Buttercup is my internal layer/strange layer. She has never layed a normal egg. She lays shell-less eggs, and lately has been laying one (always broken) everyday. She's the hen I posted about that was laying "weird eggs" Well yesterday I noticed she looked off colour again, and so I picked her up for a look. Her entire abdomen is distended, and although it's slightly squishy there isn't much more room for it to swell.
So last night I gave her a warm bath, I gloved up and had a little feel inside. I also palpated her stomach and could only feel a smallish ball type object but that was close to her sternum, so I didn't think that was the problem. A little bit of egg white stuff cam out which I think could have been poo, but that was it.
I kept her warm overnight and have just given her another bath and had another feel around. The thing is, when I get to the length of my little finger inside her, the tube narrows down to where I can't get my little finger any further. If I gently push on the abdomen at the same time, I can't feel any egg at all.
Now I'm wondering if she has a twist in her insides? There's no way an egg could get past the point where my little finger was (felt like a tight sphincter muscle) So my guess is she has an internal malfunction that is preventing the eggs passing, or she has a twist which means even her weird little eggs can't get out now either. Oh and she is also not pooing, but then of course the pressure from the swollen abdomen could well be preventing that.
So I have decided to cull her. She has started to breath through her mouth constantly now, and their is a little clicking sound with each breath, so her lungs must be starting to get constricted. It's not fair to keep her alive if their is a chance she is suffering.
I am going to open her up after I have culled her so that I can hopefully see what was going on. The reason I'm posting this is really just to give the final chapter on my poor little ex-battery hen Buttercup. I just hope she enjoyed the 8 months free ranging away from the battery farm.
I'll update later with pictures.
So last night I gave her a warm bath, I gloved up and had a little feel inside. I also palpated her stomach and could only feel a smallish ball type object but that was close to her sternum, so I didn't think that was the problem. A little bit of egg white stuff cam out which I think could have been poo, but that was it.
I kept her warm overnight and have just given her another bath and had another feel around. The thing is, when I get to the length of my little finger inside her, the tube narrows down to where I can't get my little finger any further. If I gently push on the abdomen at the same time, I can't feel any egg at all.
Now I'm wondering if she has a twist in her insides? There's no way an egg could get past the point where my little finger was (felt like a tight sphincter muscle) So my guess is she has an internal malfunction that is preventing the eggs passing, or she has a twist which means even her weird little eggs can't get out now either. Oh and she is also not pooing, but then of course the pressure from the swollen abdomen could well be preventing that.
So I have decided to cull her. She has started to breath through her mouth constantly now, and their is a little clicking sound with each breath, so her lungs must be starting to get constricted. It's not fair to keep her alive if their is a chance she is suffering.
I am going to open her up after I have culled her so that I can hopefully see what was going on. The reason I'm posting this is really just to give the final chapter on my poor little ex-battery hen Buttercup. I just hope she enjoyed the 8 months free ranging away from the battery farm.
I'll update later with pictures.
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