thank you, Chickenzoo. I will do that first thing in the morning. What does the fluid mean? Am I looking for something hard AND something fluid? And what do I do if I notice these things--? I've read that I ought to massage the area gently from stomach toward the vent...and also gently massage the vent...with olive oil.

 

[chickenzoo]

The fluid could mean there is an infection going on inside. Look up Ascites on here ( at the Top of the page click Search) and then type it in and see if your hen fits any pics. For egg binding Warm baths to try and relax the muscles, applying mineral oil inside her vent area. Massaging the belly where you find the egg stuck - lightly. Last resort is to break the egg inside her and put her on antibiotics and hope the broken pieces don't cut her inside and she passes the egg.

 

[MargoTrue]

Well, I ended up taking Ruby to the vet, and it turns out that she probably has egg yolk peritonitis. If that's the case, then a yolk somehow escaped taking its natural path down her oviduct and ended up rupturing in her abdomen. What the vet knew for sure was that she had a LOT of fluid in her little body, and drained out nearly a cup and a half of what looked for all the world like water mixed with egg yolks. However, it could also be cystitis or possibly cancer. I'm not willing to pay a couple hundred bucks to find out, so for now, Ruby is drained and on antibiotics, and back to being her perky self. If her abdomen swells again (by this morning, it had become quite swollen), then I'm afraid we're going to have to let nature take its course...Thank you for your advice. I've posted photos and a bit more of a blow-by-blow on our website, oneblockdiet.sunset.com, should this prove helpful to anyone.

 

[chickenzoo]

I have a hen in the same way, she is still with me and I drain her from time to time and give an antibiotic. It is more common in production type breeds.

It is said giving flax seed can help too..... sometimes giving a diet lower in protein helps.... Also if you wanted a house chicken, LOL, often keeping them in a shaded room helps stop the laying cycle... making it less possible for the problem to persist..... Best Wishes.

 

[MargoTrue]

Wow. How do you drain her yourself? This vet was very much looking at the ultrasound screen the entire time so she could see where the pockets of fluid were--then she'd remove the needle (attached to the syringe) and stick it in a different place.

Also, how the heck do you feed antibiotics to a chicken?? The syringe-squirt into the beak is definitely not working for me and Ruby. Her head practically becomes a blur, she's moving so much. I squirted the stuff into a bit of yogurt (too much yogurt) and she was definitely disinterested. I tried corn, and that seemed to work better, because she loves corn, but I fear that most of it was diluted by corn juice and ended up on the plate....maybe irresistible white bread? And just a teaspoonful of crumbs, so she'll eat it all?

Interesting about the flax seed--I'll try it. It'd be kind of hard to keep her away from the main food, though, which is layen pellets. It's what all our chickens eat.

Thanks again for all your advice.

 

[MargoTrue]

Aha! I have figured out how to get antibiotics into a chicken!! You just dribble it along the beak and the chicken starts slurping it up. Trying to squeeze open the beak at the hinge--the way you'd squeeze open a cat's jaw--definitely doesn't work. It's like trying to open an oyster with your bare hands.

Wrapping her up like a burrito also helped. Including the claws, which otherwise shoot out in all directions frantically.

Ruby got her meds today!!