Wheezing, purple comb, very sick. (updated info)

[vintage]

My barred rock is very sick. Possibly egg bound, I felt in her vent, the shell is broken but the membrane seems intact. What can I do? She's wheezing, her comb is turning purple. Her crop is full of liquid.

She is my favorite, the absolute sweetest and was fine this morning.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

Yikes. @TheOddOneOut

 

[TheOddOneOut]

My barred rock is egg bound, I felt in her vent, the shell is broken but the membrane seems intact. What can I do? She's wheezing, her comb is turning purple.

She is my favorite, the absolute sweetest and was fine this morning.

Have you tried to treat her in any way?
@Eggcessive @casportpony I know how to treat egg binding with intact eggs....but not broken ones.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

And @Wyorp Rock and @azygous

 

[azygous]

The one thing you should always do first when egg binding is suspected is to give a calcium tablet whole directly into the hen's beak. It encourages contractions to help your hen get the egg out. Lubing the inside of the cloaca can also help make things slippery so the egg slides out more easily.

Coincidentally, I am presently treating one of my own hens for this. This hen is getting up in years, around seven now, and she isn't laying normal eggs. They are all soft and shell-less. These are very hard to pass. She's been on a daily calcium citrate tablet for a couple weeks trying to improve her shells. She got a calcium this morning, but this evening, I saw she was in crisis mode.

I popped another calcium into her beak and brought her inside and placed her in a crate on a bunch of towels warmed in the dryer. Inside of thirty minutes she passed a collapsed membrane. She's still probably got egg material inside her so she's still in the crate in the garage tonight. By morning, she should have passed the rest of the egg or even a second egg, which is more common than you might think.

I will go by her behavior. If she's acting normal, that means she's expelled it all. If not, she will get more calcium and an oral antibiotic.

So give your hen one of these right now and give her something warm to rest upon. Hopefully the egg will come out okay.

 

[vintage]

After reading through posts, I'm wondering if she hasn't laid the egg because she's sick. She's wheezing to the point of not eating or drinking, she has diarrhea. This started in the span of hours, I don't know what's wrong. Her crop is full of liquid, she ate last night around 11pm, but won't drink and now she's not really responding to food.

 

[vintage]

The one thing you should always do first when egg binding is suspected is to give a calcium tablet whole directly into the hen's beak. It encourages contractions to help your hen get the egg out. Lubing the inside of the cloaca can also help make things slippery so the egg slides out more easily.

Coincidentally, I am presently treating one of my own hens for this. This hen is getting up in years, around seven now, and she isn't laying normal eggs. They are all soft and shell-less. These are very hard to pass. She's been on a daily calcium citrate tablet for a couple weeks trying to improve her shells. She got a calcium this morning, but this evening, I saw she was in crisis mode.

I popped another calcium into her beak and brought her inside and placed her in a crate on a bunch of towels warmed in the dryer. Inside of thirty minutes she passed a collapsed membrane. She's still probably got egg material inside her so she's still in the crate in the garage tonight. By morning, she should have passed the rest of the egg or even a second egg, which is more common than you might think.

I will go by her behavior. If she's acting normal, that means she's expelled it all. If not, she will get more calcium and an oral antibiotic.

So give your hen one of these right now and give her something warm to rest upon. Hopefully the egg will come out okay.View attachment 3050363

I don't think she's going to be able to swallow a tablet.

 

[azygous]

Yes, she can. Easily. But, if you're giving her a ums, those need to be broken in half and both halves given.

Here's my tutorial on why chickens have an easier time swallowing a bulky pill than humans do.

We think chickens must have a problem swallowing a large pill just because we do. But their digestive process is different from ours. We begin the digestive process by chewing first, then swallowing. We aren't meant to swallow large chunks. We naturally choke.

Chickens don't have teeth for a good reason. They don't need them. Their digestive process begins after they swallow. The food goes directly into their crop without passing "Go", and then it trickles down into their gizzard where the "chewing" action goes into full swing.

Therefore, chickens can amaze us by swallowing things that we think would choke them, large pills included. But they actually have no problem. Slip the pill into the beak and you'll see it disappear like magic. Unless you don't get it far enough back on the tongue. Chickens can rival dogs and cats at firing a pill across the room like a guided missile, but it's not because they aren't able to swallow it easily.

 

[vintage]

Yes, she can. Easily. But, if you're giving her a ums, those need to be broken in half and both halves given.

Here's my tutorial on why chickens have an easier time swallowing a bulky pill than humans do.

We think chickens must have a problem swallowing a large pill just because we do. But their digestive process is different from ours. We begin the digestive process by chewing first, then swallowing. We aren't meant to swallow large chunks. We naturally choke.

Chickens don't have teeth for a good reason. They don't need them. Their digestive process begins after they swallow. The food goes directly into their crop without passing "Go", and then it trickles down into their gizzard where the "chewing" action goes into full swing.

Therefore, chickens can amaze us by swallowing things that we think would choke them, large pills included. But they actually have no problem. Slip the pill into the beak and you'll see it disappear like magic. Unless you don't get it far enough back on the tongue. Chickens can rival dogs and cats at firing a pill across the room like a guided missile, but it's not because they aren't able to swallow it easily.

Typically I'd agree, but she was in such a bad state that all she could do is gasp for air. She wasn't swallowing at all. I'm waiting in the vet parking lot to see what is going on.

 

[vintage]

Got back from the vet. Fluid in abdomen is pushing on lungs causing the respiratory issues. Wasn't concerned with squishy crop that isn't emptying. Didn't take a fecal sample to rule out gapeworm, didn't think that was the problem. He mentioned either egg peritonitis or a tumor. Couldn't tell which because putting her under to take an x-ray wasn't advised. Prescribed Baytril.