Droopy Tail Feathers On Lethargic Hens Back- Egg In Vent or???

[nancypo]

My 1 1/2 year old hen is lethargic this morning, and her top, rear back (not tail) feathers have a hump like raised appearance. There was an egg in the nest box this morning. She's eating and drinking, gave her some yogurt too, but she's pretty droopy. I thought maybe she laid the egg last night, since she didn't lay yesterday, but she skips a day once in a while, and it was probably from this morning. Not heat stress, only 80, in the shade, any ideas? Her feathers look really odd near her rear of body, up a bit. She looks ok otherwise. Moving slow...

 

[nancypo]

I was thinking- maybe it's her tail feathers are drooping? And that's why it looks like a hump??? Cause?

Good news- she's eating more, yogurt and now eating grass, walking a bit more...

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Have you looked under her feathers? Is there anything on/under the skin that you can see?



Can you post a picture? It may be that her tail is drooping and causing her to look hump backed.

 

[nancypo]

Yes, not constipated (she's pooping) and no egg I can see. I also felt around, nothing I can feel excpet her stomach... Will post pic in minute...

 

[nancypo]

Droopy tail feathers...

normal Rosie

 

[Tres Amigas]

My girl about the same age did the same thing two days in a row -- the first day she didn't lay and looked like that at free range time - walking slow & careful, tail down, not very interested in anything and periodically standing there with her eyes shut. I felt her crop and abdo - crop almost empty and didn't feel anything like an egg in her abdo. She put herself to bed early. I went to check them after dark and she had passed a yolk and white, but we didn't see any shell. The next morning she was fine - I took her to breakfast on the deck and she ate 2 scrambled eggs (with shells). Fine all day. By the time it was evening again, she was acting the same way. Later that evening we saw the three of them obviously eating something in the run. Went to see and it looked like nothing but white...gross...we didn't let them finish it. She's been absolutely fine since then, 3-4 days, and giving us a nice egg every day. Weird, huh? I was frantically looking up egg yolk peritonitis and worried to death. She seems to have made a full recovery..... I hope your hen does, too. One thing I did notice was that here poops were runny more often than not last week...I don't know if that has any correlation to the other problem. Good luck with her.
edited because I can't spell "ate"

 

[nancypo]

Thakns for the info. She's had nice, firm, normal poop (on the deck) this morning. She's back under the the tree in the shade where I can see her, resting. I'll keep an eye on her. I'm not too worried, but the feathers had me stumped...

 

[chkn]

Maybe you should start a worming program.

 

[nancypo]

She's feeling better- walking around, eating drinking!

 

[nancypo]

Holding off on any meds...