scarboroughfairatl
In the Brooder
- Aug 12, 2021
- 7
- 35
- 39
On Sunday, our Speckled Sussex “Pepper” was sitting on her nest and didn’t come out to free range with the girls. It was mid day which is when she lays so we didn’t think anything of it. But when we checked on her a few hours later she was still there. We decided to keep an eye on her.
Yesterday morning, I checked and she was on one of the roosts in the Run hanging out. I noticed when I got close that she fluffed up defensively and didn’t move. She’s one of our “spicier” hens so the fact that she didn’t move away from me concerned me. I looked in her nesting area and there were some feathers on the ground. I checked her out all over her body and she seemed fine. No injuries, but she was pumping her tail feathers like she had to poop.
Immediately I assumed the worst—that she was Egg Bound, and we put her in a bath with Epsom salts for 20 mins. Nothing really happened, but she did poop while she was in the tub. Then we put Vaseline all over her vent and my husband stuck a gloved finger into her vent 2” and didn’t feel anything. We kept her in our chicken hospital for a few hours and she just kinda stood there in shock (can’t really blame her after all that…)
Then it was around 6pm and we decided to maybe let her outside to rejoin the flock since she seemed so scared and we thought maybe this would help relax her. She immediately perked up outside. Chirping to her flock mates and when I set her down, she immediately pooped (pretty normal looking but slightly runny) and ran to go be with them, pecking and scratching at the ground. About 15 mins into that though, she went to go sit on her nest again and didn’t leave all night. We crushed up some Tums in water and fed that to her with a dropper before bed last night.
This morning she woke up and went into the Run again, perched on the run roost for a little less than an hour but now has once again gone back to the nest. We did another physical check to see if we felt an egg and we didn’t feel anything. Her vent looks normal and healthy. We gave her some more of her Tum cocktail and now are just praying helplessly.
We honestly can’t tell if she’s Broody or Egg Bound. She isn’t doing the strange Egg Bound/penguin walk, (walks normally) and she seems totally normal other than the tail pumping and sitting on her nest and trilling at me. We’ve had one other hen go broody this spring about 2 weeks ago, but she sat on the nest nearly all day—she never went out into the Run. So that’s why I’m confused and can’t really tell what’s going on. It's like she's halfway broody, halfway egg bound (maybe?)
If a hen is Egg Bound, is it pretty obvious? I’m assuming we would’ve felt something in her vent or she would be having a hard time walking and wouldn’t be able to jump up to the roost like she’s been doing?
Thank you all so much in advance for any help you can give. I'm absolutely sick with worry and have tried everything. Our vet won't see birds right now because of the Avian Flu and I feel helpless.
Yesterday morning, I checked and she was on one of the roosts in the Run hanging out. I noticed when I got close that she fluffed up defensively and didn’t move. She’s one of our “spicier” hens so the fact that she didn’t move away from me concerned me. I looked in her nesting area and there were some feathers on the ground. I checked her out all over her body and she seemed fine. No injuries, but she was pumping her tail feathers like she had to poop.
Immediately I assumed the worst—that she was Egg Bound, and we put her in a bath with Epsom salts for 20 mins. Nothing really happened, but she did poop while she was in the tub. Then we put Vaseline all over her vent and my husband stuck a gloved finger into her vent 2” and didn’t feel anything. We kept her in our chicken hospital for a few hours and she just kinda stood there in shock (can’t really blame her after all that…)
Then it was around 6pm and we decided to maybe let her outside to rejoin the flock since she seemed so scared and we thought maybe this would help relax her. She immediately perked up outside. Chirping to her flock mates and when I set her down, she immediately pooped (pretty normal looking but slightly runny) and ran to go be with them, pecking and scratching at the ground. About 15 mins into that though, she went to go sit on her nest again and didn’t leave all night. We crushed up some Tums in water and fed that to her with a dropper before bed last night.
This morning she woke up and went into the Run again, perched on the run roost for a little less than an hour but now has once again gone back to the nest. We did another physical check to see if we felt an egg and we didn’t feel anything. Her vent looks normal and healthy. We gave her some more of her Tum cocktail and now are just praying helplessly.
We honestly can’t tell if she’s Broody or Egg Bound. She isn’t doing the strange Egg Bound/penguin walk, (walks normally) and she seems totally normal other than the tail pumping and sitting on her nest and trilling at me. We’ve had one other hen go broody this spring about 2 weeks ago, but she sat on the nest nearly all day—she never went out into the Run. So that’s why I’m confused and can’t really tell what’s going on. It's like she's halfway broody, halfway egg bound (maybe?)
If a hen is Egg Bound, is it pretty obvious? I’m assuming we would’ve felt something in her vent or she would be having a hard time walking and wouldn’t be able to jump up to the roost like she’s been doing?
Thank you all so much in advance for any help you can give. I'm absolutely sick with worry and have tried everything. Our vet won't see birds right now because of the Avian Flu and I feel helpless.
