infection, egg binding or ???

[lemenu]

hi chicken hive mind,

i'm trying desperately to figure out what's wrong w "lil grey " she's an americuana easter egger 7 mo old. 2lb 10oz as of this am. she's sick, has a hurt foot but may also be egg bound ?
her keen seems good, maybe a bit under nourished. skin turgor decent. no dehydration yet.
(do you just pull/pinch at the skin, and check if it bounces back ?)

yesterday 8am i noticed that she was in sitting down in the corner all puffed up.
when i went to feed the rest of the flock, they all ran, she moved slowed and was still puffed up.
12 hrs later, closing the coop she had moved to the lower nesting boxes & was still lethargic & puffed up. i brought her home/inside. she's been very quiet & lethargic.
her right wind is droopy & tail feathers are saggy. she "yawns" or gasps a lot. droopy eyelids. will eat but won't walk towards food or anything.

last night it was late & i gave her 1 epsom salt bath last night & dried her off.
i also try to see if she had an egg near her cloaca about to drop thinking she was egg bound but couldn't feel anything. i didn't know how much or if i could treat her in the evening so it was all via headlamp & candle light.

she received 1 epsom salt bath this am 8am PST. & food oatmeal w olive oil, egg yolk, calcium drops, sick chicken electrolytes, crumble mash. lettuce leaf. water.
i found the post recommending not giving baths to sick chickens so i'll stop that. but i do want to soak her foot to see how badly it's cut.

what else should i do ?!

today is the 2nd day of symptoms, but yesterday i noticed some poop in the lower nesting boxes from possibly fr previous night. so she never made it to the roost 2x. which means it could be the 3rd day. (i share this flock my neighbors community)

no other birds in the flock seem to showing similar signs.

upon further examination, this morning there's blood on her right foot. see pic.
i'm going to soak it in saline and try to find some antibiotics but only have blu kote, no vetericyn or Chlorhexidine or banixx. yet ! it's been ordered.

i don't know what happened to her foot, or why she'd feeling ill.
i do feel better knowing that there's an external thing i can look at but i feel like it's something more than just her foot. can an infection make her be overall that sick ?

she drank some of her (mild epsom) bath water last night & has been eating and drinking today.

her poop looks normal so far (see pic )didn't poop at all last night.

last time i took a chicken to the vet, he wasn't much help, $30 and she died a week later.
i don't want her to die if there is something i can do, so maybe going to the vet just would make me feel better. it may be the only way to get antiboitics now though.

she's currently on the bathroom floor w towel. over night was in a basket w bedding.
but i was going to move her do a dog pen in the shed, or to my neighbors house.

TIA for the advise/insight !
m

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry to hear about your sweet-looking little pullet. I cannot see the leg well enough, but it does look swollen and injured. That might be why she is lethargic and not moving well, since it must have been hard to get enough to eat and drink. Check her crop to feel if it is empty, full, hard, or puffy like a balloon. Gasping can be a sign of a respiratory or heart issue. The yawning could be crop-related or heat or breathing related. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out what the problem is. Feel inside her cloaca up to 2 inches to feel for a stuck egg. Make sure her food and water is right next to her. A homemade chicken sling can help to get them upright with food and water in front of them. If her crop feels normal, give her water in a small cup up to her beak. Offer her some chopped egg, wet chicken feed, mixed like oatmeal. Has she been laying eggs long?

 

[lemenu]

as far as i know she hasn't laid a egg yet, but it's hard to tell since she's part of a flock of 12 we got in march and only some of them started laying. i was hoping hers would be the easy ones to tell if they were going to be blue or not brown or white.

i tried to feel for about an 1.2 " for a stuck egg, but couldn't feel anything. will try again.
some internet post mentions that rar
she's not popping her tail or cloaca or walking like a penguin so i've been doubting weather it's a bound egg.
simutaneously, hoping it maybe just that simple.

if it was just the foot issue, would an infection get so bad as to cause the other symptoms ? she's not using the other leg at all.

her crop seems fine. admittedly i'm not entirely sure what i'm feeling for. i checked the rest of the flock to compare.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her leg could be infected. Do you think the others could have pecked it, or something bit her? So now she cannot using either leg now? I worry a little about Mareks disease, since they can lose use of one or both legs or wings. It affects chickens this age and younger more commonly. If you could not feel anything, then she may not be egg bound. Sometimes young pullets can suffer from laying disorders, although it is more common in hens 2 and older. Is she eating and drinking today? How does her poop look like today? The crop should be felt if there is food inside. It should gradually fill up during the day, and empty overnight. Some birds will eat grasses or food that won't go down, or the crop may not work properly. When this happens, they may feel hard and full or puffy like a balloon. Here are some pictures of slings:

 

[lemenu]

took her to the vet today. he said it was a respiratory infection. 50/50 chance, Baytril/Enrofloxacin 22.7 mg for 10 days. the foot will heal, or she might loose her toe, but the lungs are the main problem now. we're isolating, which is easy since she's not moving a lot.
her crop is fine and she's not laying yet. (but has been eating layer feed along w her sisters)
she didn't stay in the sling yesterday, so will have to redesign & try later.

thanks for all your help !

 

[Eggcessive]

I hope that she responds to the antibiotics. Keep us updated on how she is getting along. If you should lose her, I would consider getting a necropsy by your state vet to identify what was wrong, in case she had other problems.