LongRanch
Chirping
- Apr 17, 2016
- 149
- 5
- 54
Hi everyone, my 1.5 year old blue orpington hen has been very much under the weather. Lastnight, instead of roosting, she slept on the floor in a corner. I immediately knew something was wrong. Today she didn't eat or drink anything all day, just lay still, lethargic, her waddles looked pale. She was straining, her vent opening and closing, as if she needed to lay or poop. She had some very pale yellow diarrhea (almost white -- like sour milk) this morning, then nothing for hours, but when I tried to feel inside her vent to see if I could feel an egg, it stimulated her to have a bit more diarrhea. Normally she runs if I try to touch her, and she was allowing me to pick her up and gently massage her and look her over. She would eventually move away from me, but only to go lay down in the coop or under the truck, where she would lay for hours, and I couldn't convince her to eat or drink (even her favourite food, grapes). I thought she might be egg bound, as she lays every second day, and hadn't laid the day before, but I felt inside her vent as far as I could, and couldn't feel any egg, nor could I feel anything in her abdomen while I gently massaged it. I had to work, so left her to rest for a few hours, after which I set up an ex-pen in my garage and put in it a warm epsom salt bath, and I mixed up some food her her (one dish with bio-k fermented rice (probiotic drink) mixed with greek yogurt, coconut oil, and honey --- and the other dish with some cooked hamburger and garlic), a water dish (with some apple cider vinegar) and a bowl of water with grapes. I placed her in the bath, and within about ten minutes, she really started to perk up. Colour came back to her waddles, she was walking around in her bath, sitting upright. I offered her food and she gulped down some of the probiotic mixture, paying special attention to grabbing a few chunks of coconut oil that had hardened, and bits of yogurt that were stuck to the side of the bowl, and even took two bites of hamburger. It's not as much as she would normally eat by any means, but it seemed to perk her up. She is still not interested in water, but the probiotic mix would have given her a bit of liquid. Then she had her first poop in hours. Still pale yellow, but with some normal brown bits this time at least. I took her out so I could clean and refill the bath, and she exited the ex-pen and tried to roost on the door of it. She is still standing in her bath (not wanting to sit anymore, though I have tried to push her butt down), and seems much more alert. I attached a photo of what her poop looked like -- it's in the water, so probably not the best photo of it. With her doing much better, can I expect her to make it? I thought she was going to die today, she looked so terrible. 
Now she seems so much better. I think I'm going to keep her in the garage overnight and until she is 100%. Any other advice? Any ideas on what it could be? Google has so many conflicting ideas...
Now she seems so much better. I think I'm going to keep her in the garage overnight and until she is 100%. Any other advice? Any ideas on what it could be? Google has so many conflicting ideas...
