Margo is in Trouble

[micstrachan]

I don’t need for work for well over an hour, so I’ll just continue to get ready and see what you friends say. Thanks. I’m cognoscenti of not causing stress, but also want her to ha be a chance to recover.

 

[Kiki]

Shoot, missed WPs post. Will she not just sleep if I keep her in the dark? Her tail was down, but she was standing upright on the roost. There’s not been much daylight yet and I could do this until I leave Friday.

I'm with Wyorp
I'd leave her with her friends. You aren't going to have time, just like the antibiotics, for trying to stop her from laying eggs in a dark room.


Stop messing with her...see if she works out the kinks on her own. The constant messing/changing/forcing stuff is not good.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's really all up to you Michelle, you know your bird best. A hen can lay an egg every 25-26hrs so she likely already has another one forming and on the way - especially if she is a daily layer like most Leghorns are.

I would still do the same as I posted previously, Nutri-Drench, water/hydration, calcium and see if she will eat something. Yesterday in the video, I'm assuming that was after she laid the thin shelled egg-she was drinking quite a bit. Dehydration and lack of calcium can make it hard form them to expel a soft shelled egg (or a regular egg for that matter).
My Leghorn drinks a tremendous amount of water daily.

If she is in the dark, then she won't be eating/drinking. Look it up, but I'm going to take a gamble that it would take several days to start breaking the cycle of laying eggs - which may do more harm than good, imho. I realize you feel a time crunch and are stressed since you are leaving Friday. You have to use your best judgment.

 

[micstrachan]

Ok. I was hoping Kiki would weigh in, too, as I knew what her answer would be. Bridge is looking for Margo. I’ll try to give Margo a calcium egg treat and let her out. My leaving Friday has me a bit frazzled on how to handle this.

 

[micstrachan]

I don’t think I stressed her out too much yet. Yesterday she did not want to get off the roost this early.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ok. I was hoping Kiki would weigh in, too, as I knew what her answer would be. Bridge is looking for Margo. I’ll try to give Margo a calcium egg treat and let her out. My leaving Friday has me a bit frazzled on how to handle this.

Do what you can.

 

[Kathy Golla]

I agree with Wyorp Rock and would do a couple of days of calcium therapy (and the vitamins/hydration/food) and I will bet she will be back to normal in a few days. I dont think the calcium therapy once a day will hurt her. Im with WR, I try to keep my flock together at all costs as its stressful to the hen to be separated.

If shes still not 100% remember what she went through the last couple of days, she's still getting back up to speed.

 

[micstrachan]

Margo is standing like a penguin in the corner favoring a leg. She refused the calcium egg treat. I fear if I just leave her, she eventually won’t make it. But yesterday she perked ip when it was egg laying time. Since she’s not eating (except a bit of egg yolk last night and peanut butter for meds yesterday morning, she has to be weaker. Called around yesterday for tube feeding supplies with no luck. Didn’t pursue it further when Margo seemed good at lunch. I will get aquarium tubing today and prepare to learn to tube feed. My only real fear there is stressing her out or not being able to see in her throat. I still Don’t know if she’s pooping, so I’m not gonna feed just yet. I think I’m going to lube her vent & check one more time for an egg. It might help her poop come out, too. Thoughts? I’d just do it right there where she is for minimal handling.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Was her crop empty this morning?

 

[micstrachan]

I already did it, and she handled it fine. Can feel an egg and she didn’t poop. Well, shoot. I was too much of an idiot to check her crop first thing. As of right now, though, it is not empty. I don’t think she’s eaten, except for I did see her picking around in the bedding. I wonder if she’s eating the pine shavings?

Edited for typos.