Sick Chcken????

[bwhnt1024]

I found my Barred Rock lying in the bottom of my coop in the pine chips. She's got some stuff, not really sure what, on her tailfeathers and around the vent. I also found what looks like a soft egg shell under her. She was fine thismorning & laid a normal egg yesterday. Any thoughts I'm stumped? Thank you.

 

[dawg53]

Sounds like a soft shell was deposited, possibly eggbound at the time. If there's yolk or whites inside her, bacteria will take over and will cause an infection resulting in death.
To prevent infection; use a large syringe without a needle, mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 quart of water. Use a syringeful of the mixture and insert it into her vent and flush. Use about 3 or 4 syringefuls to flush. The liquid may or may not flow out of her vent after flushing, this is normal.

 

[bwhnt1024]

Thank you very much. We'll try that tomorrow.

 

[bwhnt1024]

Is there something that causes this to happen? I remember when she laid her first egg, which was soft, it stuck to her feathers back there & eventually fell off.

 

[dawg53]

You can either provide your birds crushed oyster shell or boil some eggs and crush the shells very fine, and add it into their feed. It could be a calcium deficiency she's lacking. The crushed oyster shells or crushed egg shells should help.