Poorly Girl, help needed! I am a novice!

[ChrisT6156]

Hi all,
Firstly what a fantastic site, secondly I was not expecting my first post to be about a poorly Hen.
I am very new to keeping chickens, in fact I only got my three girls last Saturday. All three are ex battery chickens,however they are great looking chickens, with all their feathers and are nice and plump.

I collected the girls last Saturday, and placed them in the coop, although they had a long journey they all seemed fine. All three walked around and I believe they all drank and ate.

However for the last 3-4 days one of the girls seems unwell, she stays in the nest box and does not come out for food or drink, she is also unable to stand on her feet, and one of her wings is drooping. I am having to take her out of the coop and give her food, I am turning the pellets into mash, which she does seem to enjoy, she also drinks well too, however she does not get up on her feet to do this. Her crop is fine, her feathers are all good, her eyes are nice and bright, and her nostrils are clear.

She goes to the toilet without moving so her underside gets covered in poo! So am cleaning the nestbox almost daily to try and keep her clean.

I really have no idea what is wrong with her, she does seem to be in pain, but I understand chickens are good at hiding pain, as this makes them vulnerable.

So to re-cap, she does not stand up, she does not go and get food or water, and one of her wings is drooping down, she does not lift this wing up.

So please can someone offer any advice before I take her to the vet.

Many thanks

 

[BuffOrpington88]

She may be egg bound. If it is, it can be fatal. I highly recommend going to your vet.

 

[dawg53]

There are several possibilities: She could be eggbound in which case you could soak her in a container of warm water up to her sides and gently massage her underside front to rear for about 20 minutes, hopefully she'll lay an egg.
Since she's a battery hen and not used to her new environment, and most likely being previously cramped in tight quarters with other birds with little or no room to move around...she may be used to that type of environment and is doing the same thing as in her current living conditions. Chickens are basically creatures of habit, somewhat similar to humans in that respect. Tempting her off the nest with treats, which might take time and some encouragement to get her used to her new environment might help. The last thing would be that she trully has an unseen injury, her wing may have an injury of some sort. I can understand THAT, if she was cramped in a cage prior to you getting her. It could be broken or a simple sprain of some sort, even possibly caused by a handler where you got her from. If it's a sprain, try giving her vitamin B complex; crush a few tablets into powder on top of her feed and let her eat it for about 5-6 days and hopefully there'll be improvement. If not, it may be broken. You just never know about ex-battery birds what condition they'll be in once you get them.