Walking with tail Down

[Coachman12589]

Hi, I have a light brahma that has started to walk with her tail kind of tucked down and will not walk far without laying down. We checked her vent to see if she was impacted with egg. As far as we can tell she is not but we did notice that she was wet around her anus. We are still new to this as this is our second year with chickens. The hen in question was purchased this early spring and just started to do this a couple of days ago. Could the fact that she got into our garden and ate a few semi rip tomatoes? Or is crabapple a problem for chickens? Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Coachman12589 Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry your hen is not doing well.
How old is she?
When was the last time she laid an egg - are her egg normal with hard shell?
Is she pooping?

She was wet around her vent, was it like egg whites? Having a tail down and a discharge (clear?) from the vent sounds like she may have either laid a soft shell or shell-less egg or is trying to expel the egg. These are very hard to lay.

See that she is staying hydrated well, offer her some poultry vitamins and extra calcium - sometimes they may need a soak in an epsom salts bath as well to help get things moving.
If she is slow and lethargic, you may need to separate her if the others are picking on her.
Keep us posted.
LAYING GLITCH SOFT SHELL EGG https://hencam.com/henblog/2015/08/a-laying-glitch/

 

[Coachman12589]

Thanks, I do not think she has laid any eggs yet. It does look like she may have had a shell less egg and then poop is stuck to it. Gave her a soak today and cleaned the area. She seams to be working the vent muscle more after it but her tail is still down. she gets plenty of calcium as we have crushed oyster shell. We also feed the crushed egg shells back to the chickens and she does get her fair share. Going to TSC to get vitamins tomorrow. Hope the epson salt soak works.