Good morning,
Our sweet girl Darcy, a beautiful 2 years old flower hen, seemed a bit off end of March (I think it was around 23rd) and after examining her, we found an egg inside her. The problem was, she did not lay an egg for about a week at this moment and therefore we started treating her like egg bound (Epsom bath, massages, calcium water, quiet place). It didn't work, we went to our specialized and awesome vet, Darcy stayed there for 3 days until the Dr. decided to remove the egg surgically.
This was on 30th or March. On 3rd of April we got her back, she was eating a little bit and seemed better. She got 5 days of antibiotics after the surgery.
I guess after 3 or 4 days we realized she is getting worse again, not eating nor drinking, quite lethargic. So we brought her in, trying to feed her and in the end started force feeding her. This we are still doing. We are feeding her at least twice a day, 50ml per syringe, sometimes two fully filled syringes with puree (parrot baby food, human baby food, honey, dextrose, oats, yogurt, a mix of everything, even probiotics and iron). Additionally we started giving meloxicam after getting in contact with the vet again.
One week ago we had another appointment and the vet injected cortison as another try, maybe there was an inflammation (paused meloxicam). The next days she was much better, eating again and agile.
But: the whole time, since end of March, she did not drink a single time...
The only liquids she got where inside the food (cucumber, berries, cat food...) and what we are force feeding her.
She is living inside a cage in the house, if the weather is good (wasn't the last days) she was outside with the flock but not very active. Her Comb is pale and sometimes she is breathing through her beak - maybe iron deficite and anemia?
We tried a few things with the water (pure, filtered, berries inside, vitamins), different bowls but never get her to drink. Instead she is shaking her had when she gets near it. She lost about 15% of weight within this 4 weeks, it would have been more/she probably were dead, if we didn't feed her daily.
The biggest curiosity for me is that we lost Raja (Maran, also about 2 years old) last year under quite similar circumstances (egg bound, got it out, no drinking, eating less and less).
Shortly after, Gaia (Brahma, 1.5 years old) was also put down, but she had different symptoms like paralysis, even got x-ray'd, but no result...
Now I'm speculating that the egg may be just a symptom of something bigger.
The test of Raja and Gaia on Mareks was positive, but as my vet said, she assumes the virus is ubiquitous and it could have been an outbreak but this is not certain. Overall, the whole flock (16+1) carries the virus and we never know if it will break out...
Is here somebody with similar experiences?
Is there a disease causing the chickens not to drink and eating less and less?
Could Mareks cause a bound egg and stop them from drinking?
Are there any ideas left what we can do except for feeding her, give her a quiet place and sometimes company by another hen?
I really hope somebody knows something, we nearly lost the hope again after the high she had on Saturday is gone...
Our sweet girl Darcy, a beautiful 2 years old flower hen, seemed a bit off end of March (I think it was around 23rd) and after examining her, we found an egg inside her. The problem was, she did not lay an egg for about a week at this moment and therefore we started treating her like egg bound (Epsom bath, massages, calcium water, quiet place). It didn't work, we went to our specialized and awesome vet, Darcy stayed there for 3 days until the Dr. decided to remove the egg surgically.
This was on 30th or March. On 3rd of April we got her back, she was eating a little bit and seemed better. She got 5 days of antibiotics after the surgery.
I guess after 3 or 4 days we realized she is getting worse again, not eating nor drinking, quite lethargic. So we brought her in, trying to feed her and in the end started force feeding her. This we are still doing. We are feeding her at least twice a day, 50ml per syringe, sometimes two fully filled syringes with puree (parrot baby food, human baby food, honey, dextrose, oats, yogurt, a mix of everything, even probiotics and iron). Additionally we started giving meloxicam after getting in contact with the vet again.
One week ago we had another appointment and the vet injected cortison as another try, maybe there was an inflammation (paused meloxicam). The next days she was much better, eating again and agile.
But: the whole time, since end of March, she did not drink a single time...
The only liquids she got where inside the food (cucumber, berries, cat food...) and what we are force feeding her.
She is living inside a cage in the house, if the weather is good (wasn't the last days) she was outside with the flock but not very active. Her Comb is pale and sometimes she is breathing through her beak - maybe iron deficite and anemia?
We tried a few things with the water (pure, filtered, berries inside, vitamins), different bowls but never get her to drink. Instead she is shaking her had when she gets near it. She lost about 15% of weight within this 4 weeks, it would have been more/she probably were dead, if we didn't feed her daily.
The biggest curiosity for me is that we lost Raja (Maran, also about 2 years old) last year under quite similar circumstances (egg bound, got it out, no drinking, eating less and less).
Shortly after, Gaia (Brahma, 1.5 years old) was also put down, but she had different symptoms like paralysis, even got x-ray'd, but no result...
Now I'm speculating that the egg may be just a symptom of something bigger.
The test of Raja and Gaia on Mareks was positive, but as my vet said, she assumes the virus is ubiquitous and it could have been an outbreak but this is not certain. Overall, the whole flock (16+1) carries the virus and we never know if it will break out...
Is here somebody with similar experiences?
Is there a disease causing the chickens not to drink and eating less and less?
Could Mareks cause a bound egg and stop them from drinking?
Are there any ideas left what we can do except for feeding her, give her a quiet place and sometimes company by another hen?
I really hope somebody knows something, we nearly lost the hope again after the high she had on Saturday is gone...
