This hen was limping, tail down, uninterested in treats when I went to the coop this morning. I brought her inside, offered her some scrambled eggs, examined her feet. Doesn't appear to have bumble foot. I noticed what appeared to be a mite crawling across her back, but only found one that I could tell. I decided to bathe her in a lightly soapy and salty warm water for about 5 minutes, then gave her a soak in clean water to rinse the soap out, and a final dip in another clean water bucket to ensure getting all the soap. Wrapped her in a towel and we sat for a while, just letting the towel absorb so she could relax for a bit, then used the blow dryer on low to try to dry her the rest of the way.
While blowdrying I noticed there's a roundness beneath her vent (that I didn't notice when I initially examined her, but could have been there idk). Making me think maybe she's egg bound? It is soft, it does not feel like a hard egg, if it is anything it is not a fully formed shell....
She is almost a year old (come february). It appears that a couple of the small flock are molting, feathers everywhere, and while she losed some feathers during the bath I haven't noticed many of her color in and around the coop/run so idk.
Any tips/advice welcome. I just changed the bedding out two days ago and cleaned this morning and didn't notice any mites though didn't look very hard. Will do that shortly.
Also if I need to give her a calcium supplement, how do I do that? She won't eat, but will drink a little if I dip her beak in a small cup of water.
TIA
While blowdrying I noticed there's a roundness beneath her vent (that I didn't notice when I initially examined her, but could have been there idk). Making me think maybe she's egg bound? It is soft, it does not feel like a hard egg, if it is anything it is not a fully formed shell....
She is almost a year old (come february). It appears that a couple of the small flock are molting, feathers everywhere, and while she losed some feathers during the bath I haven't noticed many of her color in and around the coop/run so idk.
Any tips/advice welcome. I just changed the bedding out two days ago and cleaned this morning and didn't notice any mites though didn't look very hard. Will do that shortly.
Also if I need to give her a calcium supplement, how do I do that? She won't eat, but will drink a little if I dip her beak in a small cup of water.
TIA
