Grey Partridge female with sticky-gluey, totally transparent "poo"

[tadimaali]

Hello,
as the topic says, I have a grey partridge female, that I am a bit worried about.
I saw two days ago, when I went to check on them at night, that she was a bit sad looking (fluffed feathers, sort of holding her tail down - bump on the backline, usually the back is more straight with the tail held also more straight out), and as this is the time they are starting to lay eggs, I took immediately second look at her. Then I saw this transparent, sticky-gluey stuff coming from her butt, when she got more alert of me being there and started to walk around. Just like a loose, gluey poo, but transparent. Looked just like the egg-white. No yellow, no blood, no white shell-pieces. On the floor there was nothing egg-related either (soft eggs, shells etc). She seemed ok yesterday but now this evening she looked again a bit odd. I have not taken her from the cage yet, as our greys are pretty wild, this is the nesting time and anyway, she will be quite upset ( I don`t think it would be possible to bathe her, as said, they are quite wild). As the birds are the same size as quail, I don`t know, if I would be able to insert my finger either, if needed (thought I could maybe put some oil in her with a pipette). Just now noticed, that she did a poo couple of times and it looked mustardy with some white, possibly the first poo was mustardy with some transparent stuff. Not too loose, had a normal poo-form. An odd thing was, that I have never noticed any of my greys poo like she did - she went real low and then, tail up, took few steps backwards, while then doing the poo. Strange. Maybe related to nesting... ? Her butt-feathers looked fluffy and clean, only some small white stain on them.
I don`t know, how she is at the daytime, is she normal and eating, will be putting a camera in the morning. If I go to look myself, they do not act normally anyway.

Does anybody know, would this be that she is possibly egg-bound, or possibly anything else? Or this kind of transparent, gluey poo ... normal??
Would be thankful of any ideas.

 

[Jenski]

It's hard to say for sure, but it sounds like she has passed a shell-less egg, and may be preparing for egg-laying. The mustard-colored droppings worry me more than the possible egg whites passing from the vent.

What are you feeding?

 

[Judy]

Guess it could be a soft shelled egg that broke inside her. Here's hoping this is just a glitch in the startup process of egg laying, and she will get over it on her own.

Here's a thread you might want to read if you haven't:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=148409

This will give you a bump anyway.

 

[tadimaali]

I am feeding full feed for egg-laying chickens. Nothing "extra" recently, nothing that
would explain any sort of upset in digestive system ... I will try the advice from this other
thread, thanks. For some reason my greys have been a bit picky with the "extra" stuff, maybe I just
have not found what they really like ...

 

[cobrien]

I also think it sounds like she passed a shell-less egg, but then why is she lethargic?

I am in the 'chickens as pets' camp. I don't keep chickens for meat but totally respect those who do, as it alleviates so much suffering that happens in the terrible chicken factories. Most do not go to the extremes that I do to save chickens, but hopefully they can respect my opinions as I respect others.

All that to say that I do not treat lethargy lightly. birds don't show signs of illness until it is sometimes too late to save them. A few times I have noticed some lethargy, let it go for one day to find the bird dead. If it happens now I do my best to figure out whats wrong and treat them. I have saved a few this way.

you said you couldn't tell if she was eating, is her crop full? does she seem thin? a noneating bird loses weight quickly. if not eating well i would try to tempt with yummy healthy things. you can try syringe feeding sugar water / bird formula BUT there is a risk of them aspirating and dying from this. I used to do it only as a last resort, but since then I've learned how to tube feed birds, sends food right to the crop, and I have saved several birds this way.

i have had a bird with the same symptoms you describe, I thought she was egg bound but it was more serious (ovarian cancer - she didn't make it). I don't want to alarm you, she may have something else. I also do not know how to check to see if she's egg bound, I'm sure someone here could and I would love to hear it. If you are attached to her as a pet and can afford a vet, I would take her in, but I realize that is not an option for everyone, in which case I would try to keep her as comfortable as possible.

 

[tadimaali]

Well, she did seem quite ok today. I did see her pass poop, which was normal, not mustardy anymore (I think it may have been cecal poo). Looks not thin. Also comparing to other females she did not look actually that strange ... maybe I overreacted (I have been known to do that

), the others looked pretty much the same (tail and topline). She was not literally lethargic, but seemed to be a little ... uncomfortable. But then she was sleeping at first, when I went to see them. When getting more alert, she acted quite normal. Yes, I know, they get very bad quickly and before that happens, you have to look very-very closely to see, if they are ill or weak, since they act so wild and don`t show it easily ... I will be keeping a very close eye on her. The problem is, that I think there is not any vet available, that has any experience with gamebirds, they are pretty small (like quail) and then it is also the fact they are so wild ... I have been giving at few occasions vitamin supplement with syringe and I really don`t like it - I think I may have killed one bird this way and don`t want to risk it, as long as she is active and energetic. Catching them is a big struggle, they can injure themselves and at the nesting time I`m not sure how good it is anyway to put so much stress on her. But when I have to, then I will.
If anyone could tell me, that you can "probe" a quail-size bird without big risk of damage, I would maybe try, if she looks a bit uncomfortable again.
I saw this transparent stuff now some days ago, and still no eggs.

Thank you, it really helped. I know at least now, that this transparent stuff was not totally normal and it was related to egg-laying.

 

[tadimaali]

Update: the grey female I was worried about, started laying ok (I also tried to get her eating some extra stuff and gave her some extra vitamins and minerals for few days in her water and food, although she has a "complete" feed, I thought it will not hurt it she gets lightly some extra vit/min for a short time). So far she is fine...