rescue chicken after attack, acting egg bound but still pooping, won't eat..

[TheChickenTenderer]

Where do I even start...
I have no history on this hen. We rescued her from a neglectful owner who allowed her chickens to be attacked multiple nights in a row. This poor girl was scalped and literally watched her entire family get killed.

We rescued her at least 5 days after the attack. She is recovering well, her scalp injury is improving, we thought her eye was lost but with eye rinse and antibiotics we were able to get it fully recovered.

We have had her for 5 days now, treating her injuries and keeping her in a dark place to recover from the shock she was in.
We have given her a vitamin tincture made for chickens each night along with her antibiotic. She will not eat. We had some small success with water and with liquifying her food and literally spoon feeding it to her. We got her drinking on her own now that her vision is recovered but now I can not get her to eat at all. I've tried scrambled eggs, mashed fruit with layer feed mashed in, grubs..

Two days ago I noticed her vent contracting as if she was trying to lay an egg. I was surprised because I knew she had been through a shock that had thrown her into a molt and we had kept her mostly in the dark to help her relax and recover. Despite not feeling any egg during our nightly checks on her, We tried an epsom salt bath and I tried mixing a crushed calcium supplement into her liquid food but she refused the food and won't eat it. She is pooping fine, originally she had really runny green poop but the last 48 hours its become the normal semi-solid brown and white poop I see in all my chickens and she is pooping a lot. However she is still puffed up, standing slightly upright (not full penguin stance but tail down and it's not normal) and straining constantly.
Avian vets are not an option as there are none locally and Im worried a long travel might kill her, the farm vet won't see chickens. Im at a loss and keeping chickens and treating them ourselves is nothing new. The only thing I can think of is tube feeding but that's one of the few things I have never done.

We named her Sassy because despite all of this she has an incredible will to live and is sassy and doesn't hesitate to give you a talking to when shes pissed off. I just want to give her the best life and have her experience love and safety.

 

[SkyWolf]

I’m gonna start with the feeding. We’ve had birds get badly injured and then not want to eat. If you feel comfortable what you could do is liquify the food and then use a large syringe to feed her. It does work, but can be a little risky. You have to open her mouth and they don’t like that, but also make sure you just put the food in their mouth. If you put it down their throat it could case them to have respiratory issues. But yeah, make sure she gets a lot of protein right now if you can.

If she is egg bound she will die in about 48 hours. So if she has lived longer than that she likely isn’t egg bound.

As far as what could be wrong I’d just recommend a through inspection of her whole body. Make sure there aren’t any cuts or scratches you might have missed the first time.
Other than that just make sure her head wound doesn’t get infected.

Sorry if this was not more help. I hope Sassy does okay <3

 

[TheChickenTenderer]

I’m gonna start with the feeding. We’ve had birds get badly injured and then not want to eat. If you feel comfortable what you could do is liquify the food and then use a large syringe to feed her. It does work, but can be a little risky. You have to open her mouth and they don’t like that, but also make sure you just put the food in their mouth. If you put it down their throat it could case them to have respiratory issues. But yeah, make sure she gets a lot of protein right now if you can.

If she is egg bound she will die in about 48 hours. So if she has lived longer than that she likely isn’t egg bound.

As far as what could be wrong I’d just recommend a through inspection of her whole body. Make sure there aren’t any cuts or scratches you might have missed the first time.
Other than that just make sure her head wound doesn’t get infected.

Sorry if this was not more help. I hope Sassy does okay <3

I'm going to try this tonight. My boyfriend is much better at syringe feeding. I have trauma from when I first got chickens years ago and tried to orally medicate a girl and she aspirated. I know I need to get over it, but it's hard.

I did just check her over again, and she doesn't have any other injuries, except for a toe that was necrotic by the time we got her, which we are waiting for her to strengthen up before we have to amputate it. She was in such a state of shock when we got her, we were worried removing the toe would kill her. Until then we are keeping it covered in antibacterial ointment and wrapped and keeping her on antibiotics and checking it daily and weighing the pros and cons. We were really hoping we could get her to eat and strengthen up before we do that. We've been keeping the scalp would moist with antibacterial ointment and leaving it to air openly and its healing beautifully.

