- May 23, 2009
- 16
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- 22
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1. Barred rock, three years old, has lost weight
2. I think she was egg bound or laying internally— no eggs, tho time spent in nest; warm, swollen abdomen, listless though “cheerful,” eventually the penguin walk, tail down. She never did walk with sagging wings, but now she is totally lame. She spends the day lying on her belly and eats fairly voraciously, but not as much as she used to. Waddles are pale and almost grayish. Feathers fluffed.
3. The apparent reproductive or abdominal problem existed as the only symptom for several weeks. Although she was less active than she’d been before, she continued to behave normally within the flock to the best of her abilities. The lameness started as “slowing down” and took about three days to fully take hold. She’s been lame and lying down for four or five days now.
4. No other birds are exhibiting symptoms although I did have another barred rock appear to die from egg binding roughly six months ago. She went quickly. Also, I initially separated the current ill barred rock because I caught three other hens ganging up on her savagely after she’d gotten the penguin walk and had slowed down considerably in her movements.
5. No bleeding, injury, etc.
6. Nothing happened to have caused the situation. I’m fairly conscious of what goes on in the hen house and their four paddocks. They eat well, get along well as a flock, have great roosters and are generally quite healthy. It’s a flock of about 24.
7. Bird has been eating commercial layer feed, yogurt, wheat, black sunnies, tomatoes, potatoes… she’ll eat what she normally would.
8. Poo has decreased in quantity. Exudites on vent area began to accumulate early on and was the first symptom that led me to check her out, notice she wasn’t laying, and that her abdomen was hard, warm and swollen. Poo does have green tint at this point.
9. As far as treatment, I tried the usual warm baths and general tonics for being egg bound. Nothing happened. I could not feel an egg or distinguish a particular mass when palpating her. I could not feel an egg when I tried to do so internally either. I separated her from the other hens, though she is still in the hen house with them and, before she stopped walking, had access to a mini-run within their larger area. I manipulated her exposure to light to trying to interrupt her egg laying cycle. I have been hand feeding her yogurt with fairly high daily dose of Vitamin E in it and some extra vitamins. She gobbles it down.
10. I do not intend to take this bird to a vet, though she’s a fine, friendly bird. When her symptoms degenerated right before she became lame, I assumed she had peritonitis or something similar and that she would experience a sudden death. But now, she’s become totally lame but still eats, reacts to other hens “visiting” her, and is generally fairly alert and responsive. I’m not sure what to do with her at all. She had exhibited no extreme discomfort, though clearly, she’s not fully comfortable. Her breathing does appear to be labored. Recently, she did start to give little distress squawks when I handled (or maybe mishandled) her. I doubt that I have access to antibiotics for her. I hate to see her continue on like this for real long, but I’m also not comfortable killing her by breaking her neck or something like that. I’ve only raised layers and have not actually ever killed a chicken yet.
I guess I’m wanting to know if it seems my take on this could be accurate: internal laying or tumors that have now impacted nerves and caused lameness. Also, I’d like to know what symptoms of distress in her I might observe that would warrant taking her life versus letting her die on her own. I am not really expecting her to recover. I’m guessing there may be some degenerative hatchery genetics at play here. Both ill barred rocks derived from the same large, commercial hatchery and were purchased through a local feed store. All the other hens in the flock came from small, respected hatcheries or from Sandhill.
1. Barred rock, three years old, has lost weight
2. I think she was egg bound or laying internally— no eggs, tho time spent in nest; warm, swollen abdomen, listless though “cheerful,” eventually the penguin walk, tail down. She never did walk with sagging wings, but now she is totally lame. She spends the day lying on her belly and eats fairly voraciously, but not as much as she used to. Waddles are pale and almost grayish. Feathers fluffed.
3. The apparent reproductive or abdominal problem existed as the only symptom for several weeks. Although she was less active than she’d been before, she continued to behave normally within the flock to the best of her abilities. The lameness started as “slowing down” and took about three days to fully take hold. She’s been lame and lying down for four or five days now.
4. No other birds are exhibiting symptoms although I did have another barred rock appear to die from egg binding roughly six months ago. She went quickly. Also, I initially separated the current ill barred rock because I caught three other hens ganging up on her savagely after she’d gotten the penguin walk and had slowed down considerably in her movements.
5. No bleeding, injury, etc.
6. Nothing happened to have caused the situation. I’m fairly conscious of what goes on in the hen house and their four paddocks. They eat well, get along well as a flock, have great roosters and are generally quite healthy. It’s a flock of about 24.
7. Bird has been eating commercial layer feed, yogurt, wheat, black sunnies, tomatoes, potatoes… she’ll eat what she normally would.
8. Poo has decreased in quantity. Exudites on vent area began to accumulate early on and was the first symptom that led me to check her out, notice she wasn’t laying, and that her abdomen was hard, warm and swollen. Poo does have green tint at this point.
9. As far as treatment, I tried the usual warm baths and general tonics for being egg bound. Nothing happened. I could not feel an egg or distinguish a particular mass when palpating her. I could not feel an egg when I tried to do so internally either. I separated her from the other hens, though she is still in the hen house with them and, before she stopped walking, had access to a mini-run within their larger area. I manipulated her exposure to light to trying to interrupt her egg laying cycle. I have been hand feeding her yogurt with fairly high daily dose of Vitamin E in it and some extra vitamins. She gobbles it down.
10. I do not intend to take this bird to a vet, though she’s a fine, friendly bird. When her symptoms degenerated right before she became lame, I assumed she had peritonitis or something similar and that she would experience a sudden death. But now, she’s become totally lame but still eats, reacts to other hens “visiting” her, and is generally fairly alert and responsive. I’m not sure what to do with her at all. She had exhibited no extreme discomfort, though clearly, she’s not fully comfortable. Her breathing does appear to be labored. Recently, she did start to give little distress squawks when I handled (or maybe mishandled) her. I doubt that I have access to antibiotics for her. I hate to see her continue on like this for real long, but I’m also not comfortable killing her by breaking her neck or something like that. I’ve only raised layers and have not actually ever killed a chicken yet.
I guess I’m wanting to know if it seems my take on this could be accurate: internal laying or tumors that have now impacted nerves and caused lameness. Also, I’d like to know what symptoms of distress in her I might observe that would warrant taking her life versus letting her die on her own. I am not really expecting her to recover. I’m guessing there may be some degenerative hatchery genetics at play here. Both ill barred rocks derived from the same large, commercial hatchery and were purchased through a local feed store. All the other hens in the flock came from small, respected hatcheries or from Sandhill.
