Upright sick chicken

[meadowmarsh]

Boomchick is about 5 years old, Auracauna (sp?), hasn't layed in over a year. She has been standing very upright for the last few days. Her vent is pretty messy, her bowel area feels very full. I don't think she's egg bound, as she hasn't been a layer for some time. She's eating fine. Could there be some sort of blockage? Should I try to help her evacuate her bowel with a gloved finger? She acts as if she wants to relieve herself but can't. Any ideas would be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

[justusnak]

Have you seen her have a bowel movement? You said her vent area is " messy" ?? I would bring her inside...and put her in a warm bath...and message her tummy from the front...back towards the vent. Do this for about 10 to 15 minutes....take her out, and dry her well....some will let you use a blow dryer on LOW HEAT. then put her in a small area...dark..and WARM. IF she is egg bound, this will help her pass the egg. You might have to do this a few times. If she is just blocked up...this will help too! Im no expert...by far...Im sure there will be someone on here to help ya soon. Good luck with her...hope she is better soon!

 

[meadowmarsh]

I don't think she's egg bound, it's been so long (over a year) since she's laid. But it is a possibility. I will try giving her a nice warm bath and massage tomorrow. I hesitate to remove her from her buddies for too long. They will reject her so easily, we've had it happen before when nursing ill chickens. We'll have to get her good and dry, as we are in New England and it's been about 10 degrees! Thanks for your post.

 

[dlhunicorn]

she might have become an internal layer and have an ovidut impaction from that...is her abdomen full and firm/hard? .... might have a look at this thread (with photos):
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/PennysSurgery/PennysSurgery.html

 

[meadowmarsh]

Our lovely chicken, Lily, had an impacted oviduct about 1-1/2 years ago. She lived inside with us for a long time as her condition worsened. Our local vet, who has chickens herself, agreed to see her and finally put Lily down. She did an autopsy and found the same large egg mass as in the link photos you sent.

I hope it not the case with Boomchick. We will do the warm bath and see what happens.

 

[SpottedCrow]

What Justus said is what I did with my Leghorn Obelisk when she became eggbound...
It seems to me that our girls get all sorts of problems when they get old, just like us...

I hope that she feels better soon.

 

[meadowmarsh]

The warm bath was enjoyable for her, but has not changed her condition at all. She is more labored walking around and very upright, tail is touching the ground today. She looks uncomfortable. I'm afraid she has become an internal layer, which I find so hard to believe because she ceased laying so long ago. She was never a consistent layer in her 5 years, one or two a week at the very most, and then stopped completely over a year ago. I thought it was indicative of the breed, as she is our only Auracauna. I am wondering if we stimulated her to go into laying again by keeping a light on recently. We have done it for warmth, but wondering if this had an effect on her egg production? Any ideas?

I'm afraid we will have to have her put down very shortly.

 

[chickbea]

I remember reading somewhere that a "penguin-like posture" can indicate an internally laid egg...

 

[SpottedCrow]

Penguin like stance is also for eggbound...that's usually a sign of it...because they're trying to push out the egg.
That's very possible with the light being on...that's one of the things that get the reproductive things going.
If you keep her in the dark, it'll may stop the cycle of egg laying and she might be more comfortable.

 

[teddiliza]

I just read about Salpingitis, an oviduct infection by e-coli. It mentions failure to lay, upright penguin-like posture and eventual death. Source: Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow. I'm getting my first chickens this spring.

Teddi