My hen is ailing and can’t walk!

[Usedtowanna]

I have an almost 1 year old barred rock. For 2 days she hasn’t been able to bear her own weight, she looked to have had slight vent prolapse (2nd photo) but it seems to be better now, she is panting.

We have her in the house and she is drinking some, eating some.

I have never looked at our hens as closely as I’ve had to with this one and there’s a part of her chest I am wondering about. Don’t know if it’s normal or something wrong but I’ll include a photo so I can know for sure. Her breast bone seems to be jutting out.

 

[coach723]

Do you know when she last laid? What do her droppings look like(is she pooping?), normal or not? Pictures are welcome. When you say she can't bear weight, can you explain....is she limping, stumbling, sitting on her hocks, are both legs under her, one forward, one back, etc? If you think she's having trouble passing an egg (could be that since you thought she'd prolapsed and is panting) then give her a calcium citrate +D (citracal) (one regular or two petites) once a day, to see if it helps her pass anything, it will help with contractions. You can insert a lubed finger about 2" into her vent to see if you can feel an egg. A warm soak in epsom salts can help them relax also, which can help them pass an egg, if that's whats going on.

 

[Usedtowanna]

Do you know when she last laid? What do her droppings look like(is she pooping?), normal or not? Pictures are welcome. When you say she can't bear weight, can you explain....is she limping, stumbling, sitting on her hocks, are both legs under her, one forward, one back, etc? If you think she's having trouble passing an egg (could be that since you thought she'd prolapsed and is panting) then give her a calcium citrate +D (citracal) (one regular or two petites) once a day, to see if it helps her pass anything, it will help with contractions. You can insert a lubed finger about 2" into her vent to see if you can feel an egg. A warm soak in epsom salts can help them relax also, which can help them pass an egg, if that's whats going on.

Thank you, I do not know when she last laid, but not since we’ve had her inside and it’s been a couple days. She is pooping and that seems normal. Both feet are tucked under her. I forgot to mention that I did do an epsom salt soak for 20 min yesterday and after that is when her prolapse seemed to fix itself. She seems to have good strength in her legs as she struggled to get out of the water soak while I was holding her.

 

[coach723]

I would give her a super B complex tablet or capsule daily (human ones, walmart has them, any pharmacy) as sometimes a deficiency in the B's can cause symptoms like this. The B's are very safe, no worries of too much, any extra will be excreted. See if that helps.