HELP....Sick chicken....

[fasschicks]

I have a 10 month old EE. I let the girls out yesterday for the first time for an hour of grazing on the yard. When I got home tonight, she is lethargic and can hardly stand. I picked her up to see if there was anything noticeable, but couldn't see anything. I set her down and she just laid down in the run. She won't eat or drink.

She just has the look of a dying chicken. I honestly do not know what to do or what to look for. I think she might have laid her first egg the other day (not 100% sure), but nothing else.

Any ideas on what I should look for?

Fass

 

[fasschicks]

I just went out to check on her. All the girls made it into the coop. She managed to get up the ramp to the coop and then up onto the first roost, but that is as far as she made it. She is just laying on the roost....very droopy and just not looking well.

My neighbor has chickens and he came over to look at her and give some moral support. He said he has seen some of his birds in the past that just don't look right and sometimes in a couple days they seem better....sometimes not. He is not the type to take a lot of measures to save a bird.

The other 5 girls are looking good and seem very active.

Wendy

 

[Eggcessive]

I would check her for being egg bound with a lubricated gloved finger inserted into the vent. Only if you feel an egg, give a Tums tablet crushedor a calcium tablet, and soak in a warm bath to help pass the egg. She also may have eaten something that has blocked her gizzard. Check her crop for impaction, look at her stools for color and any diarrhea, and check her skin for lice and mites. I lost a young hen just this week who was looking the same *** yours, and found a blocked necrotic gizzard from eating sunflower seeds.

 

[fasschicks]

Thanks, Eggsessive. I brought Elsie in last night and put her in our dog kennel. I put food and water in for her. She didn't look very good when I went to bed last night, but this morning she is a little more perked up (tail feathers). She did lay an egg this morning that was very brittle. I think this is only her second egg and they are pretty large for the first ones. Don't know if that was what was bothering her. I am going to take her out of the kennel and see if she can walk any better.

If it is something blocking her gizzard, is that an impacted crop? Not sure if that is the same thing. I know last night she kept opening and closing her mouth, but no sound came out. Like she was trying to adjust something. Could that be something?

I will post more later. Thanks again.

Wendy

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Sounds like she got something stuck. What does her crop feel like? Do you have any poisonous plants around?

 

[fasschicks]

Nothing poisonous that I know of. She has really perked up. I took her out to the run/coop and she jumped right in and started eating like she hadn't in a day. She is very alert and acts like nothing ever happened. She is up on the roost in the run with the rest of the girls. It is a 3 ft. perch, so she had enough energy to get up there.

She pooped this morning in the kennel (and on me :-0). She is no longer opening her mouth like she did last night. Her crop was pretty empty last night - I think she didn't eat much or at all yesterday. I will check it when I get home tonight.

I took pictures of her egg and will post it this morning. It was very dark green on front and back end and regular green (like her first egg) in the middle. Hopefully her coming in last night got her to relax enough to pass it? I am cautiously optimistic that was the issue, but not holding my breath.

Wendy

 

[Eggcessive]

It's good to hear she is back to normal. I think she probably just needed to lay that egg. It seems weird to check for an impacted egg, but it is easy only takes a minute, and it can make you aware of the problem. I don't think her egg was stuck, she was probably just having a little trouble. Chceck her crop this evening to make sure that she is eating. A crop can be empty, but farther down in the GI tract, the gizzard can become blocked, sometimes by eating something that just won't pass.

 

[fasschicks]

Here are the pictures of the egg she laid this morning. Hopefully this doesn't happen every time she tries to lay an egg. I just felt so sorry for her and was hoping that I didn't do something wrong.

If she has a blocked gizzard, is there any way to tell or to fix it? Does it usually result in death if not fixed? Or can it work itself out. Thank you both so much for your help!

Wendy

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Wow I have gotten some wacky looking eggs but not like that! is it cracked or does it just look that way?

 

[fasschicks]

It was a little dented when saw it laying in the kennel. But when I picked it up, it dented/cracked very easily. It wasn't a rubber-type egg, just very delicate/brittle. The membrane on the inside of the shell remained intact. There were a few tiny pieces of shell missing that I couldn't tell if it fell into the kennel or didn't come out of her.

My husband said that she was in the nesting box this morning, but later she was outside and no egg. Hopefully she doesn't have any more problems. It worries me that she will be one of those girls who lays too big of an egg for her body. Do their bodies start to accommodate the larger eggs?

Wendy