One of our favorite EE's, Hawkeye, is sick and I'm not exactly sure what is wrong or what to do. Three days ago, some of the other girls were pecking at her and we noticed her bottom was quite red, a little bloody, and a little pasty. When I looked closer, it appeared to be pretty swollen, too. So, we put her in isolation (thinking it may have just been pecking) and have been monitoring her food and water. She seems to be doing well with both. However, today she had a pretty big amount of poo (about a pinky finger's width and length) hanging from her bottom. Somewhat gelatinous and a sort of tan color. I've read some posts similar to this before, so I brought her in and soaked her for about 15 minutes in a warm bath, removing everything gently with a washcloth. She didn't seem to be in any pain and actually acted like it felt pretty good. Relieving I think. A couple of times during the bath, she acted like she had to poo, but strained quite a bit with not much result. I got her out of the bath and dried her, then held her in a towel for a bit and she relaxed and went to sleep. After taking the towel off and letting her move about, she had a poo and it was dark green in color and pretty normal in consistency with just a little bit loose getting caught on some feathers. (There also seemed to be some air escaping too making a weezing sound, not sure if that's normal) Other than being pink and missing feathers, I don't notice anything out of the ordinary except that her vent seems swollen and a little dark on the top. I'm so worried. She is acting like she feels fine, but not laying and obviously her bottom isn't right. Also, her back close to her bottom feels a little hard/swollen. Could our poor girl be egg bound? Maybe it's just a molting gone awry? I really hope it's something that can be helped. This is our second year raising chickens and one of our first diseases/injuries/ailments. Please, any advice will be welcome and I will try and get pics if necessary. Thank you fellow BYCer's.
