HELP! Watery liquid dripping from old hen's bum

[Nona Urbiz]

My 2020 hen is just standing there, her feathers puffed out a bit and water dripping from her bum.... HELP PLEASE!

 

[azygous]

Give her a calcium tablet right now, directy into her beak.

 

[Nona Urbiz]

Give her a calcium tablet right now, directy into her beak.

Thank you! I give them oyster shell pellets, and there is always some there. But I did stop giving them bread. She isn't puffed up now and is acting normal, but she is dirtier than the others and it is particularly dirty around around her bum.

SO how do you get it directly into her beak? How do you get her to open her mouth?

BLESSINGS!

 

[azygous]

Oyster shell and a calcium citrate tablet are like an orange and a vitamin C tablet. The latter forms are much more concentrated and work much better when you are trying to correct a deficiency or as a therapy for a disorder.

Giving a pill to a chicken is very easy. The only difficult part is prying open the stubborn beak. I use two hands, one to slip a fingernail into the side of the beak to pry it open and then slide the finger inside to keep the beak open, then use the other hand to slip the pill into the mouth as far back on the tongue as possible. Close the beak and the pill goes down the chute. Be aware chickens can swallow whole mice and lizards so a pill is nothing to them. I bet you couldn't swallow a whole mouse.