Only urate poop

[Eddie12109]

Hello.
I have a 9 year old hen. Eddie. I noticed she hasn’t pooped all day today. It’s 5 pm and she has not pooped once. She’s been acting fine, eating and drinking normally. Nothing seems wrong. I put my finger in her vent and didn’t feel anything. I could feel some slightly solid poop in her but no egg.
What could be going on? She pooped normally last night.
She does have arthritis and I noticed her one leg was creaking very loudly during her morning leg stretches.

What could be going wrong @azygous @Wyorp Rock ?

She has been panting all day but that’s not unusual. I can’t think of anything. I’ve seen her eat feed and when I rub her crop I don’t feel any grains, just water so it seems like she is digesting her food. I even gave her a part of a mackerel earlier and I can’t feel it in her crop.
I don’t know what’s going on.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is she drinking water? White urates without poop could be that she is dehydrated or she might have an egg or other blockage blocking her vent. At 9 years, she could be coming to the end of her life. If her crop is full and soft, she might be having a slow crop or developing a sour crop. You could offer a tsp of chilled coconut oil cut into small pieces for her to peck up to twice a day. Practice feeling crops in your other hens, to help determine if her crop is empty or full by tomorrow morning. Make aure that the other chickens do not pick on her. She can be separated in dog crate or basket with food and water close to her to reach. I would offer watery chicken feed and a bit of scrambled egg. Making her comfortable is probably the most important thing right now with her age.

 

[azygous]

I've a hunch she could have an egg issue. Is she the one still laying occasionally? Either way, pop a calcium tablet into her beak. It's just good insurance.

Is it still beastly hot there? She may have been a bit dehydrated. It wouldn't hurt to give her some electrolytes if you haven't already. Gatoraid would be fine to give her. Dehydration can cause leg weakness and the symptoms you described.

 

[Eddie12109]

Ok, I am giving her calcium now and will give electrolytes in the morning. No poops after that one a few hours ago.

Thankfully we didn’t get much damage. It was coming for us but it went further south. Just tree limbs and branches!

 

[Eddie12109]

@azygous, my bad. I should’ve worded that better. I sprinkle grit in their feed bowl every morning. I also provide a separate bowl for them to eat from but since Eddie does not have access to it (because she can’t walk) I do sprinkle some in the feed.
Haven’t you been doing that treatment for Tootsie for a week+ now? Do you see any improvement?

@Eggcessive i have been cleaning it three times a day, saline rinse, betadine, then neosporin or vetericyn. She still has pus coming out.

@Wyorp Rock, the stuff that ‘popped out’ did look like fat. The pus came before and I wiped it up before I could take a picture. I am definitely curious as to what the stuff was though, it would make sense it was pus.

So the reason why I am concerned is the pus that comes out is cloudy and slightly yellow.

Eddie had a breast blister that had tons of pus. It finally stopped but eventually I felt her keel bone feel odd and that the bone was growing outwards. The vet, after seeing the X-ray a few days ago, felt like Eddie somehow had bacteria eating away at her keel bone and her body fought it off and the bone grew over, but did not grow correctly. Eddie also has similar pus consistency that Dev is having.

^that is mainly why I am concerned. Maybe Dev could’ve picked up the same bacteria that Eddie had and is fighting off bacteria right now. @azygous, I feel like you brought up that it could be a staph infection. Either way, just so I have it on hand, which antibiotic would be best to treat something like this?
The pus color is worrying me.

And thank you for responding friends it means a lot.

 

[Eddie12109]

She just ate mealworms happily and is now eating more feed.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is good that she is pooping now.

 

[Eddie12109]

Thank you. I considered that but we really didn’t experience the whole hurricane until night. Eddie and Dev were outside like normal for the day leading up to it and the day after.

I would like to believe that but it seems very delayed. Pretty much a week since it happened.

Still no poop yet. She got her calcium and I massaged her crop. And she got a big ol hug for a while

 

[azygous]

The molasses flush I do is one teaspoon of molasses to one/fourth cup warm water. I don't think she needs it right now, though. My hunch is still on a blockage in the oviduct.

How is her behavior? Is she hunched and fluffed? It can't hurt to give her another calcium and encourage her to drink water.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would stop soaking her. It can be dangerous to soak a stressed hen, and you don’t want her being chilled. At 9 years old, has she even laid an egg recently? I would keep her comfortable, feed her moistened feed and egg, and keep her warm.