HELP my Buff Orphington appears either egg bound or has some other ailment like infection

[coastalaggie]

Today I walked into the coop area and noticed that "Blue" my Buff Orphington is sick. Her comb is pale and she looked stress. I picked her up and noticed that large clumps of poop were stuck to her butt and her abdomen appears to be distended and squishy. I put her out in the main yard and surprisingly she pecked at the ground and ate some grass. I offered her a tomato and she ate it but definitely not with her normal tenacity. Any ideas on what other clinical symptoms to look for to diagnose her??? I feel so bad for her She was my first chicken and I am upset.

 

[seminolewind]

Is she broody-meaning that she thinks she's sitting on eggs? Does she have an egg she can't pass? What does her poo look like? Is she skinny?

If she's egg bound, you may want to oil a finger and see if you can feel an egg.

 

[sweetbeak]

Today I walked into the coop area and noticed that "Blue" my Buff Orphington is sick.  Her comb is pale and she looked stress. I picked her up and noticed that large clumps of poop were stuck to her butt and her abdomen appears to be distended and squishy.  I put her out in the main yard and surprisingly she pecked at the ground and ate some grass. I offered her a tomato and she ate it but definitely not with her normal tenacity. Any ideas on what other clinical symptoms to look for to diagnose her??? I feel so bad for her She was my first chicken and I am upset. 

I would firstly sit her in some warm water and wash away to poo that is stuck on her, and then you can use glycerin if you have any and gently see if she has an egg. I've done this exact thing with one of my girls and within 5 minutes an egg popped out cause it was kinda sideways. Give that a go.

 

[Jrose]

Respiratory issues and distended abdomen says internal laying. I've been through this 6 times. It's different for every hen, but ultimately it's the infection that kills them, which can take months or happen over night. The first girl I ever lost died of internal laying- I thought she was egg bound. I found her in the coop one afternoon with a purple face and comb, struggling to breathe, laying in the lay box and looking like she was pushing hard. I researched egg binding, lubed her up, injected her with something (I forget now but it was specific to treating egg binding), and kept her safe inside. She died kind of violently 18 hours later. Her abdomen was filled with rotten infected yolk. That's when I learned of internal laying. No cure, it's a genetic issue from my understanding. They can still pass eggs sometimes, or may not lay at all. They might not show any symptom until the infection hits a critical point, or you might notice early on that they see off or that their abdomen is squishy. Sometimes they fight the infection back, recover for a little while, then go down hill again. I stopped buying factory hens because out of my original 11, I've got 5 left. The other 6 died of IL and it was terrible for them

Edit:
Some of the girls died before 1yo, others died at 3yo+. Some laid almost daily (those gals hung around for awhile), but the ones that didn't lay much went down hill much more quickly. A few of them religiously laid really freaky and deformed eggs.