Last night we discovered one of my hens with a egg bound soft shell egg. We quickly and carefully removed all of it, but the egg smelled foul and rotten. Said hen appeared slightly less active later that night but not terrible. This morning before I went to school I checked on her and found her limp and unresponsive. She was in a dry cage of shavings but had a wet butt and underbelly with white-ish discharge. I could not tell if it was droppings or pus. I immediately scooped her up and ran her inside, cleaned off her bottom and set her in a dry towel. My next step is going to be a warm soapy bath where she can soak. But I am truly unsure how to treat her further. I have terramycin on hand if that is any help. She is still fairly unresponsive unless moved, and lays completely limp. She cannot stand on her own.
Are you sure it's egg binding and not poisoning? When you pick her up, is her neck completely limp, like she's lost all muscle control?
No, she still can holds her neck up, but only when I pick her up. Otherwise she lays wherever she falls. If you mean poisoning as in the ingestion of something poisonous, than no, absolutely not. Is it possible some of the rot had spread inside of her? Is that what you mean by poisoning?
Well it could be that, but I'm wondering if there's not something either in the feed or environment that's affecting her. But an infection from the bad egg inside of her could definitely be causing her to go through that.
This is a situation I haven't faced, but in your position I would go ahead and start the terramycin, and see about a vet consultation. Good idea on cleaning, but make sure she dries out afterwards, and keep her warm. See if you can get some food and water in her. Scrambled eggs, sugar water or better still, electrolyte water. Good luck.
She seems to be getting worse. started the antibiotics a few hours ago and she's been wrapped up in towels and blankets (i blow dried her dry) to keep warm. however she seems like she can no longer swallow.
Oh I'm so sorry I was just about to post when I saw your update. She could have had an infection inside, or she could also have had another egg that had got stuck as well. Maybe the white you saw was egg white from another egg? I'm so sorry you lost her