Even know as I write this she is straining as if to lay an egg. Even standing up like they do right before they plop out the egg usually. Her vent looks fine and at this point and I guess I'm more concerned with her straining for 2+ days and possibly having a heart attack from the stress of it. Could she be bound with a soft shelled egg? We've never had soft shells before because we offer lots of calcium supplements for our girls to eat as needed. So it's another thing we don't have personal experience with.

 

[SkyWolf]

I'm going to try this tonight. My boyfriend is much better at syringe feeding. I have trauma from when I first got chickens years ago and tried to orally medicate a girl and she aspirated. I know I need to get over it, but it's hard.

I did just check her over again, and she doesn't have any other injuries, except for a toe that was necrotic by the time we got her, which we are waiting for her to strengthen up before we have to amputate it. She was in such a state of shock when we got her, we were worried removing the toe would kill her. Until then we are keeping it covered in antibacterial ointment and wrapped and keeping her on antibiotics and checking it daily and weighing the pros and cons. We were really hoping we could get her to eat and strengthen up before we do that. We've been keeping the scalp would moist with antibacterial ointment and leaving it to air openly and its healing beautifully.

Even know as I write this she is straining as if to lay an egg. Even standing up like they do right before they plop out the egg usually. Her vent looks fine and at this point and I guess I'm more concerned with her straining for 2+ days and possibly having a heart attack from the stress of it. Could she be bound with a soft shelled egg? We've never had soft shells before because we offer lots of calcium supplements for our girls to eat as needed. So it's another thing we don't have personal experience with.

It’s completely okay if you are uncomfortable doing the feeding as long as someone is able to <3

As for the toe, if you are going to amputate it then you need to clean all the nasty tissue first. I recommend soaking it in Epson Salt bathes every day if possible. That’s what we did when we had to amputate a rooster’s leg. I will warn you feet bleed a lot.

If the egg was soft shelled she should be able to push it out pretty easily. But Espon Salt bathes should help if she is egg bound. Hopefully she starts doing better. Also keep an eye out for any prolapse since that can happen and before can look a lot like a hen trying to lay an egg.

 

[TheChickenTenderer]

It’s completely okay if you are uncomfortable doing the feeding as long as someone is able to <3

As for the toe, if you are going to amputate it then you need to clean all the nasty tissue first. I recommend soaking it in Epson Salt bathes every day if possible. That’s what we did when we had to amputate a rooster’s leg. I will warn you feet bleed a lot.

If the egg was soft shelled she should be able to push it out pretty easily. But Espon Salt bathes should help if she is egg bound. Hopefully she starts doing better. Also keep an eye out for any prolapse since that can happen and before can look a lot like a hen trying to lay an egg.

Thank you. I will try all this tonight. After doing some research, I'm going to treat for vent gleet as well. I don't know what her "normal" is because I didn't have her before the attack, so it's hard to gauge what is swollen and what is just normal for her. I feel much more optimistic about her odds of pulling through now. She's been drinking more water today on her own and she's bitching up a storm to me. We have her in the chicken ICU for now (a large dog crate) and she is not happy about it.

Thank you for the heads up about her toe. I'll make sure to have a lot of towels and the styptic stick. And to start softening it up beforehand.

 

[SkyWolf]

Thank you. I will try all this tonight. After doing some research, I'm going to treat for vent gleet as well. I don't know what her "normal" is because I didn't have her before the attack, so it's hard to gauge what is swollen and what is just normal for her. I feel much more optimistic about her odds of pulling through now. She's been drinking more water today on her own and she's bitching up a storm to me. We have her in the chicken ICU for now (a large dog crate) and she is not happy about it.

Thank you for the heads up about her toe. I'll make sure to have a lot of towels and the styptic stick. And to start softening it up beforehand.

Of course, and best of luck!
Being bitchy is always a good sign for a chicken <3