Sick 3 year old hen

[tiffanyinthepnw]

Hi all,

I am a bad chicken owner and did not notice my hen was sick until this morning. She was fluffed up and did not come out of the coop so I brought her in and checked her out. Her butt was so gross. I got her in a warm bath and cleaned her all up and felt around. Her bottom end is full of what feels like grit, and a lot of it. Like maybe 1/2 cup of just grit. I can also feel a a squishy lump that is too small to be an egg that kind of moves around on its own.

She has not laid an egg since probably September of last year. I did find a lash egg in their coop about two months ago and watched them all closely after that but no one appeared sick so I stopped monitoring.

The hen does better in the warm bath. She starts moving around after a while and tries to get out. But when I take her out she quickly goes downhill. Tail feathers down. Puffed. Eyes closed. Not moving.

I have her an injection of LA-200 .5mL and have her in the bath. I do not know what else to do.

Others are suggesting I flush her cloaca to try to get the gritty stuff out. Are they any suggestions on how to do that?

 

[laboroflove]

I’m sorry I have no advice. Just wanted to say I hope your hens pulls through.

 

[Saveria]

Do you think maybe it could be an egg that broke inside that you are feeling? You can lube up the finger of a latex glove and *gently* insert a finger into her cloaca see if you can feel what is in there. You don't want to push anything back up, but feeling inside will give you a better idea of what it actually is.

It seems to bother me more than them when I have to do this.

If they are egg bound, you would give them a high dose of calcium, you could possibly try that if she is somehow constipated. It causes contractions in that area. Let me know if you need help figuring out how to do that.

I am assuming LA is an anti-biotic? That probably won't hurt right now, but it is better to know what is going on before treating, you'll feel more confident doing it.

 

[tiffanyinthepnw]

I did the antibiotic because I was afraid it was a broken egg and that is what I read to do for that.

I did get a finger inside and did a sweep and I did not feel anything except a tube and an opening into another tube. Some foul-smelling poop came out when I removed my finger but that was it. I did not feel the grit I can feel in her bottom when I massage the outside.

She is doing better now - still in the water but starting to get more energetic and is trying to drink her bath water so I keep changing it out so she isn't drinking nasty.

I will have to go get Tums as we have none. I did not have that in my emergency kit ugh.
Thank you!

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, we all are just trying to keep them alive as long as we can. Although chickens are so hardy, they are also fragile.

Keep writing here about progress, but hopefully she will be on the upswing.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would remove her from the water, and wrap in a towel then get her warm quickly. Blow dry her. She may just be getting chilled when you take her out of the water. Could she have eaten a lot of oyster shell or grit for some reason? I don’t know how to help, but I would make sure that she is eating and drinking. Keep her separated so that you can watch her closely.