Walking like a penguin?

[chickensducks&agoose]

A million years ago, i had chickens. I was just a little kid, and my favorite hen, the one who would come running, and would sneak into the house if the door was open, my best chicken friend ever, pandora, got sick. She started walking like a penguin, like a runner duck, and then she died. Does anyone know what that might be? I am worried to death that it might happen to my current flock...

 

[crazyhen]

I'm not sure but I think that an egg bound hen will do that. Some of the hybrid egg layers seem to have more trouble with it than the heritage breeds. Jean

 

[mikarod]

Yep...sounds like she was egg bound to me too.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

thats like if the egg is stuck in the egg hole? is there a cure? could we have saved poor pandora?

 

[mikarod]

This isn't my favorite website to use, but it explains what was happening in her, in my opinion, pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_bound

As to cures...some people have said using baby oil around and inside the cloaca has helped pass it, others say that massaging the area and muscles will help it (dangerous in my opinion) and others say that giving the hen a warm bath several times a day will help pass it.

I've only experienced it once and the hen wound up being an internal layer. She passed later that month.