valesmichelle
Songster
Hello,
We have a Black Australorp hen who is approximately 1-1/2 old and is molting. She's lost features, has a lot of fluff, and new pin feathers coming in mostly on her back and wing area.
Yesterday, we noticed her not acting right. Our first thought was she is going broody because she was in the nest box for quite some time the day before and yesterday; but then we noticed her poop. It looked like a mixture of poop and yellow egg yoke, so our thoughts turned to her being egg bound.
We brought her inside and bathed her twice, massaging her gently to try and stimulate her egg laying abilities. Her vent is slightly pink, not quite red. Her comb and wattles are slightly red, but not pale. Her butt end (from the vent to the mid-breast) felt swollen and hard, not squishy like with water belly. I don't think she's laid and egg in a while; we have two other Australorp's so it's hard to tell who lays what Australorp egg. Most all of our hens are molting now, so we've not been getting but 3-5 eggs a day out of 9 hens.
We gave her food, water, and a bowl of egg yoke last night. I can't really tell if she ate the food or drank much water, but it does look like she may have ate most of the egg yoke.
We took her back out to the flock this morning. She's just standing there. She's not slouched over, just standing there. She just looks like she doesn't feel good. The other girls are pecking at her head and picking out feathers. They are not too brutal, but it's hard to watch the pecking order.
I understand without a Vet it's hard to diagnose a chicken problem, but what are the signs of a broody hen compared to an egg bound hen? Does my description match one, the other, or both?
Is there anything else we can do to try and help her?
Thanks in advance.
We have a Black Australorp hen who is approximately 1-1/2 old and is molting. She's lost features, has a lot of fluff, and new pin feathers coming in mostly on her back and wing area.
Yesterday, we noticed her not acting right. Our first thought was she is going broody because she was in the nest box for quite some time the day before and yesterday; but then we noticed her poop. It looked like a mixture of poop and yellow egg yoke, so our thoughts turned to her being egg bound.
We brought her inside and bathed her twice, massaging her gently to try and stimulate her egg laying abilities. Her vent is slightly pink, not quite red. Her comb and wattles are slightly red, but not pale. Her butt end (from the vent to the mid-breast) felt swollen and hard, not squishy like with water belly. I don't think she's laid and egg in a while; we have two other Australorp's so it's hard to tell who lays what Australorp egg. Most all of our hens are molting now, so we've not been getting but 3-5 eggs a day out of 9 hens.
We gave her food, water, and a bowl of egg yoke last night. I can't really tell if she ate the food or drank much water, but it does look like she may have ate most of the egg yoke.
We took her back out to the flock this morning. She's just standing there. She's not slouched over, just standing there. She just looks like she doesn't feel good. The other girls are pecking at her head and picking out feathers. They are not too brutal, but it's hard to watch the pecking order.
I understand without a Vet it's hard to diagnose a chicken problem, but what are the signs of a broody hen compared to an egg bound hen? Does my description match one, the other, or both?
Is there anything else we can do to try and help her?
Thanks in advance.
