PLS PLS HELP! cx laid egg w/out shell - has not gotten up 18 days!

[polochic]

Hi, thank you so much for reading this and I hope that my buff orp, Ginger can benefit from others exp. On Sept 5, I found Ginger, a 6 month old Buff, collapased in her coop. She could not walk. She had not yet laid her first egg, her sister had just laid maybe a week or 10 days before.
I checked the BYC site, and suspected she was egg bound so soaked her in a warm soapy bath. After several hours she laid an egg w/out a shell. I figured this was over- and she would get up. 18 days now... in the last week, her stools are totally normal and she is alert and eating and drinking. I have been giving her a tums daily crushed in something delicious and recently added a vitamin C. She is on laying mash.
Finally. yesterday I took her to an exotic andimal vet. Her temp was normal at 105 and we drew blood and found that her calcium was at 13 which apparantly is normal for a cx which is not laying.
She has movement in her legs, one is turned in slightly. She scoots around a bit with her wings and beek to steady her. I fear she has some kind of internal injury.? Maybe something neurological?
The vet has no idea and has called Georgia Vet etc, and has gotten no help. We did give her 3 CC of calcium yesterday, and she seems to possibly be moving around a bit more, but not even close to getting up. I'm going to pick up a few syringes of Calcium to adminster IM myself tomorrow. Does ANYONE have any ideas or exp. with this?? Please help!! I'm desperate.

 

[Elite Silkies]

bump

 

[miss_jayne]

firstly, sorry for this issue.

most times, shell-less eggs are from stress. sometimes when the gears get going the body doesn't have it's poop in a group and first eggs just don't have shells. it's normal. it's not usually lack of calcium.

calcium has nothing to do with her other issues most likely. stop with the crazy calcium treatments. calcium wont help with egg binding either if that is the issue. if her calcium was normal at draw, stop giving her more. it's nonsensical. too much calcium is dangerous. it can cause kidney stones and be deadly. STOP.

stop with the vitamin c. unless you know exactly how much to give her you could make her really sick. vitamin c is a vitamin that can build up and become toxic. did the vet prescribe this? if not, stop.

if she was egg bound, the vet would have told you and would of taken care of it and then put her on antibiotics also for after care. you can feel inside if she is, the vet would easily fix this.

if your chicken has been lame for this long with no treatment it is very long. is her wing drooped on the same side as the leg that is bad?

what tests did your vet run exactly? x-rays? blood tests? fecal?



you stated that she is a buff orpington, then refer to the chicken as a cx, cornish cross or chicken abbreviation here? cx refers to cornish cross in abbreviations. could you clarify this statement????

 

[polochic]

CX just meant chicken. Sorry for the confusion.

The exotic vet is basically clueless!! I had him run the blood. He did no other tests. HE doesn't know ANYTHING about chickens. Didnt even know the coreect body temp!

Her wing is not drooped at all.

What tests can be done to determine the problem? What do you think the issue is?

Any help would really be appreciated.

 

[miss_jayne]

most vets don't know really anything about poultry. it's just not demanded. and to be honest, let's face it, are most customers going to pay the money for tests, xrays etc for chickens? nope. a parrot yes, chicken, no.

if the wing was drooping, it could point to marek's, but this is an atypical age to get it. not impossible, just atypical.

there is a litany of things that it can be. if it's neurological it could be anything from a fight to a disease. and personally i think it sounds as such. you don't mention any other symptoms and they would present. i think that you may need to face the fact that Ginger may need to be put down. then, you can have a necropsy done at a University such as MSU in fact, call Angelo there and see if he can recommend any help, but i think he is going to tell you the same.

we unfortunately, as humans want to save everything and help everything. we assign human feelings to these animals. while we do have charge over them, we also need to be able to know when is 'when'.

 

[purpletree23]

I would ease up on the calcium. Actually you have given her so much I would stop all together for at least 2 weeks. She is getting enough maybe she can't absorb it.

I would get some Poly Vi Sol liquid baby vitamins WITHOUT IRON. Give her 3 drops by beak in the morning and 3 again at night for at least 2 weeks and see how she does. Also make sure she gets some sun everyday.

I think she has a vitamin deficiency.

Keep us updated and I also agree to stop the vitamin C.

 

[McGoo]

so sorry. bump

 

[polochic]

Thanks so much for your advice Lady Jane. I will call Angelo tomorrow. I really do appreciate it!

Thks Purple tree and Mcgoo! Will try the Poly Vi Sol liquid.

 

[miss_jayne]

you are most welcome. it could be a niacin deficiency which is what purple may be speaking of. the sunshine will give vitamin D.