Sick, constipated hen--PLEASE We really need help.

[tpantali]

One of our three year old hens is currently bloated with yellowish poop down her back side and a long piece of poop of hanging from her vent. She is very puffed up and is not able to move very well.

Our vet just offer to put her to sleep but we really want to try to save her.

Please help us!! We are going to try to feed her yogurt and put her in a warm bath, both options the vet offered. But our vet feels that our hen will not make it. Is that true?!?!

UPDATED: We can see through her skin on her back side, it is all green. We can feel the food inside of her. We have tried massaging her abdomin but she is not pooping. She is very tired. Falling alseep while we hold her in wamr water and try to clean her off and massage her. I guess we will have to take her to the vet to see if she has something that the other hens might contract.

Please if you have any ideas. She is our most precious one; always sitting on our laps, was the smallest, we call her "Little one".

 

[I'vegotchickenfever]

Don't know ... maybe somebody else can help.

3 yrs old isn't that old. How long has been having this problem?

 

[tpantali]

Just noticed problem today.

 

[speckledhen]

Are you sure it's poop? Could it be the yolk of an egg? Sounds like she has egg issues to me.

 

[tpantali]

It's mustard colored and looks like poop. Her abdomen is bloated and soft

 

[speckledhen]

She could have an infection from egg material festering inside her. You can soak her in a very warm sink to relax her, then lube up a finger and see if you can feel an egg, perhaps collapsed, inside the vent. Make sure you blow her dry so she doesn't get chilled if you do this. They usually like it. Once when I found a hen with a crushed shell hanging out of her vent, we separated her and started a 3 day course of penicillin injections. It apparently warded off an infection and she is fine now. Could be something similar with your hen. Keep her in a darkened place to shut down her egg factory and feed her high protein things like scrambled eggs and plain yogurt.

 

[tpantali]

Well she has perked up since eating some yogurt. I however did not feel anything inside of her vent at all. I was able to pull a bit of the poop out and it was pure liquid.

 

[speckledhen]

Wish I had something more definitive to tell you. It could be a couple of things, but I would suspect she has an infection in there. Hard to diagnose something like that online and I'm not an avian vet.