Urgent help needed! Injured hen, no clue what happened or what's wrong

[erinnyes]

My favorite hen seems to have a big problem, but I am having a really hard time figuring out how to help her!

Basically, I went out today and saw her looking "hunched" and not her usual perky self. One side of her face is slightly swollen, especially the eye area, and she's holding her head slightly crooked. When I picked her up I could see a little blood inside the swollen eye (under the eyelid, I mean), but the eye itself looked undamaged. I put her in isolation with food and water, but she has not eaten since I put her there, she's just standing around in the corner.

I just checked on her and her breathing is raspy, also there's a fluid leaking out of her vent that looks maybe like yolk? I felt her belly but didn't feel anything odd, and it's not swollen.

What do I do? I don't even know what happened to her. There's no blood, except what I saw in her eye, and no damaged feathers. She was in the horse paddock when I found her, so maybe a horse stepped on her? I would think that would be obvious if it was a horse injury though. Could she be ill?

Any advice would be great, and I have pics if you think they could help, even though they don't show very much. She's my favorite hen and it would break my heart if I lost her.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Our horse, King, would lighten his step the instant he realized he was on your foot, and hold up his hoof 'til I let him know it was ok ... odds are, your own horse wouldn't wanna do her any harm, either. Coulda pecked the back of the horse's leg, 'n cause her to kick w/o knowing it was her.

Or, for that matter, she coulda got injured elsewhere, and wound up where ya found her ...

It'd help if you had another chicken (esp. olf the same breed/age) for comparison.

Also, there's an online presentation on the anatomy of the chicken, which might help you to know what you're feelin' on her body, as you search for possible internal injuries. Visit http://www.gallusgallusdomesticus.com/anatomy/presentation/ for a detailed introduction page.

It also sounds like an egg mighta been busted w/in her ... see this article on egg binding as well.

 

[erinnyes]

Thank you for the advice! Ginger is doing better today, but she's still not okay. Unfortunately although she seems more alert now, she is still not eating. I can't get her to eat any of her normal feed, and I even offered her cracked corn (her favorite) and she didn't eat any. I'm thinking the cause of this might be pain. She looks at the corn, lowers her head and pokes at it with her beak, but she doesn't actually eat and swallow any. She moves her head very slowly also, not at all the quick way she normally snaps up corn. The way she holds her head and stands stiffly suggests that she might have some sort of neck bruising or injury, but I can't find anything wrong to look or feel.

Today her eyes are bright and she seems alert, but she's still not herself. She did poop, but it was really tiny, barely anything. Yesterday she laid a normal egg, and I haven't seen any more discharge from her vent.

Does anyone know of any pain killers I could give her that would be safe? I'm at a loss of what else to do.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Thank you for the advice! Ginger is doing better today, but she's still not okay. Unfortunately although she seems more alert now, she is still not eating. I can't get her to eat any of her normal feed, and I even offered her cracked corn (her favorite) and she didn't eat any. I'm thinking the cause of this might be pain. She looks at the corn, lowers her head and pokes at it with her beak, but she doesn't actually eat and swallow any. She moves her head very slowly also, not at all the quick way she normally snaps up corn. The way she holds her head and stands stiffly suggests that she might have some sort of neck bruising or injury, but I can't find anything wrong to look or feel.

Today her eyes are bright and she seems alert, but she's still not herself. She did poop, but it was really tiny, barely anything. Yesterday she laid a normal egg, and I haven't seen any more discharge from her vent.

Does anyone know of any pain killers I could give her that would be safe? I'm at a loss of what else to do.

I shoulda suggested that already -- sorry for over-lookin' it. Aspirin is fine, dissolved into the water she's offered (if she's drinking on her own, of course).

::edit:: The dosage rate is about 25 mg/lb body weight per day. Many fear giving aspirin when there may be internal bleeding, but chickens livers are useful to humans in order to improve the ability of blood to coagulate, so it won't hurt your bird ::/edit::