Lethargic Hen - Egg bound? I can't feel an egg!!!

[Jeepgirl]

Please help, I was evacuated from my home during the floods in Colorado, and therefore my chickens are not at my house. That means I cant check on them daily. I'm having an issue with my 3yo Buff Orpington hen that I haven't seen since Tuesday. She didn't look "right" on Tuesday but nothing that I could diagnose. Today there was something obviously wrong.

She's sitting there with her feathers all puffed out, not moving. Eyes closed all day. Comb is normal coloration, but she's not eating, and no poop. She just drank water for the first time all day a few minutes ago. I've soaked her in a warm bath twice today, and she's been sitting in my living room on a heating pad. She just lays there. She's NOT normally a hen I can even pick up without a fuss, so this is very bad.

I stuck my finger in her vent to check to see if I could feel an egg. . .nothing. I felt a grainy substance, and when I went to remove it, she finally starting moving the muscles there, but nothing else happened. I just gave her a small syringe of calcium to help her along.

I'm going to keep her in the living room all night tonight, but what in the world could be going on???? I know if she's egg bound, her weird behavior on Tuesday means she's probably at the end of her rope since it's Thursday now. I sure hope not. Hope someone is on here on Thanksgiving night

 

[Feather Fowl]

Oh dear. I know I am not a Vet but this sounds bad.

Any Chicken that is not drinking or eating is in a bad position. I would check for more symptoms. Is the keel (breastbone) sharp suggesting that it is underweight. Check the crop for liquidy substances or irregularities. Is she wormed and if so what from? Check for mites in feathers around the whole body including the vent. Is she sneezing, coughing or gaping. But most importantly try to see if you can get any information about the poo, if she poops. What color the urine, faeces and urates (normally white stuff) are of poop, does she have worms? We can narrow this down, but only so far as many illnesses have the same symptoms. This change in state would almost certainly come from a sudden change in environment.

Some harmless simple remedies include vinegar, vitamins and electrolytes. I recommend you try adding dilute vinegar in the water to raise stomach pH and try to kill bad bacteria. Maybe try some adding some electrolytes to water if this doesn't work. Or maybe you could try to give it vitamins through water. Check how to provide these. A multi-vitamin brand I know of is Ornithon. Use Vetafarm Polyaid Plus as an electrolyte. If none of these brands are in the area, check for other brands.

 

[Jeepgirl]

Well, I checked on her this AM, and seemed to be in the same state. Then 2 hours later I checked again, and she's completely limp, on her side, and still breathing (normally). Eyes closed. Looks dead, but still breathing.

Since it was Thanksgiving last night, I couldn't get any electrolytes or vitamins for birds. . .so I gave her calcium from a crushed up tums through a syringe feeder, and some gatorade. No help obviosly, because she's worse this morning. I put raw egg into her cage last night, and when I went to feed her this am, the egg was goey in her mouth, so she must have tried to eat.

No mites, no coughing, gaping, She did poop this morning, and it was mainly watery with bits of white solids, with a lot of silt looking stuff in it (grey sandy substance). There are little black dots in it (not sure what that was?). A massive poop, and it smells horrible. But that's the first one in 24 hours, and now she looks like death.

She was my fattest bird, and she was definately skinnier when I picked her up yesterday.

I'm just sad that I couldnt have her around every single day, and catch this earlier. She's gotten so sick so fast since I picked her up. I'm finally able to move the rest of my flock home today, and it looks like i'll be one short

 

[Jeepgirl]

Update. ..still lying there, breathing, and when I checked her vent, there was definately greenish/yellow poop coming out - looks like her normal stuff. She keeps pooping when lying on her side. Smells bad. And now her butt is all messy. But she's completely lifeless, eyes closed, and breathing. I doubt she's going to make it, but I'd really like to know what's going on.

 

[Jeepgirl]

Updated too soon. That was the last bowel movement. She just stretched out, opened her eyes, and died.

Can someone please help me diagnose so this doesn't happen to my other hens?! What could I have done differently? What do you think caused this?

 

[casportpony]

Sorry to hear about your hen. It honestly sounds like it's too late to save her, but you could try to tube fluids to her. If she dies, you should send her off for a necropsy.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for your loss. Here is a copy and paste from a thread I started:

How to Send a Bird for a Necropsy​

They need the whole bird, refrigerated, not frozen. If you live in CA, there are four labs that do necropsies on poultry (chickens, turkeys, waterfowl) for free. I know that they do out of state necropsies, but I think they charge for those. You could call them and ask what they charge for out of state "backyard poultry". The lab I use is the one in Tulare, CA. If you are in CA, call them and ask for their FedEx account number, it will save a bunch on shipping charges.

CAHFS
18830 Road 112
Tulare, CA 93274-9042
(559) 688-7543
(559) 686-4231 (FAX)
[email protected]


The other labs are listed here:
http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/services/lab_locations.cfm

If it's Friday, unless you want to overnight for Saturday delivery, I would suggest shipping on Monday for Tuesday delivery. What you need to do, if you haven't already done so, is put your bird in your refrigerator, NOT the freezer! Then you need to find a box, line it with styrofoam (I use the 4'x8'x1" stuff from Home Depot. You can also get smaller pieces at an art store like Michael's, but is way more expensive. Click here to see foam options. You'll also need at least one ice pack. Here are some pictures that I took of the last bird that I sent:

Box lined with foam on four sides and bottom. Seams of foam taped sealed.


Box, sides, bottom and and top.


Frozen ice pack in ziplock baggie.


Brown paper on top of ice pack.


Hen in ziplock baggie on top of brown paper.


Brown paper on top of hen.


Ice pack on top of brown paper.


Lid on top of brown paper.
​

Inside the box you should also include a submission form in a ziplock baggie. Do not tell anyone at FedEx that you're shipping a dead animal... that seems to really worry them. Just make sure that nothing will leak.

Hope this helps!

-Kathy

 

[Feather Fowl]

I am so sorry but I believe it was Marecks but to be certain send it off for a necropsy as I can only tell you my opinion. With Marecks disease there is no medicine, only vaccinations which are difficult to find as doses only come in per 100 birds and are expensive. Marecks disease causes the legs not to bear the weight of the chickens body and the toes curl. In the visceral form, tumors affect the main organs such as heart, kidney, ovary, spleen, liver etc. If it had white liquidy poop, that suggests liver problems. However I have no idea what the grey sandy substance was. If it is Marecks, chances are that your other chickens already have it as it spreads through feather follicles, fluff and dust. The chickens breathe in these infectious particles and end up with it. However many birds can be carriers but are more restrictive to the disease. Incubation of this disease takes about 3 to 4 months before a chicken may be showing signs. As for getting rid of the particles a would spray disinfectant around the place and probably maybe if you have a portable yard, move the yard. Give the coop a thorough clean of dust and cobwebs etc. Leave it for two weeks then allow them back in.

But this is only a possibility, as I do not know where you live and if it is in your country. I would send it off for a necropsy, or do a necropsy yourself. If you send it off for a necropsy, then they will tell you what your flock has got, and what action needs to be taken.

So sorry for your loss. R.I.P chicken. And good luck for the rest of your chickens