EmmaO
In the Brooder
- Aug 29, 2020
- 12
- 5
- 37
Hi there,
I've had chickens for about a year now so I'm still a novice and am in need of your advice and wisdom! I live in an urban environment and so kept my flock to just 3 hens so far. In the past couple of months I have had a rash of illnesses. First I Iost a hen who was egg-bound, then I lost a cochin to egg-yolk peritonitis. Now, my one remaining hen, a bantam cochin, has not laid in about 2 weeks. She has always been a good layer, usually 5 eggs a week. Because of my recent issues my first though was that she could be egg-bound. I have not felt an egg and I've tried some epsom salt soaks to no effect. Some background on why this started: now that she's the only chicken there's a feral cat that chased her around the yard and pounced on her a couple weeks ago, giving her a scare. Shortly after that I noticed a lot of shaking and scratching her head and a compulsive kind of yawning- probably gapeworm. I gave her a dewormer from my vet and bactrim at her recommendation. Then she developed an impacted crop, probably because the antibiotic messed her system up. I took her to the vet thinking they would need to cut out the mass but we decided to wait 24 hours to see what happened. After a lot of Metamucil and massage the crop cleared up on its own. She will sometimes spend a couple hours in the nest box without laying. Mostly she seems to be in good shape - eager to leave the coop and foraging. So clearly this poor bird has had a lot of stress. Should I just leave her be or try some more epsom salt baths? Or is she just depressed to be all alone?
I've had chickens for about a year now so I'm still a novice and am in need of your advice and wisdom! I live in an urban environment and so kept my flock to just 3 hens so far. In the past couple of months I have had a rash of illnesses. First I Iost a hen who was egg-bound, then I lost a cochin to egg-yolk peritonitis. Now, my one remaining hen, a bantam cochin, has not laid in about 2 weeks. She has always been a good layer, usually 5 eggs a week. Because of my recent issues my first though was that she could be egg-bound. I have not felt an egg and I've tried some epsom salt soaks to no effect. Some background on why this started: now that she's the only chicken there's a feral cat that chased her around the yard and pounced on her a couple weeks ago, giving her a scare. Shortly after that I noticed a lot of shaking and scratching her head and a compulsive kind of yawning- probably gapeworm. I gave her a dewormer from my vet and bactrim at her recommendation. Then she developed an impacted crop, probably because the antibiotic messed her system up. I took her to the vet thinking they would need to cut out the mass but we decided to wait 24 hours to see what happened. After a lot of Metamucil and massage the crop cleared up on its own. She will sometimes spend a couple hours in the nest box without laying. Mostly she seems to be in good shape - eager to leave the coop and foraging. So clearly this poor bird has had a lot of stress. Should I just leave her be or try some more epsom salt baths? Or is she just depressed to be all alone?
