Hi - we're new to the chicken thing... have browsed through the posts here and can't find one that matches, so here goes... We have 20 birds (ISA browns, 8mos old) - 18 eggs a day - so the flock seems healthy. However one hen hasn't walked around much in the past 2 days. Stays sitting under the heat lamp by the water in the coop - even when the rest of the birds wander out to the run. My daughter moved her to a nest box this morning and tagged her leg with a twist tie so that we could keep track of her. I went out a lunch time and she hasn't moved. She's pooping without moving, so her backside was COVERED in poop. I brought her in and gave her a warm bath, she's now in the house drying out under a lamp. Have provided her with water... Still not moving... sitting under the light facing the corner of the box. Suggestions? She's not obviously egg-bound, but i'm no expert... she doesn't seem to be working at laying... ? Is there anything else we should be doing? We keep them in an insulated coop, never get's below freezing... lot's of water. They're fed laying ration and scraps from the kitchen.. Stumped... Thanks in advance for any insights...
Feel around her vent. If you feel the egg then she's probably egg bound. You will then need to get some olive oil & lube the egg inside her. What happens is the egg dryed up inside her & she can't push it out. After lubing the egg keep an eye on her & feel around her vent for a few days to see if she passes the egg.
7L Farm: thanks! what am i feeling for - will the vent area be soft if there isn't an egg and hard if there is - i guess? Chuckle... amazing the interesting things we get to do when we own chickens... Thanks.
i have the same problem chicken cant stand. egg bound? here i go trying to oil up the vent! i have no idea what i am doing or feeling for!!! help me too!
Hopping on- I think my 9 month old Buff Orpington may be egg bound. She was in the nesting box *all* day today, only coming outside in the last hour or so. When she's standing, tail feathers are down, she's not eating treats/seed; not drinking, and she's not standing much at all. No nasal discharge; no mites; no worms, etc. When she's down, about 1/2 of the time, her eyes are closed. Crop feels fine. I tried feeling around her vent/rear end area, and didn't feel anything. I will say she was not happy with that and tried to move away from me, only to hunker down again. I am not sure if she laid an egg today or not because we had a chicken pile in that nesting box and by the time she cleared out, there were several eggs in there. This is our flock mistress and she's usually pretty much in charge of what's going on out there. How long do we wait? Give her overnight and then do a warm bath in the am if she hasn't perked back up? I'd isolate her tonight except my big brooder is outside and hunny thinks we just need to leave her alone. Thanks, Tikki
