Egg Bound after Broken Egg or Infection?

[Mylied]

On August 3rd, one of my hens was acting weird and was messy, so I brought her in and we discovered an egg had broke inside. Some of the shell was hanging out. I gently pulled out what I could, which was a lot of shell. She immedietly started acting like herself. This past week she has not been looking so good. A messy butt, floppy comb, and she seems off balance. She still eats, drinks, and walks around with the rest of the chickens. We brought her in today and cleaned her up. She has watery brown diarhea and her bottom is swollen and firm. I don't know if maybe she got an infection from the broken egg or if she's now egg bound. Any advice would be appreciated. There are no vets around that are willing to treat chickens. I called 15+ vets when a different chicken was sick. The thought around here is that you put them down and get another when one gets sick.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/poultryprofi...natomy_and_Physiology/Chapter3_digestive.html
At the bottom of this link it lists different droppings types and some causes.

Unfortunately I don't know if she is eggbound or not (or infected).

 

[Mylied]

Thanks for the reply. According to that, it says e coli. But everything else I read says yellow or orange for e coli. It looks like chewed up chicken crumble watered down. I put her in a steamy bathroom for a while and all she produced was more diarhea. I'm going to try again in the morning because I really don't know what else to try. I put some vaseline around her vent too and added vitamins and electrolites in the water. I give them free choice oyster shells, so I don't know what's going on. It's just been a really frustrating learning process. I love the chickens, but I sure wish I could talk to a professional or something during these times rather than searching the internet and fumbling through things.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thanks for the reply. According to that, it says e coli. But everything else I read says yellow or orange for e coli. It looks like chewed up chicken crumble watered down. I put her in a steamy bathroom for a while and all she produced was more diarhea. I'm going to try again in the morning because I really don't know what else to try. I put some vaseline around her vent too and added vitamins and electrolites in the water. I give them free choice oyster shells, so I don't know what's going on. It's just been a really frustrating learning process. I love the chickens, but I sure wish I could talk to a professional or something during these times rather than searching the internet and fumbling through things.

Yes I think an avian vet could make a lot of money if they come on BYC and offer a consulation fee...but they can't see the chicken so they probably wouldn't want to.

If you think she is infected you may want to consider an antibiotic...but I wouldn't know which one to give.

You can try a warm water bath to relax the muscles so she can pass the egg if eggbound, and put a glove on to try to reach inside the vent to feel for an egg (with lubricant).

 

[War Chicken]

http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/

 

[dawg53]

It's probably too late to save your hen. Bacterial infection usually occurs after an egg has broken inside them.
When it happens, immediately give her a vinegar/water flush to prevent bacterial infection, like a douche.
Use a large syringe without a needle, mixing 1 tablespoon of WHITE vinegar to 1 quart of water. Use a full syringe of the mixture and insert the syringe into her vent and gently flush. Use about 3-4 syringefuls, the liquid may or may not flow out of her vent afterwards.

 

[Mylied]

Sorry for not responding sooner. I had to go out of town for 10 days and left my husband in charge of the animals. Since I didn't know what else to do and she didn't seem to be suffering, we just put her back in the coop so nature could take it's course and she could be happy with the other chickens. To my surprise, she is still alive and in the same condition. She eats, she drinks, she runs around with the other chickens. He bottom still feels firm compared to the other chickens, her comb is still pale and bent, and she still has diarhea. I'm wondering if I should do the flush just to see what happens? Any more thoughts?

 

[Mylied]

So, the chicken is still alive, doing her chicken thing. Now she's dropping feathers by the handful. By any chance, could she just be molting? I haven't gone through a molt yet, so maybe this is all it is, since she's not dead. Any thoughts?

 

[Mylied]

For anyone who might be curious, if she did have an infection from the broken egg, she made a full and complete recovery without my assistance. She is definitely molting as well and fresh white feathers are growing in beautifully. I will consider myself lucky.