Egg bound or something else?

[NJG6559]

Hello, I have only been keeping chickens since spring of '17. We have 5 hens at the moment. We lost a hen about a month ago after noticing he sick one evening hunched up with tail down, and in the morning she was gone. Now we have another exhibiting similar symptoms. I want to learn about caring for this bird and welcome any suggestions you might have. Since she hasn't pooped since Sunday, I believe we are running out of time. Thank you.

1. What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)

- Rock hen, about 10 months old, looks nice and full when feeling well, can’t say how much it weighs, but our other birds are similar.

2. What is the behavior, exactly.

- She was staying away from the rest of the flock on Sunday, hunched over with tail down. We had let them out of the coop for a couple hours on the nice day. Her rump feathers are ruffled biggest, giving her a rounded appearance at the back end. She moved into the bushes and just sort of hunkered down there. We had lost another bird earlier with the same symptoms, so this time I caught her and brought her into the garage with a warming light. She has drunk water on her own but is refusing other food. Her crop may not be empty, it is puffy anyway and I am a novice so couldn’t say if it was normal or not. Her comb seems normal and deep colored.

3. How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?

- Today 2/20 marks the second day we have noticed.

4. Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?

- No, but a month earlier another chicken died with similar symptoms. We noticed that one acting strange in the evening and in the morning was dead.

5. Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.

- No.

6. What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.

- the girls were given lettuce Saturday and on Sunday evening when we brought her in she had undigested lettuce in her runny droppings and that is the last she has pooped.

7. What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.

- Since “hospitalized” she drank some water on her own last afternoon, ignoring yogurt with Tums in it, had a bit of scrambled egg, that’s it. Our birds normally get pellets and some scratch and meal worms, leftover treats from the house.

8. How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.

- Her last poop was Sunday 2/18 and it consisted of green, undigested lettuce. It was very runny and needed washing off.

9. What has been the treatment you have administered so far?

- We brought her in to a quiet spot in the garage with heat lamp. I gave her a soak in warm water for 15 minutes 8/19, tried to get her to eat yogurt with Tums in. She refused the yogurt but seemed relaxed in the bath. I couldn't feel anything hard around her belly or vent.

10. What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?

- I think I need to understand better myself what to do with sick birds so would like to treat her myself, but willing to go to vet if she appears in pain or the advice is to see a vet.

11. If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Picture added, but she looks quite perky in this shot. Notice the back end.

12. Describe the housing/bedding in use

Our hens are in an enclosure that is now, at this time of year, devoid of plants, that is, mostly dirt and wet from recent rain/snow. The 5 girls have a coop for 8 and we use shavings inside. There are a couple bales of staw in the enclosure.

 

[Skipper81]

Egg bound symptoms

No interest in eating or drinking

Walking like a penguin

Abdominal straining

Going in and out of the nest box repeatedly

Watery diarrhea or no feces at all along with a full crop

Droopy and depressed

Pale face, comb and wattles

Hard abdomen

 

[Skipper81]

There's some symptoms above on eggbound
Does she have access to grit? Grit is very important for her if she has anything to eat besides her pellets including veggies, scratch ect.
Are her pellets layer pellets by chance just curious?
Has she been wormed? the reason i ask is because not pooping and other hen died same symptoms.
Crop should be empty in the morning and fill up during day then it should be full at night. Do they have access to oyster shells?
Was she laying eggs ?
Was your other hen that passed laying eggs ?
Hope something in here is helpful I'm just giving you things to think about/rule out

 

[NJG6559]

Thank you Skipper81. She has some of the symptoms of being egg bound, but not all. She has access to grit. Her pellets are layer pellets. She was wormed in the fall. I don't know what a crop should be like, I checked it and it did not seem full. She has oyster shells. She was laying eggs. The other hen was also laying eggs. She ate a little yogurt yesterday, drinking on her own and as a result passed a little watery poop, green and white.

 

[Skipper81]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-binding-symptoms-treatment-and-prevention.66978/

 

[Skipper81]

I have only dealt with eggbound once and it was a duck
If I were in you situation I would check out that article and if she is eggbound follow instructions

 

[Kimmyh51]

