Internal layer & I can't help her

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I have no experience yet with egg bound hens, but if you use the search link (upper left, in the blue bar above your logged in name - not the google search box on the right), you can search for egg bound in the emergencies thread - lots and lots of reading with suggestions. When she stands is her tail droopy? I do believe that is one of the side effects (do not want to say symptoms). I do know that Speckledhen has - unfortunately - experience with internal layers. Internal layers maybe another look-up you might want to read.


Is it possible (know you have been gone) that she hurt herself somehow - jumping down from a height or a bit of a tussle with a roo? With her only wanting to walk a short distance, I wonder about injury.

 

[cherylcohen]

I don't think she's injured..my fiancee was taking care of them so it's not like we had a sitter or anything. also she had the 3 bloody eggs before and was sitting alot even before I left.

I've been reading every post I can all morning...

 

[jjthink]

Cheryl - So sorry Rita is sick. It's a lot of days to be sick so far. If you can post everything imaginable to give clues (diet, age, etc etc etc...) to the folks here..... So many possibilities here. This could be an ailment needing antibiotics. If there is any possibility of an avian vet to help determine problem and remedy, she may really need this to come through okay. In the meantime try to make sure she stays hydrated and give her 3 drops liquid Polyvisol children's vitamins (without added iron) daily, by dribbling gently and slowly with dropper along her beak line so she swallows on her own and doesn't choke. This is not a cure but is an attempt to help her keep some strength- she will in all likelihod need medical attention. Eggbound sounds like a distinct possibility if she's been laying regularly and now has stopped. Give give her a crushed Tums (crush ina bit of water and dribble the slurry slowly along her beak line - same method as the Polyvisol). JJ

 

[cherylcohen]

just put my pinky finger inside her vent with mineral oil,could only go in 1 1/2 inches, should I be able to go in further. At 1 1/2 inches I didin't feel anything

 

[HorseFeathers]

It sounds like she could be egg-bound. jjthink's suggestions are great, and worth a shot — unfortunately our egg-bound hen (also named Rita) died, but I have heard of hens recovering on occasion.

 

[cherylcohen]

just gave her cat food and she's loving it, water with vitamins and electrolytes and she's drinking alot....tail hanging down though

 

[cherylcohen]

So I think I've done everything I can
vitamin/electrolyte water
felt inside even if it was only a little bit (really don't have a clue what I'm doing in that respect)
she ate cat food, sunflower seeds and a bit of scratch
she's warm
mineral oil inside vent.

She breathes occasionally with an open mouth..I'm worried she's in pain

 

[jjthink]

Give her the Tums post haste.
JJ

 

[Margot]

Did you try googling egg bound. When my hen was sick, I spend days on the net reading everything I could find. I found some very nice videos on how to clear"egg bound" hens. My hend turned out to be retaining fluid. Yours had alot of the same symptoms as my hen, dropopy tail, just wanted to sit, depressed. She would eat and drink, but would breath with her mouth open. I believe it had do so with the amount of fluild. Mine sort of waddled when she walked. Felt down between her legs and it was like a water balloon. I drained it off and she was good.

Good luck with yours hen.

Margot

 

[aveca]

Egg bound Treatment Works
.

After catching the afflicted hen, and placing her under your arm like a rugby ball, head out the back, bum facing up, try the following.

Fistly inspect the vent to see if the egg is trapped at the vent, also look to see if they is a white discharge from the vent, if so this is just the urates passing around the egg, meaning that the solids are trapped behind the egg, futher up the tube.

Now to try and aid the realease of the egg, it is suggested that you don a rubber glove, preferrably( for the hen), that you lubricate the finger with vaseline, ky or olive oil, this will make it more comfortable for the hen, and add lubrication to help the egg past easier.

Inside the vent there are two passages, the top one is where the egg comes down, word of caution this next detail wasn’t in anything I read, there may(probably is) alot of trapped wind, so you might not want to be looking to directly at the vent when you insert the oilled finger.

So apon entering through the vent you want go immediately up, when I did this I thought I could feel the top of the egg, but only just at the tip of my forefinger, I just very gently massage around the egde of the egg, it did feel soft shelled. It ‘s important not to break the egg, as this may lead to futher complications. I imagine this method alone would only work if the egg was trapped right at the opening of the vent.

The other method I incorporated with the above, was the warm bath, this sounds easier, I thought, well what you do is fill the basin with very warm ( warmer than hen body temperature), then sumerge the lower half of the hen in water, ensuring that her vent gets a good clean, and hold her in in there for 20 mins, this is a long time to hold a hen still in a basin, but it needs to be 20 mins to work, 10 mins won’t always do it, so the longer you can hold her in there for the better, this just generally helps all the muscles relax, loosens everything up. hen even closed her eyes for a little while during her second warm bath.

After the bath I gently dried her with an old towel, and let her back out in to the garden with the others, and the very next day her tail was up again, as we let our hens free range I didn’t find the offending egg. So if you have a hen that bum points to ground, try these methods first before taking an expensive visit to the vets.