mclautenbach
In the Brooder
- Oct 17, 2020
- 12
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So I wanted to share this photo as a word of warning to everyone who has a lot of backyard space with possibly things that could injure chickens. I had NO idea that chickens would eat tiny scraps of hardware cloth, and I thought i was pretty diligent about picking them up.
Dahlia started off very sick out of nowhere on Friday. She had a very full crop and it felt like a water balloon and she was not in great shape at all. She was extremely lethargic and had diarrhea. Saturday morning we took her to the vet and he said it was something with her reproductive system causing a backup in her crop.
He suggested we do x-rays to see what exactly was going on and when we got the results we were in shock!! Hardware cloth in her stomach!
Basically this caused some inflammation making it hard for her to pass the egg. He also suggested bloodwork to see if there is any lead in her system. Her bloodwork came back fine and we are still awaiting the heavy metals test.
I have had chickens all my life and I never imagined this would happen! Luckily she is going to be able to pass the metal pieces since they are small and she did pass her egg today. So learn from my very very expensive mistake and invest in a good rolling magnet for the yard. I will say my birds are like family and I’m happy to have her feeling better
** editing to add that she was also prescribed anti inflammatory and antibiotics which is what helped her pass the egg. I asked the vet about soaking egg bound chickens and he let me know that it does nothing for them except stress them out.
Dahlia started off very sick out of nowhere on Friday. She had a very full crop and it felt like a water balloon and she was not in great shape at all. She was extremely lethargic and had diarrhea. Saturday morning we took her to the vet and he said it was something with her reproductive system causing a backup in her crop.
He suggested we do x-rays to see what exactly was going on and when we got the results we were in shock!! Hardware cloth in her stomach!
Basically this caused some inflammation making it hard for her to pass the egg. He also suggested bloodwork to see if there is any lead in her system. Her bloodwork came back fine and we are still awaiting the heavy metals test.I have had chickens all my life and I never imagined this would happen! Luckily she is going to be able to pass the metal pieces since they are small and she did pass her egg today. So learn from my very very expensive mistake and invest in a good rolling magnet for the yard. I will say my birds are like family and I’m happy to have her feeling better
** editing to add that she was also prescribed anti inflammatory and antibiotics which is what helped her pass the egg. I asked the vet about soaking egg bound chickens and he let me know that it does nothing for them except stress them out.
