Help!! My chicken is sick, might be egg bound!

[alecjloorz]

Hi. I don't know much about having chickens, but I urgently need help with something. I have 2 silkie chickens (8 months old) and one of them is really sick, and I think she might be egg bound. It's been raining the past couple weeks, and she hasn't laid at all since it started. And the past couple days she's been very off-balance, and she's been putting her left foot straight back behind her.

And this morning, she went into her laying box and has been in there every since (about 5-6 hours.) She won't eat anything, and when I put my hand in there she did this high pitched squeak that I've never heard before. It sounds kick of like an injured bird.

Also, the past couple nights, she has been sleeping in her laying box, rather than the perch where the other one sleeps. She usually has no trouble getting up there, but she hasn't had the energy lately.

And I put a cricket in her box (she usually loves them) and her eyes brightened up but then she just stared at it, and didn't eat it.

I need help! I don't know what to do. I love my chickens, and the other one will be devastated without her, since I only have 2.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

[dawg53]

if she's egg bound,you can feel her underside and feel the egg. if you dont feel the egg,i dont know what the problem is.but if you do feel the egg,put your hen in a container of warm water and gently massage her bottomside.check her vent for obstructions while your at it.hopefully someone w/ more experience in this area will help you out.i've never had an eggbound hen before.(knocking on wood) good luck.btw,when a hen is on the nest and you try to handle them or sometimes even look at them,they will scream at you like a banshee.not all hens are like that though.

 

[chookchick]

She might possibly just be broody. Next time you are in there, push her off of the nest box. If she is broody, she will probably pitch a fit and try to get right back in. See if she is pulling any feathers off from underneath her chest. (BTW, they don't need to have anything to sit on, they will try and hatch air!). Like Dawg says, you need to get a really good look and feel of her and her vent area--what are her droppings like? can you feel any swelling or egg?, any discharge from vent? Does she keep her tail tucked down, or fanned up in the air?