Please advise! My hen needs help

[Friendly Flower]

Hi, I am pretty new to raising chickens (8 months into it) they are "pets" and the bonus is that they lay eggs! One of my1 1/2 yr old hens has been a little down for a few days. She keeps her head tuckind-in like a turtle, and her tail is pointed down instead of her usual perky self , head and tail up!!
She eats, drinks, not too much but still doing both. Her belly between her legs is very swollen. I thought she may have had an impacted egg so, I did it..I lubricated my finger at the instruction of a chicken book, and stuck it up her bum and gently tried to feel if there was something hard like an egg...I went in about 2 inches and felt nothing except poop. I think it is her intestines that are swollen. yesterday, she was lying down most of the day, "pumping her tail" as if she was going to lay an egg.(she did not, and is still "pumping" her tail).
aha I have tried thus far:
1. I held her in a leg-to-tail- deep warm epsom water bath for about 10 -15 min, then rinsed her off. she seemed to like that so I'll try it again today.
2. been giving a slight amount of apple cider vinegar in her water (1/8 tsp to 4 oz water)
3. tried cottage cheese
4.leaving a variety of food for her to keep eating: baby greens like beet, kale, spinach, grit and regular pellets some meal worms.

I'll check again today if there is an impacted egg, but short of that, I don't know what to do. I have her inside to keep her warm (it's still pretty cold here in Maine), her mates are back in the chicken house I know she would probably rather be in stead of a 18" X 18" cage inside.

Please help! where she is swollen, is her lower belly, quite reddish-pink in that area, between her legs, just almost up to her vent. Poor thing!
Thanks Danielle

 

[Eggcessive]

She possibly could have an intestinal infection which might be diagnosed with taking some fresh droppings to your local vet to look for coccidiosis, worms, and a gram stain for enteritis. Her symptoms also could be from a reproductive disorder such as internal laying, salpingitis, or egg yolk peritonitis. Those are hard to diagnose without a vet, but usually they are either laying thin shelled or rubber eggs, or not laying. At her age she may be starting her first big molt, and that is a time of stress. The sometimes eat much less, are standoffish, and this tends to be a time when they can become sick, in my experience. Check her all over to see that her crop is emptying normally over night, look at her poops for color or diarrhea, look for evidence of lice or mites, check her breastbone when you pick her up to see if she is losing weight. Feed her a small bowl of her feed mixed with a lot of water, a tsp of plain unsweetened yogurt, and 1/2 chopped egg.

 

[Friendly Flower]

gosh, thank you for your quick reply!
her droppings are fairly few (maybe 4-5 /day) and they were super stinky. green with white, somewhat loose. Unfortunately, we have no vets that work with chickens up here! I will try your feeding instructions..and I do think maybe she has some intestinal stuff going on. I was putting oregano oil in their water-then, in their last watering, I put some chicken ("rooster booster" brand vitamins & electrolytes with facto bacillus. that was the only thing I did differently a day or so before I noticed her head tucked in and tail down. should i go ahead an put the organic oregano oil a little in her water? The oregano oil is actually a product called " Ropadiar" Liquid organic premature just has an emulsifier and oregano oil. i've been putting that in their ranking water for parasites/worms before the last batch of the rooster booster. I didn't put BOTH together in the water because I didn't want them to possibly not drink if too much weird stuff/taste in their water. I did not she seemed to get scale leg---I think thats a type of lice pushing her scales up and off her legs. i have treated that for a couple days with epsom salt soak with a rub down of coco oil mixed with tea tree oil on her legs. maybe the oregano oil would be good to add back into her water? thank you, Danielle

 

[Friendly Flower]

and her eggs have always been a little big, elongated and slightly rough/sandpaper-y on the outside. she had been recently laying one a day or so-none for the last 3-4 days

 

[Eggcessive]

I would use the Vitamins With Lactobacillus in her water until she starts eating and drinking better. You may want to re-check her for a stuck egg every day, just in case one is stuck up higher. Dark green droppings are a sign of not eating enough. If her scales are raised, that would be scaly leg mites and those are different from lice or other types of mites. You cannot see them. With her next bath you could gently scrub her leg scales to loosen them, then dry them. Then apply some oil to her legs once a week. Castor oil from the laxative aisle is very good to apply, it is less messy than other oils or vaseline, and lasts longer. You can get larger quantities online for about $12. If you should lose her I would either do a necropsy myself, or send her off to the state vet or poultry lab for one. Hopefully, though, she will get better.

 

[supercow69]

Is your hen eating?