We are having similar/the same problems with our modern game bantam at the moment, she's laid regularly and never been egg bound before, she looked quite fat and puffed up today and suddenly went downhill so fast, she began dropping her wings down and was seriously swollen at the back, she was dripping a clear fluid from her vent which eventually started having white flecks in it like it was poop, we got her straight in an epsom salt bath incase she was egg bound and called the vet, he saw her straight away and said to give her the baths for 10 mins at a time and rest her for 20 mins for 2-3 hours and see him again then, he isn't a poultry specialist and called around a few, no one will see her because its bank holiday (what a joke?!) he cant feel an egg inside her (he keeps chickens himself so he does have some knowledge of hens and treatments for them, he's also so caring and always researches everything he can to help your animal, i honestly cant recommend him highly enough- Rory Lydon from Lydon Veterinary centre in Kingstanding, Birmingham, UK if anyone lives near and is looking for a vet that REALLY does care!) he gave her a small injection of pain killers and anti inflammitories but not one that would make her more drowsy as she already couldn't keep her eyes open and said to keep giving her food and water, by syringe if need be, give her lots of loves and treats, basically anything to keep her semi-alert, comfortable, happy and keep her spirits up, at the vets she was half dead in my arms, during the baths she was half dead, leaning on me completely, seemed to have no energy but was always straining like she was trying to lay, the inside of her vent was appearing and we thought she may end up prolapsing before anyone could see her, she was tipped almost all the way over onto her head, I had to support her completely, The vet managed to get us an appointment to see a specialist vet tomorrow who is supposed to be more of an expert in exotic animals (but doesn't care enough to see her now even though its clearly an emergency!) and she's just got to see the night out and hope she can get some help but... not too long after the injection she's become more alert and is eating and drinking and standing up straighter, she was almost tipping on her face before but now seems more stable, she's still a bit wobbly on her legs but as im typing this she flew up onto my hand! so from half dead to this is a massive improvement and I do have hope now, they have not long been wormed (last 2 weeks) with Flubenvet so I would recommend more than anything to get your chicks to the vets and get them a pain killer/anti-inflam injection straight away when they have these symptoms, its worked wonders and ill update what they think it is tomorrow when we have seen the specialist, but its looking promising for her to last until then now and not 2 hours ago she seemed hours from death, she's currently snuggled up with her 2 sisters ready for bed and has eaten and drank (we give them poultry drink and poultry apple cider vinegar in their water too) she's got her bum slightly raised still and her wings are drooped slightly but the gunk seems to have dried from her vent so I have hope that she will make it, Im so sorry for all your losses that didn't make it and hope this is helpful if your baby is suffering the same symptoms, no clue what the cause is yet but the injection has certainly perked her up and seems to have eased the pain which can only be a good thing! xxxxxx
so shes made a miraculous recovery and I really hope yours does too <3 xxx
