Help! Diagnose my girl...

[ami]

Hi - I'm hoping someone might have an idea what is going on with my 3 yr old australorp. For about a week i have noticed that her legs seem really widely spaced and she is waddling. She has started to look puffy in the body (bigger than the other girls) and is hunching with her tail pointing down. She has a dirty bottom and today i notice that she smells bad. Her colour is good, and she is getting around the yard (slowly), eating drinking and scratching, though she is sitting down a fair bit. Not sure if she is laying or not. I am going to worm the flock today. Any other ideas?? We lack a chook friendly vet around here, unfortunately.

 

[Judy]

You might do a search on internal laying; I'm afraid this sounds a lot like it. Here is a good post in a whole thread about them:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/79443/tell-me-about-your-internal-layers/90#post_6235380

 

[ami]

Thank you for your reply. Sadly, i think you are right. I was hoping maybe just egg bound, but i'm pretty sure its much worse. In retrospect and armed with more info now, i can see that it has been building for some time. We had half a dozen tiny yolkless eggs a few weeks ago which i'd put down to winter changes, and recently noticed one or two soft shelled eggs in the coop, which we'd never had before. Both of these things are apparently symptoms of oviduct blockage. She is very swollen and although she actually seems quite perky in herself she is sitting a lot. She had always been our most reliable layer and our first girl, so i am devestated to see her suffer.