My hen is lethargic. Acting weird.

[OffGridChook]

She was fine today. Everyone laid eggs at 7 am. Literally was fine an hour ago. I went out there to replenish grit that got delivered. She took a couple pieces then stopped. She let me pick her up and flip her over with no protest. I checked her vent and it seems like it’s watery but not white discharge, she pooped and it was loose, watery with nitrogen but that wasn’t too alarming. No visible injuries, no doughy crop, in fact it’s not really filled at all( she’s due to load up for the night since it’s 6:37 pm here. I don’t know what to do. Kinda walking weird like an old woman with a tummy ache. Slow. She doesn’t even want sunflower seeds. Should I just wait and see in the morning?? It was mild all day, 60-70 tops. (((

 

[GoatGirl123]

Check to see if she is egg bound

 

[OffGridChook]

I THINK this is classified as a victory?? I gave Madame Curie a 30 minute long bath at about 8, intermittently checking on her. Came back in at 11, massaged her, and gave her more water and eggshell. She laid a snake egg at 11:11 pm in a box I set up in my bathroom. Well, she laid a shell-less egg with a fair amount of blood and I had to pull the soft shell that was peeking out of her vent. I gave her another warm bath and massaged her and she got out and was preening herself. I haven’t seen her do that since she got sick so I know she feels better. Or did I cause her prematurely lay tomorrow’s egg?? Whatever the case she’s still drinking, pecking at a little food and mostly eating a fair amount of crushed eggshell. I’ll check her again in a few hours. She’s just now starting to rest (again). Thank you so much!!

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Glad she passed the egg! My girl pushed out a wrinkled egg followed by a soft shell like yours, but no blood, about two weeks or so ago and perked up right away. But keep an eye on yours because my hen is now inside because I’ve been suspecting egg peritonitis with her . She’s been improving since Saturday, but her abdomen still feels a bit swollen, so I’m going to continue treating her with amoxicillin for five days just to be safe.

For your girl, though, I’d be concerned about that blood. Can you tell if it was inside the egg or outside? I’ve heard of eggs having blood in them, and I’m no expert. Maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in. Hopefully this is the worst and your girl will soon be on the mend.

 

[OffGridChook]

I cannot tell if the blood was inside or out. The majority of the white and the yolk were intact until I tried to pick it up with my hand, Unfortunately then I took the photo.
She felt a lot better the next morning. Eating, moving around, even making her cute little bawk bawks. I put her outside and she was her normal self. I assumed she’d lay an egg on the roost last night, she did. Soft-shelled and no blood. We’ll see if she gets back on track tonorrow. They are on a strict no snack (sunflower seeds) policy until I can figure this out. Thank you so much for your help! Btw I can’t really figure out where I’m supposed to be feeling for firmness. The area Above the vent, correct? I looked online at anatomy and the lower part was just their intestines I thought. I don’t feel firmness anywhere other than from the bones (synsacrum, femurs and lower ribcage). The stuff between just feels like it would be normal to me. But then again, I’ve only seen soft eggs. Madame has always been the fragile one in my opinion. She was the runt. I am sorry that your girl is sick. Hopefully it’s not EYP.

 

[OffGridChook]

I just went out and retrieved the soft egg to inspect it. It has a lot of shavings stuck to it; I tried to rinse it off. Other than some pink membranous bits in the white It looks like a typical Soft egg. (The yolk was just a mass of shavings but I tried to save some). Will keep watching her. I checked her vent, seems normal, clean, nothing hanging out. Plus she’s walking around like her usual inquisitive self. The darkness is from dirt and shavings as I had put it in the “poop bucket” after I cleaned under their roost and in their run this morning. I do that every morning and a few times a day. I have medium OCD

 

[CalBickieMomma]

I cannot tell if the blood was inside or out. The majority of the white and the yolk were intact until I tried to pick it up with my hand, Unfortunately then I took the photo.
She felt a lot better the next morning. Eating, moving around, even making her cute little bawk bawks. I put her outside and she was her normal self. I assumed she’d lay an egg on the roost last night, she did. Soft-shelled and no blood. We’ll see if she gets back on track tonorrow. They are on a strict no snack (sunflower seeds) policy until I can figure this out. Thank you so much for your help! Btw I can’t really figure out where I’m supposed to be feeling for firmness. The area Above the vent, correct? I looked online at anatomy and the lower part was just their intestines I thought. I don’t feel firmness anywhere other than from the bones (synsacrum, femurs and lower ribcage). The stuff between just feels like it would be normal to me. But then again, I’ve only seen soft eggs. Madame has always been the fragile one in my opinion. She was the runt. I am sorry that your girl is sick. Hopefully it’s not EYP.

Glad to hear your girl is feeling better! Eloise seems to be on the mend, too. She’s acting like her usual, bratty self (she has more attitude than her sisters). My fear, when it comes to laying the soft eggs, is that one of those might eventually break inside and cause really bad problems. Anyhoo, it sounds like we're both doing what we can right now and my rule of thumb is if the girls are acting like their normal selves, then I'll just keep a close watch on them for a while to see if anything changes (and I'm pretty on top of things since I spend a lot of time with my chickens). Here's to hoping everyone heals up soon!

 

[OffGridChook]

I do as well. Do yours also sit around you when you sit down in the run? I have a stool and I go out there to watch them and they all lie down around me.

Update on Madame: No egg after the soft one the next morning (Sunday) and still soft stools. She was moving and eating normally and I could not feel any firmness. By Sunday evening, still no egg so I decided to give her another bath but it was warm that day and she was panting so I only did it for about 10 minutes and then put her back in the run.

The next morning (this morning, Monday) she laid a normal egg and has regular stools and it eating normally. I don’t know what happened. I’m going to go tribute to watch her, I go out there many times all day anyway. I know who laid, who still owes me an egg, who is doing what. I’m absolutely flummoxed!