I have dealt with an egg bound duck once only also. She had vent prolapse before she became egg bound. I dealt with the vent prolapse and amazingly her vent stayed in after being manually put back several times.
However if you suspect your he is egg bound, Id inspect her vent carefully for any signs of swelling or prolapse. Secondly, feel gently around her lower belly for an egg. You will as mentioned above probably also see her straining and pushing if she's egg bound.
Another possibility could be a soft shelled egg which may have broken inside her causing a dangerous infection. If there is any chances she is egg bound or has a prolapsed vent or possibly a broken egg inside her, she needs antibiotics ASAP. If possible see a vet. If not try and get yr hands on some broad spectrum antibiotics.
I only had oxytetracycline and a little augmention (penicillin plus clavulonic acid(sp) on me when my duck got sick and didn't know which of the two antibiotics would be best, so gave her both...oxytetracycline morning and evening, and augmention which I had less of, in the middle of the day, well apart from the oxytetsol.
I also gave her colloidal silver, actually mixed the antibiotics in it to syringe into her orally as I read that in a study colloidal silver was shown to increase the effectiveness and coverage of antibiotics.
I also gave her rasberry leaves made into a tea to promote contractions to help her pass the egg, oregano and garlic for general immune boosting, and pain relief in the form of asprin which was all I had. Metacam/meloxicam would have been my preferance if Id had it.

Also used a syringe to put some cooking oil up her vent to try try help the egg pass. Another reason I gave her all them antibiotics I had as I knew that was an infection risk.

In my duck she became prolapsed after passing an egg, and the following day egg bound when the next egg was not able to be passed. I could easily feel that egg inside her.
She passed the egg 24 hrs later, then became Ill from egg yolk peritonitis (an egg with no she'll broke inside her).

A couple of days later i found a worm in her poop so wormed her and read after that worms can cause egg binding.
Anyway with 2 weeks of care indoors, antibiotics for i think 10 days, careful monitoring, a heat pad to keep her warm she recovered, though at one point when was very unwell and I was considering euthanasia. After recovery a further two weeks being kept in the dark till lunchtime to shorten the daylight hrs and stop her laying. she later resumed laying and had no further problems except a minor prolapse once which I put back in and it was fine. She has since had ducklings and is currently, about 10 mths after being egg bound, in great health and spirits.
However I think I got, excuse my language, bloody lucky with her.
I do think the rasberry leaves helped her pass the egg. And I am sure if it weren't for starting antibiotics straight away, she would not be alive now.
Anyway if you can't get her to a vet and suspect egg binding (do u know if she was laying daily until she got sick? Are your other hens currently laying daily?) get her on a broad spectrum antibiotic straight away and get some rasberry leaves or rasberry leaf tea.and keep her warm on a heat pad or hot water bottle 24/7

 

[Kimmyh51]

Oh if she isn't pooing could be a blockage, ie eating a lot of long grass? Or something non food like plastic? Or a toxin.
If another hen died recently the same way Id look at your environment, diet and genetics, are the sick hen and the one that died related?
Would seem odd to me that two hens would be egg bound within a month unless it's dietry. Even if they are on layer pellets, give them oyster shell or a calcium supplement, for the sick one, maybe even no dose her yourself with a syringe full o a calcium suppliment so you know she's getting the calcium, as I have had a duck who was on top quality layer pellets as her sole food and still got soft shelled eggs till I started giving her oral calcium and after the oral calcium, I had to make sure she was eating oyster shell as well as her pellets or her eggshells got soft again... I've simce read some birds just naturally need more calcium than most, and will need strea calcium even when on a good layer feed. Most advice I have read is that you don't need to give extra calcium if you feed all or mostly layer pellets, but my personal experience, with ducks not chickens though, is that for some birds they need more calcium even if on a diet of 100% quality layer feed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Rock hen, about 10 months old

hunched over with tail down

Her rump feathers are ruffled biggest, giving her a rounded appearance at the back end. She moved into the bushes and just sort of hunkered down there.

drunk water on her own but is refusing other food. Her crop may not be empty, it is puffy anyway

undigested lettuce in her runny droppings and that is the last she has pooped.

last poop was Sunday 2/18

Can you post some photos of her without the red light?

She has not pooped at all for 3days?

It sounds like you have a couple of things going on here - the crop is not emptying, the unprocessed lettuce, to me means that her gizzard may not be functioning properly.
The hunched up with tail down, she may be having some reproductive issues as well.

I would give her a soak in a warm epsom salts bath to see if that will get things moving. If she is not pooping at all, then likely she has some type of blockage, usually being egg bound will cause this, but for 3days that's a very long time - if you can't get her pooping, then seeking vet care is best.

 

[NJG6559]

She's in a bath with epsom as we speak. thanks all for taking the time to respond. While handling her into the bath i feel her keel is very prominent. her crop does not appear full but then I am a beginner so cannot judge from experience. Theres been some poop, id say about 2 tablespoons total, watery and green, although she also hasn't been eating more than a few bites, been drinking better. I've been trying to get her to take calcium in yogurt but she only takes a little. She had been laying up to getting sick. I'll try to post a pic after she dries off a bit more from bath.