Hen splayed out in coop - not able to move - now laid egg

[MandS]

Hi everyone

I am delighted to say that, after 9 days, Peggy has made a full recovery. She is back in her coop, ruling it with a beak of iron, and acting completely normally.

She is still laying soft eggs which seems to be her thing. Even with TUMS she doesn't seem to metabolise the calcium and use it for shell production. We get the occasional hard shell, but most times, we find the remnants of where an egg has been with either a soft shell or a shell of paper thinness. I guess we just live with that.

So, again, thank you for all the help, advice, support and care. You make a difficult situation a lot easier to deal with because you don't feel so alone and unsure what to do. THANK YOU!!

What have I learned (for those who find this in the future):

• Lack of ability to walk can be down to many things but it is easy to try this first: Vitamin B complex. Adult standard dose tablet per day (not a high strength type) - any excess not used is expelled in urine. However if it is a muscular thing, it will help but it is not an instant cure
• Time - the hen will struggle (shake) when trying to stand up, so it is important to separate from the flock (also to protect her from injuring herself due to immobility) and also, because it was during our winter here, keep her warm (indoors for us).
• Panting seemed to be an issue which at first we thought was down to temperature. It wasn't, it was sheer exertion and when trying to stand, the effort and pain were enough to make her pant like crazy when she sat down
• Meloxicam pain relief is a good thing. It makes her more comfortable whilst it is in the painful stage. Don't overdo it but it really did help.
• The problem could be from a percussive injury to the single vertebra that they have. Spooked in the night, whatever, and she bangs it hard. This will have the effect of the tail going down when she tries to stand and it will be painful to stand. Not to be confused with the penguin stance of an egg bound or egg yolk peritonitis hen. We found Peggy with her legs stretched out behind her and she could not put them under her for about 2 hours and even then, only with gentle manipulation. They were absolutely rigid. This injury will take time to heal and it may never heal fully and your hen may have a limp or weakness when walking. We were lucky and she is as she was before.
• Sometimes an egg can press on the sciatic nerve and have a similar reaction to above. It was not the case for us but if it happens, laying the egg is important because it may relieve the strain but it may still have irritated the nerve. Like the vertebra injury, it may take time. Thanks @coach723 for that one!
• Don't give up. If your hen is still pooping correctly and eating with reasonable enthusiasm, then the prognosis should be pretty good but you may need to be patient.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

So for now, thanks again from me and Peggy!

 

[catballou]

The detox I use is here: not sure about availability in the UK, their website only shows retailers in US and Canada. You may be able to find something similar though. Some health food stores here carry it.
https://lilyofthedesert.com/product/aloe-herbal-detox-formula/
I've had it be very helpful in some birds with ascites, not so much in others. The upside being it's not really likely to do any harm. If you do find something, best to give it room temperature, this one has to be refrigerated after opening, so I let the dose warm to room temp before giving. For this one I give 4 ml a day for up to 7 days. And then repeat if fluid comes back, which it often does eventually.
I've had some birds with a lot of abdominal fat also, and sometimes it can be hard to tell if it's fat or if it's fluid just by feeling. In mine, ascites usually feels firmer than it does when it's a fat pad. If she had a lot of pressure on the sciatic nerve from that egg then it might take a bit more time for the nerve to calm down. Also possible that she had more than one egg in the pipe. I would still do the vitamins and calcium, see if she improves.

Does this detox give them diarrhea?
My 3 lb hen has gapeworm and waterbelly. I'm sure I should have just had her euthanized, but I just couldn't.

 

[MandS]

Does this detox give them diarrhea?
My 3 lb hen has gapeworm and waterbelly. I'm sure I should have just had her euthanized, but I just couldn't.

Since that post, Peggy died but she lived a good while after, probably another 18 months.

I didn't use the detox so can't comment. I've had other hens recently who got ascites and assist from draining with a needle, there wasn't much I could do other than making them comfortable.

Hopefully catballou will respond but I wish you luck and I think it's a good thing to try to help them rather than euthanizing. When they are pets, it's darn hard to let go and I've never yet had one put to sleep but I've done everything I possibly could to make their final days comfortable and calm. I think they appreciate it because they relax into the care.

Really wishing you well here.

 

[coach723]

Does this detox give them diarrhea?
My 3 lb hen has gapeworm and waterbelly.

I have never seen it cause diarrhea in any of my birds that I have used it on. If you want to give her more time, I would treat the gapeworm. You could try the detox to see if it helps, very much depends on the underlying condition, or you can attempt draining the fluid. Might make her more comfortable.

 

[catballou]

I have never seen it cause diarrhea in any of my birds that I have used it on. If you want to give her more time, I would treat the gapeworm. You could try the detox to see if it helps, very much depends on the underlying condition, or you can attempt draining the fluid. Might make her more comfortable.

Thank you for the reply. I had the fluid drained on Wednesday, so 3 days ago. She acting normally so far. I will drain fluid myself next time. Her only symptom Wednesday morning was she didn't want to eat the handful of scratch and sunflower seeds I throw out. She is super skinny now, but hopefully she will gain weight. She hasn't laid an egg in about 2 months.
I'll finish with the wormer, antibiotics and melixicamb and then do the detox.
So glad you posted it!