constipated 3 yo hen, need suggestions to treat

[embrown]

I have a 3 yo Isa Brown, named Layla. Yesterday my DD brought her to me for some loving. I noticed that she had a hard lump in her abdomin,. I assumed she had an egg to lay. I took her to the laying box and she refused to go in. I left her to figure it out for about 6 hrs. Last night she still had not passed the lump. I thought she was feeling warm. I put her in a tub of warm water and hoped the lump would pass, but nothing happened. With some straining she passed some thick, normal colored pooh. So, I did a google search on constipated chickens. I followed some advice to give her some water, gave her a small treat of water melon, and inserted some olive oil in her vent. I dried her and put her back in the coop. Today she still has the hard lump, and there is absolutely nothing under the place she roosted last night. She is still chipper, but I think she is constipated. What else can I do? She is fed layer crumbles, occasionally veggie scraps from the table, and occasionally is able to free range the yard otherwise she is in a coop and run with five other hens. I willCV in the water daily, giving her plain yogurt, keeping her bottom clean, and adding asodophilus to her food with no results, and everyone I have asked says I am doing all I can. Today I read an article that said she may be in the end stages of this condition...it recommended a whole bunch of stuff I do not have and I could not find how to get unless I am a vet, which I am not. So, is there anything I can do to help her pass whatever it is...I really think it is pooh and not an egg.? BTW, her crop seems to be small, soft and she is not acting like she is crop bound, I have seen that many times and this does not look like that at all. Because there was no droppings below her roosting place I think my conclusion is constipation. The lump is bigger than an egg and just smaller than a tennis ball. I am afraid that if something is not done immediately I will lose her. She is an older hen, but she still does lay and has been one of the healthiest and strongest of my flock for all three years.

 

[stoopid]

If you are sure it's not an egg, then I would feed her anything to make her poop.
Canned corn, grapes, watermelon. Anything high in moisture that will give her the "squirts"
I hope it works for you guys, good luck!

 

[stoopid]

Update on Layla?

 

[embrown]

Layla, is in one way better but she is not out of the woods. We fed her watermelon, baby food prunes, yogurt, her food in a very watery mash, and we tried grapes but she would not eat them. She is not really drinking and so everything we give her is very wet. She did begin to pooh by Saturday morning. It is normal pooh and she seems to pass it without problem although I still think it is less often than a normal healthy chicken poohs. Her comb and waddles are normal colored. She is often panting although we have kept her in a comfortable environment. The lump is still present and did not decrease in size withher beginning to pooh, so now I am afraid it is either a bound egg or is a tummer or something. She has not laid an egg, and I think she was laying earlier in the week but I can not be absolutely sure. She isfairly cheerful and even gave some "pre-egg-song" type noises this morning. Her crop seems to be filling and emptying normally. So, thinking it was egg bond I have given her about four 20 minute very warm baths, I have tried to mannually stimulate the egg to come with a vasoline finger but I can not reach what might be an egg, it is not at the opening as it was in another hen that was egg bound. We have tried mineral oil in the vent both to move the pooh and hopefully to make things slippery for the egg. I have put a very hot...soaked in boiling water, towel under her bottom to try to "steam" things to stimulate moving the egg. Her tail is up, she walks fine, and she seems to make no egg laying motions, and I do not really see her straining, but the lump remains. I have had her separated from the flock since my first post, I have messeged the area, done the baths and the steam, but I just do not know what to do. Keeping her separated is difficult to manage as I do not have a lot of extra places to put her and she is in a small pet carrier. Her bottom felt rather warm earlier today and that is when I gave her the fourth bath and the steam. I just do not know what to do or how to rule out what the problem is. It has been at least three full days of this problem and from what I have read the outlook gets worse as time goes on for an egg bound chicken. BTW, the lump can be moved a bit and it can be messeged but it just does not seem to get any closer to the vent opening no matter how I manipulate it. She does not really seem to mind if I touch her bottom and she is very cuddly and content. She does keep closing her eyes, but will run about with the others in the yard some and will go to perch if I put her in the coop. I just do not know where to go from here. If there is any suggestions, I am sure Layla would love to try them, and I know I would be glad to do what I can for my sweet little hennie. Sorry about typos, I can not make changes, I use a speaking screen reader and it does not work with this editor, so please forgive me. There is not anyone around who can proofread. Thanks for checking in, and if you have any suggestions, I would be glad to try them.

 

[stoopid]

It sounds like you are doing everything that you can.
It is good that she doesn't seem in pain, and is carrying on well.
Only time will well, I hope she pulls through this!

 

[Kari22]

I have read many blogs trying to find someone with the exact same problem as me. And u do. My hen is 3 yrs old. All my other 3 yr old are getting old and thin and some have died. They were our first bunch we got starting out and the only bunch we bought from co-op. This one is my healthiest and biggest. But for the past few days has had a swollen very hard belly. I put her in the separate coop inside our big coop so the rooster would leave her alone. I googled this and found so many options. Egg bound seemed to fit. I did the soaks a few times a day. I read that it should come out shortly after a bath but it didn't. Then I noticed there's no poop in her nest. So I thought constipation. I see no egg in her vent. She's still happy and waddles around like a penguin. She's eating her food and drinking water. I'm just afraid whatever it is will kill her eventually and I don't want that obviously. If u get any answers that work or she comes around please tell me what u did. Thank u
Kari

 

[Kari22]

B. I U S