How to tell if hen is eggbound? Among other problems!

[ecocheapomom]

We have 8 nine month old NHR and we seem to be having a ton of problems right now. Most pressing would be the state of one of the two girls I have in my garage right now. Here are the details:
-moved her in last week as a companion to my best girl who was bleeding as a result of pecking by her tail
-this hen is one of the smaller and most docile (non pecker)
-she has not laid an egg since she got in there
-she doesn't seem to be eating much
-she has developed some scaliness and bleeding on her feet
-tonight I discovered a large swollen area under her belly, could she be eggbound???
-she feels thin other than this one area
-these two are in a baby put door play yard with hay covering the floor, they are sleeping right in the hay and have a large tub on its side as a makeshift nesting box
- they are getting their regular feed, water with cider vinegar, some wild bird suet and some scrabbled eggs here and there

Questions:
How can I tell for sure if she is eggbound?
Should I soak her? Reach inside her vent? Seperate her from the one other she is with?
How do you treat her if she is eggbound?
Why are her feet bleeding?

In addition to this chickens problems, we are having a severe problem with frostbite on the combs of several of our other hens who are still out in the coop. I didn't ge the vaseline on fast enough when the temps dropped and now they ahve large areas of black and then some spots turning white and some fluid filled areas. I have been putting antibiotic ointment on them once per day. Some are starting to look a little bloody in spots. I am so frustrated. I feel like giving up chickens at the moment. Can anyone help?

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

is there any way to move the rest of your girls into the garage on cold nights like we've had recently? last week i had put a small heater into my garage, right outside their coop door. it helped to keep the garage and coop about 20 degrees warmer than the outside temp (not including the wind chill!)

also, humidity can also be a big factor on why they got frost bite-the higher it is the more problems with frostbite happening.

as for the egg bound bird, i would give her a sitz bath for 20 minutes. if she feels warmer to the touch under her she could be running a fever and this might help to bring it down some. i'm not exactly sure how to tell if she is egg bound but it doesn't hurt to give them a bath to calm them down if they are in pain. giving her mushy food would be good too, yogurt and apple sauce seemed good for one of my egg bound girls, along with some antibiotics in the water just in case the egg has caused some infection if it is broken inside her.

 

[ecocheapomom]

Thanks so much for replying Chicki'sMoma! I will try the sitz bath tomorrow and see if I can get some yogurt and applesauce into her. I am so worried about losing her and I feel terrible that she might be in pain.
Where can I get the antibiotics?
I forgot to mention that I do have a heat lamp on the two in the garage and they are keeping prettty cozy under it. The coop actually feels warmer inside than the garage does, but as you know, it has been freezing out and the wind chill has been crazy! I don't think humidity is a major issue, but I'm not sure how to tell for certain. I probably can't move the outside girls into the garage because I have no way of then seperating them from the two that are under the weather. I was taking them back out for a bit each day to be with the group, but they just kept pecking the bad spots on Big Bertha. I am very worried about how I will integrate them back into the flock, but I gues we'll cross that bridge...
If is is "egg bound" does that just resolve itself? Thanks!

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

if you have a Blue Seal or Tractor Supply near by those should carry what you will need, or if there is any place that you get your chicken feed from and they carry other livestock supplies they should carry something-ask at the counter if you can't find it on the shelf with the poultry supplies.

the stuff you would want to get would be Duramicin or anything with tetracycline in the name of the antibiotic should help.

where about in NH are you btw?