Sick hen

[new chick 203]

I have a sick one year old Orpington mix. She's always been super healthy but saturday evening I noticed she wasn't running as fast as the others for treats. Sunday even slower, and so on. No injuries. hasn't laid since Saturday, so egg bound was my first thought. She's had laying problems from the start, shell-less eggs, eggs with blood or meaty looking spots etc. I can't feel any egg in her. I gave her a warm bath and an oil enema (the advice from others here). She's made some eggy looking poos, but no egg and she' not looking good. She's sleeping by my desk and won't eat or drink now. don't know what else to do. help.

 

[klmclain1]

By eggy looking poos... what do you mean? When mine have the cooked looking yellow strands and runny egg white looking pooh, I assume EYP and immediately treat with 4 days of penG IM in the breast 1/2cc alternating sides. So far, I've had two this way, and both have been successfully treated and are laying again.

 

[new chick 203]

She just died. She seemed comfortable. I'm a bit crushed. Can you explain EYP?

 

[BirdsinBethel]

Jill so sorry to hear that....I have no experience to help out, but my thoughts are with you! Was this Bobby???

 

[klmclain1]

Sooo sorry. Well, Egg Yolk Peritonitis is an infection. When a hen has an egg bust inside of her, the egg yolk is very rich in nutrients and the bacteria will flourish. If you do a search here for it, you'll find pictures, descriptions, war stories. It more often than not, kills the hen.

 

[new chick 203]

Thank you, jen. No, not bobby, but one of her girls she hatched last year, Dahlia. She was a really beautiful girl and so sweet.

Klmclain, I'll do research on EYP. She had a problem with shell-less eggs so that may have been it.

 

[new chick 203]

Wow, after reading about EYP I think that may have been it. I wish had known, I have baytil on hand. It looks like they usually die, but I would have liked to try. She was gone with in 3 days of noticing she seemed a little slower than usual. This is the part of chicken keeping i hate.