Hen laying down listless — Update: looks egg bound

[The Welch Chickens]

She ate a good amount of mash (containing electrolytes, coconut oil, calcium, and a bit of honey) and is drinking electrolyte water. She just did this huge, wet poop.

She seems to be breathing odd… snuffling, I’d call it. Like when a human has a cold and is trying to eat and breathe at the same time, if you know what I mean. What can I do? I already rubbed some VetRX on her head.

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

She ate a good amount of mash (containing electrolytes, coconut oil, calcium, and a bit of honey) and is drinking electrolyte water. She just did this huge, wet poop.
View attachment 3859937
She seems to be breathing odd… snuffling, I’d call it. Like when a human has a cold and is trying to eat and breathe at the same time, if you know what I mean. What can I do? I already rubbed some VetRX on her head.

I wish I could be able to help, but I don't have much experience with chickens. I always feel so sad when I see people going through tough times with their chickens and I can't help them.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I always feel so sad when I see people going through tough times with their chickens and I can't help them.

Same. Thanks anyway!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

She ate a good amount of mash (containing electrolytes, coconut oil, calcium, and a bit of honey) and is drinking electrolyte water. She just did this huge, wet poop.
View attachment 3859937
She seems to be breathing odd… snuffling, I’d call it. Like when a human has a cold and is trying to eat and breathe at the same time, if you know what I mean. What can I do? I already rubbed some VetRX on her head.

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive any idea why she's got the sniffles? Is it just a cold on top of the egg bound issue?

 

[The Welch Chickens]

This is her breathing…

 

[azygous]

Egg binding can cause crop issues. If her crop is full of liquid, she could be regurgitating fluid and it can back up into the throat, causing that sound. Have you felt her crop? Does fluid spill out of her beak when you handle her?

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Egg binding can cause crop issues. If her crop is full of liquid, she could be regurgitating fluid and it can back up into the throat, causing that sound. Have you felt her crop? Does fluid spill out of her beak when you handle her?

@azygous, thanks for replying.

I just felt it. It feels full of liquid, but none actually spills out. It that technically sour crop?

She's been eating a mash made with food pellets and is drinking water on her own.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Egg binding can cause crop issues. If her crop is full of liquid, she could be regurgitating fluid and it can back up into the throat, causing that sound. Have you felt her crop? Does fluid spill out of her beak when you handle her?

Agreed.

@The Welch Chickens has she laid an egg? If not, then I'd get her started on Calcium Citrate with D3, one tablet daily for a week.

If the crop is full of fluid, then that may be why she's breathing the way she is. Address that symptom according to the article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Do you notice any bloat or fluid in the abdomen?

 

[azygous]

Even a well chicken will occasionally regurgitate fluids from a full crop. I just had one of my chickens do it this afternoon. It's normal, especially if the chicken has been drinking a lot of water. Check your hen's crop in the morning. It's probably not sour crop, even though it may not have completely emptied overnight. If she has a stuck egg, the crop issue will resolve when the egg is passed.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

@The Welch Chickens has she laid an egg? If not, then I'd get her started on Calcium Citrate with D3, one tablet daily for a week.

She was egg bound on Monday afternoon. She laid the egg sometime during Monday night/Tuesday morning. She has not laid since, but I’ve continued to give her daily calcium in her food. I crush it up in either mash or scrambled eggs. She ate everything we gave her yesterday and drinks on her own.
She doesn’t seem to have a stuck egg at the moment based on her behavior, but I’m assuming she’ll have to lay again today.
My mother thinks she has a cold. She’s down with Pepper now and says she has snot coming out of her nose. She’s not eating her eggs.

A bit of background of last week’s happenings: we’re integrating some juveniles (who’ve had respiratory infections before, and were treated with Doxy-Tyl) into the adult hens (who’ve had light colds before and were treated with Doxy-Tyl), and it seemed like there was a light case of mycoplasma running through the flock. Bubbly eyes on one hen, sneezing, odd breathing on a juvenile. Made sense since they’re all stressed out. Treated with Doxy-Tyl.
Then Pepper got egg bound, and yesterday her…breathing issues?…began.