Sick chicken, egg binding? Help!

[RiccardoR]

Good afternoon.

My 1 year old hen is sick! Over the past few weeks she has been laying eggs with soft shell alternated with some good eggs. Since yesterday, I see her moving slow, eating a little and she stays in the coop quite often.

Yesterday I also noticed yellow / greenish poop stuck to her bud.

FYI last week I gave her some vitamins and she had hatched for 1 month but stopped 1 month ago.

Whta could be the reason and how can I help her?

 

[Poultry Kitten]

What does her crop feel like?

 

[RiccardoR]

What does her crop feel like?

it seems empty. I have been putting her in warm water but it did not help so far.

 

[Poultry Kitten]

If she seems to be egg bound I recommend bathing her in warm water and Ebsom salt.

 

[RiccardoR]

Sitting like this right now

 

[ChicNmom]

Start with calcium citrate ASAP until the soft eggs stop. If she is egg bound that will help her push it out.

 

[RiccardoR]

Start with calcium citrate ASAP until the soft eggs stop. If she is egg bound that will help her push it out.

Thanks. I just gave her calcium and d3.

 

[RiccardoR]

Good morning. My hen is still very depressed and but ate a little bit of banana. She still does not have a big appetite though. I gave her calcium and vitamin d. She is inside right now. She has yellow droppings as you can see from this picture. And if it is something else? A few weeks ago, she has been digging in horse poop.

 

[Lillith37]

That poop could mean several things.

The pellet shaped poop with that green colour can indicate heavy metal toxicity or other problems with the liver.

She may also have a reproductive infection.

Do you have a digital thermometer? You can lube one up and insert it gently into her vent to take her temperature. A normal chicken body temp is between 105°F and 107°F (40.6° and 41.7°C). If she has a high temp it indicates fever which would mean infection. Amoxicillin is the go-to for reproductive infection.

Keep up with the calcium citrate 600mg daily. You can continue with warm epsom salt soaks as well to help her relax and clean up her feathers.

Feel her abdomen under her vent. Is it hard, swollen, squishy? Feel your healthy laying hens for comparison.

Feel also along her keel bone, the bone that runs along her breast. Is the muscle well defined either side or is she skinny? Again, feel your healthy birds as comparison.

Check her crop first thing in the morning to make sure it’s properly empty. Try to encourage her to eat and drink. Scrambled eggs are good.

 

[Lillith37]

I wrote an article about reproductive health in chickens if you want to read it, it might give you more of a sense of what you’re dealing with.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/reproductive-health-in-chickens.79238/

You can give the calcium supplementation for a long time, several weeks at least, before considering the impact on the kidneys.

Another possible option is vent gleet which is a yeast infection of the vent. Treatment is different for that. But it does seem more like she is egg bound / reproductive disease.