My Ivy.. Latest Relapse...She's Gone

[wegotchickens]

So very sorry you are going through all this.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

I just went through something like this with my seven year old red star hen last week. She looked egg bound but no egg felt, purple comb, straining to poop, unthrifty, wet filthy vent, etc. Saw this once in another hen and she had a bit of an impaction, dry poop stuck inside.

Solution: The sprayer on your kitchen sink. Yep, flush them out with warm water. Remember eggs are fair sized so the sprayer end will fit in the cloaca. A little dish soap for lube. I keep hosing until they stop shooting out poop and water. Worth a try, it might help your girls. Disinfect your sink and sprayer after.

I noticed this seems to occur in weather extremes, hot humid stuff like now.

My little red star is back to her normal spitfire self (she is #2 in the pecking order) and looks like she will make it to year eight!

Good luck.

 

[gumpsgirl]

I don't know what to say or do other than send you cyber-hugs Cyn.

Hopefully the sun will start shining again soon.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
For me Cyn, it's your complete and utter devotion to your birds that I find so inspiring! You put them first before yourself. That speaks volumes about your character.

You are worthy of our admiration, so just accept it!

 

[speckledhen]

You are just too kind, Serrin. Thank you. I do love my girls alot, but then, I'm sure most BYCers do, too. They are precious creatures, these little hens.

Birch Run, I think the problem is in the abdomen with these two, not the oviduct. With all the other hens who passed away, none of them had a distended, full abdomen at all. The abdomens were clean of egg material (other than one who had loose yolk in hers), so someone trying to palpate the abdomen would not have felt anything much. I fear the way this is presenting now is that their abdomens are full of "congealed/cooked" stuff.

 

[Serrin]

How are Ivy and Violet today Cyn? Sorry, I've been so darn busy the last two days!

This is the first chance I've had to get caught up. I so hope they're showing improvement.

 

[speckledhen]

I took scrambled eggs (sprinkled with a bit of AviaCharge 2000) to just Ivy and Violet. Violet, though she looks really awful, ate some of hers. I asked her if they were good. She used her little girl voice that I love and said, "uh, huh". She's always talked to me like that.
Ivy refused to eat the eggs. Even when I held them up to her, she looked at them closely and refused to take one bite. Yesterday, she was sitting down alot and she walks in slow motion, just like Vi. Not sure which one I'll lose first. DH thought Ivy's abdomen was smaller, but her actions tell me nothing is any better. Violet's rose comb is purple, shrunken and the little point on the back is curling forward. They are both very weak and off-balance so depending on what they look like today, we may have to help at least one of them along to that Great Roost in the Sky. The strong penicillin didn't work this time.

 

[gumpsgirl]

I'm so sorry Cyn.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I just found this posting too. So sorry Cyn.

Hope your father gets to feeling lots better.

 

[speckledhen]

I picked up Ivy today and DH is right. Her abdomen is about half the size it was previously. Still, she isn't eating, really, and she moves like she is in slow motion. So, what the shrinking abdomen means, I'm not really certain.
On a side note, they will be removing my Dad's gallbladder, where they finally found the infection to be, on Monday.