Lavender Orpington seeming to have difficulty pooping

[BY Bob]

Something seemed off with my lavender orpington, Hattie, this evening. I was watching her when she went to relieve herself she kind of squeaked and nothing came out. I scooped her up and this is what I found.

I do not know what i am looking at. I am alone this weekend and I have no access to an avian vet.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Hattie is a lavender orpington. She is around 7lbs and is a little over 2 years old

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
I described it above, difficulty pooping. I did feel her abdomen. It is not distended, there are now masses that I could recognize, and she did complain when I did so.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Near as I can tell it started this evening

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
None of my other hens are exhibiting any symptoms

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
I am not certain what I am looking at above.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I know of no traumas or strange things that might be connected with this

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She had been eating and drinking normally and has a full craw at bedtime

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
You can see some in the picture. It looks normal, no blood, not runny

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
To this moment I have done nothing she went to bed with the rest of the flock normally this evening. I don't even know if I need to do anything.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Whatever has to be done i will have to do myself. I know of no avian vets in my area.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
See above

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
They have a large coop with chopped straw for bedding. Here they are in the coop. Hattie is sleeping on the floor but that is not unusual for her. She has been doing that all summer.

 

[Jeanw]

Hi by bob, I’m sorry about Hattie. It kind of looks like an egg is stuck. Are her eggs normally light brown color? Hopefully someone with more experience than I have sees your post and can help Hattie.

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks for the reply and the well wishes. Her eggs are brown.

 

[Ribh]

I can't help. Prayers for you both.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Bob.
First of all you need to check for egg binding. It looks like that might be an egg there.
Get some coconut oil and apply a liberal quantity around the vent and inside the vent.
Grease your finger; don't use gloves, and insert your finger into her vent. If that is an egg you will be able to feel that it feels different to the surrounding tissue. It should be quite obvious. However, if you are in doubt then get a thin paint brush or even a pencil and tap what you can see in the center of her vent shown in the picture above. The sound and feel of a piece of wood hitting eggshell is very different to the sound of flesh.
Do that now. Then come back and post what you find.

 

[BY Bob]

I can't help. Prayers for you both.

Thank you.

 

[BY Bob]

Hello Bob.
First of all you need to check for egg binding. It looks like that might be an egg there.
Get some coconut oil and apply a liberal quantity around the vent and inside the vent.
Grease your finger; don't use gloves, and insert your finger into her vent. If that is an egg you will be able to feel that it feels different to the surrounding tissue. It should be quite obvious. However, if you are in doubt then get a thin paint brush or even a pencil and tap what you can see in the center of her vent shown in the picture above. The sound and feel of a piece of wood hitting eggshell is very different to the sound of flesh.
Do that now. Then come back and post what you find.

I do not have any coconut oil so I am headed to the store. Here is video of how her bum appears this morning.

 

[LozzyR]

Hi Bob, Shad would know this better than me, but to me her vent looks normal again. Can you clean her up and take some more photos and/or video again? I spent time last week staring at vents and Hattie’s looks like my girls’.

 

[Shadrach]

I do not have any coconut oil so I am headed to the store. Here is video of how her bum appears this morning.

I can't see anything that looks like a prolapse in that video.
Has she laid an egg?
It is possible she has stopped straining in the video. You still need to check her for egg binding.
If it's there, it won't be very far in.
If she is pooping then that's good. It means neither the egg or the pressure from an egg if it's stuck is closing off the exit to the intestines.

 

[Shadrach]

I wonder if this is what you've seen Bob.
This is normal egg laying.
Notice in the final picture the hens vent is still distended. It takes a few minutes for the vent to return to it's usual condition.
With a dirty bum and a few feathers messed up this can look quite alarming if you haven't seen it before.