Please help,
I have a large layer chicken, possibly puffed up with bald and dirty rear end. She has kept separate from the rest of the group since yesterday morning and didn't want to exit the hutch this morning. Egg bound or might she need antibiotics?
Been to check on the chickens and the one in question was typically by the fence away from the others. She looks even larger than she did earlier and the discharge is now a pale yellow colour and a lot of it. I offered her food and water and declined both. I initially thought it could be thrush but now you have suggested internal laying it is entirely plausible. We shall go and collect and examine her as suggested. A warm bath could only help. Would you recommend crushing a quarter of a tablet of aspirin to dissolve in her water or some apple cider vinegar as a tonic? We are novices to this and really appreciate the guidance.
Our hens are all commercial layers - brown with red comb - a Rhode Island Red mix. They're about 21 months old.
Having taken note of the internal laying suggestion, the depression, loss of appetite are concurrent with listed symptoms but she looks bright in the head area - bright eyes and uniform red comb, just not moving. She was laying shell-less eggs a few weeks ago which is a worrying precursor to this condition.
Yes, she's more than likely having laying issues. What's concerning is your report that there is a yellow discharge. It could be an egg that ruptured.
The aspirin would be OK. If there's an infection there she could also be running a temp. Broad spectrum antibiotics are needed but that said, the issue is liable to continue with her.
If you start seeing thin/shelless eggs I recommend using Calciboost for goats and D3 once a day for a week. The Calciboost dose should be about 1cc.
brought her in and she looked a little perkier, probably do to the unfamiliar surroundings. Very heavy and when we felt her body her lower half was squishy, not hard, although we don't know if we were thorough enough. I noticed that you have mentioned water belly in another thread. She excreted in front of us and it was off-white and watery. As we have a frost in this part of the UK we thought it wise to leave her in the porch with another chicken for warmth and give her a bath first thing in the morning. I shall try to locate a thermometer tomorrow so that I can take her temperature, and hopefullly acquire some Calciboost. They have Osta available to them but some choose not to eat and hence why we have a couple laying soft shell or no shell eggs. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
With mine I had oyster shell on the side for them to free choice partake of.
Being in the UK you have vets that will look at poultry. If she needs medications they can provide them or if it is internal laying they can confirm it.
Birds will lay soft shelled eggs just before going into a molt. But your girl sounds like this was an issue for a while. You might not have calciboost in the UK but some other goat calcium source.
Good thinking on giving her a buddy. It reduces the stress of being alone. Something you can try to get her to eat something is make her feed into a gruel. You can offer her chopped up hard boiled egg. Cooked oatmeal with a touch of sugar.
If this is internal laying she's got more going on than just that. If she has discharge from her nares there's something else there. I really think it's time for a vet.
For closure on the thread.....
I took our poorly hen to the vet, merely to have an expert opinion. They confirmed our suspicion which was egg peritonitis. Over the course of 24 hours she only ate 2 mouthfuls of gruel, despite being offered various types of chicken food all day and had refused water. We euthanised her that evening on the advice of the vet. We made sure that her last day was as enjoyable as possible for her. Sadly this case was part of the learning process.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Chicken Forum
208.8K posts
12.9K members
Since 2012
A forum community dedicated to chicken owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!