Egg bound? Not sure what to do next.

[hatrabbit]

I have 2 red sex-links, age unknown but I was told they're from the same 'litter', hence the same age. Last year they both stopped laying for a while, among other things there was a bout of fowl pox. One started back up but the other never did... it's been about a year since she laid an egg.
It's the non-layer that's got a problem. A few days ago she started acting lethargic, sleeping on the ground vs. the roost, walking very slowly and looking a bit off balance. She's generally completely opposite her normal active and aggressive personality. From what I've read it sounds like she's got a stuck egg but after a year off...? I tried feeling her up and couldn't detect any eggs, I eased a finger into her vent (generously lubed) and felt no egg 1 1/2" in. I tried to trick her into eating calcium-laced yogurt and oats with just a little success.
I'm interested in the opinions of those more experienced than I. Does this sound familiar? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Is she eating and drinking? What do her droppings look like?

 

[hatrabbit]

She does eat and drink, but not as aggressively as normal. And as for her poop, it seems like much less. Normally the majority of it is under the roost, but now that she's sleeping on the ground it's hard to quantify it. While I was examining her this morning she let some go, runny and green.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Sounds like cocci. I'm in the same boat, my EE's symptoms were almost identical. I had the diagnosis verified by a vet. Corid should clear it up, and you should dose the whole flock.

 

[hatrabbit]

Since reading your reply I've done some reading on cocci. You're right, it sounds like that's what ails her. Thanks for the info, I got some Corid today and managed to get her to take a few drinks of the dilution. Fingers crossed.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Good luck, you should see an improvement pretty quickly, especially to the point of her being able to drink on her own.

 

[hatrabbit]

Update - things don't look good. I think it was Monday I started my hen on Corid. I got her to drink a little each day and she stayed the same all week. No improvement or decline. I had to go away yesterday morning until tonight, and when I got back the first thing I did was check on her... she looks awful. She is lying on the ground where she has been sleeping all week and breathing very labored. Her whole body rises up and falls with each breath. There's no noise and she's not visibly gasping but it just looks weird to see her inflate and deflate so much.

Another observation from this week... she was extremely unresponsive, just docile and willing to be picked up. Totally uncharacteristic of her. but it I carried her to the waterer she would stand there and her eyes would close like she was falling asleep, sometimes leanign forward like she was going to tip over. If I would touch her to wake her up and her eyes would open, but in a few seconds they would close again.

Any ideas? I'm thinking she's not going to last much longer.

 

[Eggcessive]

I believe she probably has egg yolk peritonitis or is an internal layer. Either way she probably doesn't have a lot of time. I would make her as comfortable as possible, and think about putting her down if she acts in pain.

 

[hatrabbit]

Chapter II - Sick chicken, the sequel

That sick hen got worse and worse. I figured it was either coccidiosis, which is curable, or internal laying which is not. So I kept trying to get her to drink the Corid mix, shooting it into her mouth with a syringe when she wouldn't do it herself. She just lay on the ground all day and night, not in a normal position but spread out like a dead bird. She got so bad that one morning I went out and was sure she was dead- lying all splayed out with her head an the ground and eyes shut. I put my hand on her and somewhere in there I felt the slightest little jolt, like I startled her. I knew that day after work I had to kill her. I came home at the end of the day all bummed out about it, went out there, and she was siting in a normal loaf-of-bread position with her head upright and eyes open. Still very unresponsive but clearly alive. Jump ahead 5 days, she is about 85% normal. Her comb is still mostly black and she acts a little dumb and dazed, but fully walking around and scratching the ground and everything. So as to being at that point of having to decide whether to kill a suffering animal or not, you never really know. Seeing her in that bad condition I definitely thought it was time, but look what happened. I expect her to fully recover.