Recurrent stuck egg

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Can you get photos of what you see - the discharge, the vent popping out?

Is her poop normal?

She prolapsed too at one point didn't she? If I remember correctly?

I'd keep us with the extra Calcium Citrate+D3 daily for a few more days.

I'm still not understanding the description of a "mass" that she's trying to pass - where is that located?

As I was heading out the door earlier I checked on her and saw she was pushing out an egg. I knew I'd be back in an hour or so, so I felt ok leaving her until I got home. By the time I got back she had laid an egg. She did not eat it It's been about 45 minutes since I got home, I just gave her a quick bath to clean up her bum, and her vent is still protruding. There is some clear/white/brownish(like the colour of old blood) discharge coming out of her vent. She is contentedly sitting in my lap now, before her bath she was walking around outside her cage inside the house (I let her out while I was getting her bath ready)

I snapped a photo as I was on my way out the door, I tried to capture the bulge as it was protruding out but it's hard to tell in the picture. I know her cage looks filthy but I assure you I'm cleaning it once or twice a day. She kicks her food all over and makes a huge mess haha

Photo two I just took after her bath and after trimming some feathers around her vent.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The mass seems to be just inside the vent, above the vent. When she's straining and pushing it pops out and back in. It feels firm but has a little give, unlike an egg which feels hard with no give. I have inserted a gloved finger into the vent and the tract goes under the mass, I've been able to feel an egg down below. The mass doesn't seem to be inside the oviduct. I've tried looking for anatomically correct photos/xrays of chicken anatomy but all I can find are drawings or x-rays that I can't read, I have no idea what this mass or structure could be.

However our older roo only seems to want to mate with her, no matter how many hens we have. What would stress look like? She chooses to hang out with him all day and never tries to flee his advances, almost always squats when he's courting her. She doesn't seem stressed but it is a lot of mating. I would be sore if it were me

As I was heading out the door earlier I checked on her and saw she was pushing out an egg. I knew I'd be back in an hour or so, so I felt ok leaving her until I got home. By the time I got back she had laid an egg. She did not eat it It's been about 45 minutes since I got home, I just gave her a quick bath to clean up her bum, and her vent is still protruding. There is some clear/white/brownish(like the colour of old blood) discharge coming out of her vent. She is contentedly sitting in my lap now, before her bath she was walking around outside her cage inside the house (I let her out while I was getting her bath ready)

I snapped a photo as I was on my way out the door, I tried to capture the bulge as it was protruding out but it's hard to tell in the picture. I know her cage looks filthy but I assure you I'm cleaning it once or twice a day. She kicks her food all over and makes a huge mess haha

Photo two I just took after her bath and after trimming some feathers around her vent.

Poor thing!

I'd give her soakings in a warm epsom salts bath if she's tolerating them.
Do give her the Calcium Citrate+D3 once daily.

Do you have an antibiotic on hand? Amoxicillin if you have it. Give her 57mg per pound of weight twice daily for 7-10 days.
Has she ever expelled any lash material that you have noticed?

I'd keep her separated until she heals or move the rooster to his own area for a while just to give her a break. Mating does not involve penetration but if he's mating her a lot, then sometimes a hen just needs a break.

Hard to know what you are feeling going up, could be the oil gland or bursa, not sure.

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Poor thing!

I'd give her soakings in a warm epsom salts bath if she's tolerating them.
Do give her the Calcium Citrate+D3 once daily.

Do you have an antibiotic on hand? Amoxicillin if you have it. Give her 57mg per pound of weight twice daily for 7-10 days.
Has she ever expelled any lash material that you have noticed?

I'd keep her separated until she heals or move the rooster to his own area for a while just to give her a break. Mating does not involve penetration but if he's mating her a lot, then sometimes a hen just needs a break.

Hard to know what you are feeling going up, could be the oil gland or bursa, not sure.

She seems to be tolerating the baths better the more she has them, I managed to not get completely soaked today which was a first

I do not have antibiotics on hand and honestly don't even know where to find them. Would they have them at the feed store? We went to check today but the store was closed I can hopefully pick some up tomorrow if I can figure out where to get them!

I have not seen any lash material, the eggs she's been laying over the last week have all been normal. It is possible I've missed something though.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She seems to be tolerating the baths better the more she has them, I managed to not get completely soaked today which was a first

I do not have antibiotics on hand and honestly don't even know where to find them. Would they have them at the feed store? We went to check today but the store was closed I can hopefully pick some up tomorrow if I can figure out where to get them!

I have not seen any lash material, the eggs she's been laying over the last week have all been normal. It is possible I've missed something though.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out!

Most medications were pulled from stores early 2023, you can order some things online.
https://jedds.com/products/amoxicillin-10-powder?_pos=2&_sid=63b23c7a5&_ss=r

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Most medications were pulled from stores early 2023, you can order some things online.
https://jedds.com/products/amoxicillin-10-powder?_pos=2&_sid=63b23c7a5&_ss=r

Well after adding a bunch of items to my cart, including those antibiotics, I went to check out and found they don't ship to Canada and I can't find anywhere to buy antibiotics online in Canada. I think our govt has a pretty tight rein on buying any kind of meds online.

Can't buy them online, no poultry vets, how are people supposed to treat their birds here?!

So I'm not sure what to do about that and I found another sick chick in the run today - I think we may have Marek's after all - and I don't know what to do about that either so I'm about ready to throw in the towel on chicken keeping because I'm feeling really burnt out. I'm 6 months pregnant with my third, my dog just had an unexpected litter, and the animals we have that are supposed to be easy are taking up the most of my time and energy.

