Hen waddling/limping, strange poop—am I being paranoid?

[NC_Quail]

My 2 year old EE hen has been acting slightly off the past week or so, and originally I though I was being paranoid and not to worry about it, but some pooping issues today made me worry. For some background information, we free range our hens and feed them Layena Layer Feed (I am not sure of the protein percentages but I can check if needed). I feed them mealworms occasionally as treats, but not a ton. They don’t get any other treats besides the mealworms, but we do have a compost bin they like to look through.

Last week I noticed this hen was walking strangely, almost waddling, like a penguin. When she ran, she would not put much weight on her right foot (But she didn’t limp when she walked, just waddled). I checked her foot for signs of bumblefoot, injury, scaly leg mites, anything. It looked fine, in fact, she was walking normally the next day.

Today, when I let the hens out of the coop, the EE made this massive poop. Unfortunately I don‘t have a photo, but I was just water, no odd coloration, with some larger brown particles. A few minutes later she pooped again, this time small, slightly runnier than normal, and distinctly yellow-green. If she does it again I will get a photo. I also noticed she was doing the odd walking thing again today. my first thought was egg binding, because she has not layed an egg in a while, but neither has the other EE. None of the other hens have any symptoms. She is eating and drinking fine as far as I can tell, her voice sounds normal, I have not noticed any signs of injury, and there weren’t any worms in her poop. This issue really has me stumped, I’m not sure why it showed up a week ago, disappeared, and then reappeared again but worse.

Thanks everyone for reading my super long post, hopefully I can get this figured out!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Can you get pictures of your bird?

 

[Eggcessive]

This sounds more like a reproductive disorder such as internal laying, instead of egg binding, and can lead to egg yolk peritonitis. Antibiotics early could possibly help, but as this point, it may be advanced. Is her crop emptying overnight? Is she able to get up on the roost at night? Has she been recently laying eggs? Symptoms can include poor appetite, crop disorders or slow crop, runny poops, and reluctance to walk around. Some people have stopped their hens from producing eggs with hormone implants given by a vet, but that only lasts about 4-6 months, and is expensive.

 

[Myrshine]

Sounds like an egg may have broke inside her. Can you take pictures of her next poop? And pictures of her and her vent area?

 

[NC_Quail]

Thanks everyone for their input, and apologies for the late replies, today has been a little hectic. I was able to get photos of the hen in question, but I couldn’t pick her up to do vent photos. She didn’t poop while I was there. I noticed that she seemed to be acting much more normal this evening, standing/walking normally although I did notice she had her tail down. I will try and grab her tomorrow to get more in-depth photos.

@Eggcessive, to answer your questions, she can get on the roost, but it is a low roost. Her appetite has been normal as far as I can tell, but I’m not entirely sure how to check her crop. She has been free ranging normally with the other hens all day (despite the strange walking, she doesn’t seem too reluctant to follow the other hens around). Is there any explanation as to why it would be worse in the morning? I don’t remember her laying that many eggs in her first year, but it is hard to tell because we have two EEs and they are both erratic layers. We did get several blue eggs at the beginning of the laying season (after winter break), and I am pretty sure she laid some. It seems odd that this issue would have popped up all of a sudden.

Ok, finally some photos:

Earlier in the post I mentioned her standing with her tail down, but she is not doing that in this photo.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a picture of a very full crop, which is full in the evening before going to sleep, and should be empty by morning.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCPiW6N__o_YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

 

[NC_Quail]

Here is a picture of a very full crop, which is full in the evening before going to sleep, and should be empty by morning.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour/&psig=AOvVaw08HdFnDS_fJ9XyzMXEHd8j&ust=1646192671628000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCPiW6N__o_YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Ok, thank you. I will keep an eye on this tomorrow.

 

[NC_Quail]

Updated pictures today—unfortunately I wasn’t able to get anything too useful.
I was able to pick her up and I noticed that her crop felt very full and squishy. She ate a few pellets out of my hands and grass from around the yard, but I think you guys are probably right about reduced appetite. She was still walking weird today but was not holing her tail down. No foul breath smell. I got a picture of her poop, which was almost normal today (but much smaller than usual). There was no white in it yesterday. I’m not sure if she is getting better or worse. Again, thanks for all the help!

Eggcessive, I know you wanted pictures of the actual vent, but this is the best I could do for now.

 

[NC_Quail]

I also thought I would tag you on this thread @azygous

 

[azygous]

I am in agreement with @Eggcessive that this may be an early stage of EYP. An oral antibiotic might save her. While this is a very difficult reproductive infection to treat, it's worth a try. Watching a hen die of EYP is a very sad thing.

One way to tell if a hen has this is to feel just below the vent down just behind the legs. If this area is swollen while the breast bone is indicating weight loss, she likely is developing fluid in the abdominal cavity that contributes to peritonitis.

See if your TSC has amoxicillin. If thy don't you can get it here. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/