Re: Sick Hen - please help

Chris wrote:
Hi there,

One of our ex-battery hens is looking a bit sick, she is moving quite
slowly, wings drooping and tail lowered. She has done this several
times before and I assumed she was egg bound, funny thing is i've
never managed to get her to pass an egg but she has always recovered
after a few days.
I've just felt around and under her vent and its far harder to the
touch than the other hens - some sort of pressure down there.

Surely if she was egg bound she would not recover as she has done in
the past without passing eggs. Any ideas what it might be and ways to
help her?
Thanks in advance,

Chris (in the UK)

Cancerous tumours are common in these birds, as is egg peritonitis [a
cracked egg inside]
;(

Is she passing anything?
Is she eating and drinking?
What condition is her comb?

If you can afford it, you might try the vet to see if a more anatomically
knowledgeable pair of hands can help you. At least you get an opinion on
the bird from first hand experience.

--

regards
Jill Bowis

Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk

Jill,

Thanks for that.

She has had an episode similar to this several times over the last few
months - I have been treating it as if she was egg bound, not seen any eggs
etc passed but the hen just seemed to recover (i.e. back to normal). Most
recently she looked quite poorly, I thought I was going to loose her.

This time round i'm not sure about droppings as yet, i'll check in the
morning where she is roosting. Last time round she was passing watery dark
green and white droppings from memory - at least definitely not solid and
quite unlike normal. But they did return to normal when she recovered.
Nothing egg like though.

She is still eating and drinking but not with the usual vigour you would
expect.

Comb is quite firm but last time turned a little darker than normal and
possibly a little shrunken (dehydration?)

I noticed this time how bulbous her abdomen looks and how firm it is
compared to our other healthy hens.
I was thinking about the possibility of tumours but if that were the case I
wouldn't expect her to 'recover'?

I have also done a little internal exam with a latex glove and some oil to
make things easier, I couldn't feel any obstructions of any kind at least
most of the length of my little finger! She didn't complain too much about
it either so it couldn't have been painful.

Yes I think our local vet may be the best option - although they don't seem
that knowledgeable about hens.

Chris.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: red hen - egg bound?
    ... > Red hen is still not laying. ... She looks great, bright red comb, nice ... I looked up egg bound and it says that this sometimes happens to ... > hens who are low on calcium as they need the shells to pass the eggs. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Chickens killing my garden
    ... They will eat apple if it's finely ... Must get a fake egg or three and start to teach them where to put ... their heads off. ... My neighbour has a lot of hens, last year the fox got into the hen ...
    (uk.rec.gardening)
  • Sexable eggs? and intro
    ... Are there any breeds which are sexable in the egg? ... speculating that such a trait would be an enormous boon to ... I blog about the hens rather obsessively here: ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry
    ... the hens would lay 5-6 eggs in a clutch ... Egg laying ... >Photo shows a recently rescued free range hen. ... In all the conditions I've seen which produce birds that have ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Damn you, FEDEX! or Nikon D40 lost in Springfield, MO blackhole.
    ... the 2 mp Mavica he had been using with a Nikon D40. ... After shopping around, he got me to order one for him. ... The shipper had it insured, but from what I have read it could take weeks to sort this crap out. ... You may get your insurance from FedEx and a couple weeks later they find it and deliver it. ...
    (alt.photography)
Loading