Thanks to everyone for all your help I'll update

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well after adding a bunch of items to my cart, including those antibiotics, I went to check out and found they don't ship to Canada and I can't find anywhere to buy antibiotics online in Canada. I think our govt has a pretty tight rein on buying any kind of meds online.

Can't buy them online, no poultry vets, how are people supposed to treat their birds here?!

So I'm not sure what to do about that and I found another sick chick in the run today - I think we may have Marek's after all - and I don't know what to do about that either so I'm about ready to throw in the towel on chicken keeping because I'm feeling really burnt out. I'm 6 months pregnant with my third, my dog just had an unexpected litter, and the animals we have that are supposed to be easy are taking up the most of my time and energy.

Thanks to everyone for all your help I'll update

Oh, I didn't realize you are in Canada, yes, you'll have to find a vet to be able to get medications.

The crackdown is coming here, it's tightening up, so it's not as easy as it used to be to source things you need here.

Congratulations, a new baby coming is wonderful!

I'm very sorry that things are not going very well. Sometimes, reducing numbers and even taking a break from poultry is the right thing to do until things settle down. We have quite a few members that for various reasons, sold/rehomed, etc. their flocks, then years later, started back up with just a few hens. Some didn't, but they still participate on the forums. You don't have to have poultry to be part of the BYC community.

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Hello! An update:

It's been almost a week and the despair I was feeling on Monday has lessened. Wanda is still in the med bay in the house. She still hasn't laid a normal egg without help. The shells of her eggs are getting thinner and more deformed, while the size of her eggs keeps getting larger. I feel like both of those things mean that laying is not going to be getting any easier for her... But I'm hopeful. She's still in good spirits otherwise.

She was working on an egg yesterday and I left her for a while to see if she could work it out on her own. By the time I was heading to bed it had been several hours and I didn't want to leave her all night, so I gave her a bath. She laid the egg in the bath only a few minutes in. By morning, she had laid another egg but this one had no shell. This is the first time she's ever laid an egg with no shell.

I have still been giving her calcium citrate daily, and offering her some egg shells which she's not eating. Should I start giving her two tablets instead of one?

The mass that is protruding from her vent that I've mentioned before - I'm starting to wonder if that is her uterus? Is that possible? Could it be inflamed and causing all these issues? I still haven't been able to source treatment (medication) so I'm not sure where to go from here. She is still having some yellowish discharge coming from her vent, but it's slowing. She is still eating, drinking, walking around, digging in my plants and having normal poops in between eggs. I added a dish of grit for her several days ago (I forgot that she needed that while she's been inside!) and she's been eating that.

On a perhaps related note, I mentioned that we may have Marek's in our coop. We've lost 3 chicks total now and another is starting to fade. The first chick died in May at about 8 weeks of age, and none of the other 11 chicks from her cohort have had any issues. We recently lost two from another hatch that were about 11 weeks old. The fading chick is from the same hatch. They've all had similar symptoms but not exactly the same - 2 of them have had leg paralysis, one has had wry neck, all have stopped eating and drinking, 2 died on their own and one was culled. At first I thought nutrient deficiency, but no treatment has helped any of them.

I also found two thin-shelled eggs in the coop today that were cracked, which is abnormal.

We also have lice, which we are working on treating. We've disinfected and sprayed the coop with permethrin, and my husband was able to find some spray today that we can spray on the birds, which we will do tonight.

Is there a disease that can cause these symptoms and also egg shell issues? Something treatable?

I'm so sorry this is such a long post, I tried to be concise while also adding all the important details.

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Oh, I didn't realize you are in Canada, yes, you'll have to find a vet to be able to get medications.

The crackdown is coming here, it's tightening up, so it's not as easy as it used to be to source things you need here.

Congratulations, a new baby coming is wonderful!

I'm very sorry that things are not going very well. Sometimes, reducing numbers and even taking a break from poultry is the right thing to do until things settle down. We have quite a few members that for various reasons, sold/rehomed, etc. their flocks, then years later, started back up with just a few hens. Some didn't, but they still participate on the forums. You don't have to have poultry to be part of the BYC community.

Thank you so much for your kind words I was having a hard time that day, I'm sorry I didn't respond. I'm feeling better now, still anxious about losing all our birds but I'm hopeful we don't. We'll just have to see what happens and go from there

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The uterus is the shell gland. Below is some reading to get you started on the avian reproductive system.

I would not give more than 300-600mg of Calcium Citrate+D3 a day. You've been giving her the extra Calcium for a good while, usually it's only given for a short period of time to get a hen through crisis (3-7days).

Parasites can affect shell quality, so hopefully once you get the lice treated, your other hens' production will improve. You've dewormed?


https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

The uterus is the shell gland. Below is some reading to get you started on the avian reproductive system.

I would not give more than 300-600mg of Calcium Citrate+D3 a day. You've been giving her the extra Calcium for a good while, usually it's only given for a short period of time to get a hen through crisis (3-7days).

Parasites can affect shell quality, so hopefully once you get the lice treated, your other hens' production will improve. You've dewormed?


https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

Yes I've been doing a bit of reading and searching about anatomy and I think because of the size and how close it is to the vent it makes sense that it could be the shell gland? Of course I don't know for sure.

We have never dewormed, I've never noticed any worms in their poop but it could be something that I've missed. I just spent the last hour trying to find dewormer and I'm running into the same problem as the antibiotics - I'm having a hard time finding actual medicated dewormer as opposed to "natural". However, I was able to find safeguard horse dewormer paste that will ship to me which I see is sometimes used for chickens. Would it be safe to use this even if they don't have confirmed worms?

Thank you I really appreciate all your help