Unfortunate series of events, prolapse, gooey butt, and dead chicken

[RedheadErin]

Soooo......

Wednesday I noticed one of the red hens (golden comet, I think) acting a little odd. Didnt want to go out, jsut hung out in the coop by the rooster pen (we alternate days out with our two rooos. They take turns being in a pen on their "in" day.) It seemed like she was staring longingly at the roo in the pen, and so I thought maybe she juut wanted to be with him. I thought I would keep an eye on her for a day and see what was up. I called home form work (second shift) Wednesday night and was told that she was acting fine. Thursday we found her nearly dead. She passed while waiting for the vet to open that evening. She seemed to have lost weight and had a lot of black pasty crud around her bottom.

Today (Saturday) another hen (this one has alwasy been sickly and has already porlaped twice and has allergies) was acting starngely. She was sort of flexing her vent and occasionally pushing. She strained like she was trying to pass something. When I picked her up I found a white runny discharge that she could not control. There was so much of it that she "leaked" all over my sweatshirt while I was holding her. It looked for all the world like egg whites. My husband suggested she might have had an egg break inside her, or maybe had one that didn't form right in the first place. Is this possible?

The advice I alwasy get is to put them in a cat carrier, give them soft food and water, and keep them quiet and in a dim room until I can get them to the vet. So that is what I am doing. I sent my son up to feed her and he reports that she is fine, but I jsut have not had the energy to go up and look myself.

What does any one make of this?

 

[TeamChaos]

YES it is possible for an egg to break inside them. It's also possible for the egg to be laid internally and cause all sorts of problems! I currently have a girl that has been battling this and she's got the same kind of water poo and flexing vent you describe- however her abdomen is HUGE. It'd be worth feeling if your girl has a swollen belly.
Best of luck!

 

[RedheadErin]

SO far everyone else seems in good health. I have been making a point of going out every morning for a quick health check. (I was jsut letting my kid open up the shed.)

I took little miss poppy-butt to the vet yesterday and he said it was diarrhea. I kept her in a playpen over night to keep an eye on her and she seems to have dried up. No egg this morning, but I am not surprised as we had her on soft foods all weekend.

I am wondering what I should be watching for. For example, how much should she poop in a 24-hour period? And, how soon after resuming layer pellets should I expect her to have an egg? She does this thing where she will push her vent out, and it looks like she is having a prolapse, but then she will pull it right back in again and look jsut fine. Is this normal?

ANd...the last thing, really...Doc said this could be caused by the rooster doing her some sort of injury. From what I understand how chickens mate, I canot understand how this would be possible. However, she is our smallest hen and one of my roos is HUGE....Any ideas?