Only urate poop

[Eggcessive]

Are you feeding her only scratch grains? Or is that a scratch and peck type of feed? Do you feed a balanced chicken feed, either layer feed or all flock feed? Scratch is not a complete feed and does not have what she needs. I wouldn’t give a molasses flush since she had a liquid poop. If you insist on giving it later, dosage is 1/2 ounce (15 ml or 1 tablespoonful) of molasses to 2 cups water. Allow her to drink that for 4 hours and change to plain clean water.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Yay for poops! Give her a couple more throughout the day if you can.

 

[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.

 

[Eddie12109]

@Eggcessive she eats a grower/broiler feed since she is no longer laying eggs and doesn’t need the calcium in layer feed. I will attach a picture.
I have been gone but am heading home right now. When I left, her comb was slightly purple and her head feathers were fluffed. I was hoping it was because she is cold from the bath. I will update when I get home.

I will give another calcium when I get home.

So @azygous for the blockage, could that be anything? Or are you implying she has an egg stuck?

 

[Eddie12109]

Also ^ when is the next time she gets an Epsom salt soak?
I just have calcium. How long should I wait before I give the molasses flush?

What else could this be besides an oviduct blockage?

She’s also shivering some. She’s not wet anyone either.

 

[azygous]

I'd hold off on the molasses flush for right now. But give her the calcium. Even old girls can try to produce an egg in their old age, and it almost always causes them trouble. Big trouble.

Because the shell gland is aging along with the rest of Eddie, the egg is likely stuck there in a soft state, and will be difficult to get it out. That's one possibility.

The other one is cancer. It can produce tumors that will block the oviduct just as an egg would. If this is what's going on, Eddie may be in her last days and we can't do anything about that except love her as much as you can while she's still here to love.

A vet might be able to X-ray Eddie and see if anything is blocking the oviduct. But as far as doing anything more than what you are already very capably doing, is doubtful.

 

[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.

 

[Eddie12109]

@azygous
What about constipation? No egg, just she has a hard time pooping? I looked it up and there are articles about it. One possibility was giving too much protein... I have been giving 6-8 mealworms daily or every other day. I am not sure, just trying to look at every option.

If it is a soft shelled wouldn’t I still be able to feel it when I stuck my finger in? I did that this morning and couldn’t feel anything, just empty space.


@Eggcessive so I did go and look at treatment for regular constipation in chickens and it is recommended that the soak is done. She has not laid an egg recently. She popped one out a month or two back but not lately.

She isn’t stressed anymore; she’s sitting in the sun with me and eating some feed.

After calling 20 vets I finally found one who treats chickens. She has an appointment for 8:30 tomorrow. I am not sure if we will be able to do X-rays or something serious because of how old she is and money but we will see. But for right now, is there anything more I can do?

I would think the molasses flush would push everything through and help break down whatever is going on in her. I’m leaning more towards constipation. She’s acting tired and has yet to poop besides this morning. Only 2 poops in the last 24 hours.

 

[Eggcessive]

If people do bathe or soak chickens, they should be inside where it is warm, and should be blown dry after toweling off until they are dry. Does she have any enlargement of her lower belly where there could be masses inside from salpingitis and internal laying or fluid from water belly?

 

[Eddie12109]

She got blown dry and wrapped in a towel after, I guess she just got cold easily by the little water left on her.

She has no fluid in her abdomen, it feels normal. No bumps, and no enlargement. My other hen does have ascites so I have been giving her some herbal things and Eddie gets them as well. I was suspicious Eddie had ascites a few months ago so she started getting the treatments I give for it. The treatments I give sometimes makes all the liquid disappear so it is possible Eddie has ascites but the treatment is working. When I first suspected her to have ascites, her abdomen was slightly enlarged and felt like it had a small amount of fluid in it.

It is odd though because she should have at least some fluid coming back by now... I’m not thinking she has ascites but thought I would just put that in there.