Single hen

[raffik]

Belina is now about 20 months old and has always been the sweetest thing.

The most confident, vocal, friendly, inquisitive chicken, now things have changed.

 

In the last few weeks, she will run away from me, sits with her tail feathers down in the garden, making very peculiar noises and hasn't laid an egg since Christmas.

 

We are very worried about her. I thought it could be sour crop, and I put her upside down, massaged her crop, gave her olive oil and some liquid came out which smelt disgusting.

 

Her crop has gone right down and she is eating.

 

However, there is definitley something a miss with her. I did wonder if she was egg bound, and brought her inside about 2 weeks ago and massaged vaseline on her vent but she is stil the same.

 

I would really like some help as I am very worried about her.

 

I'll list the symptons below;

 

1) Skittish / Runs away when you come near her

2) Not laying

3) Loss of feathers around the base of the neck

4) Loss of appetite

5) Being very still with half closed eyes

6) Strange squeaky noises

7) Very bad breath

[Guest]

she coud have a respiratory problem, I'd take her to the vets as she might have an infection and might need antibiotics.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've no experience of poorly hens, I'm afraid . Sorry to hear she's not well . Has she been wormed recently?

[chelsea]

I've never had a crop problem here, so cant really advise sorry. I always thought bad breath was a sign of sour crop though...

 

I think as she hasnt been right for a while a trip to the vet for a once over may be a good idea.

 

Hope she gets better soon.

[Egluntyne]

Sounds like a combination of three possibles to me.

 

An bog standard moult would explain the skittishness, not laying and loss of feathers.

 

The smelly breath may be sour crop, the strange squeaky noises might be something amiss in the breathing dept, so a trip to the vet would be a good idea as she has been like this for a while.

[sandyhas3chucks]

good luck, been struggling myself with different crop problems for dif reasons. now the search facility is back up & running you can find lots by typing in sour crop. but agree with E if she has been off for a bit a trip to the vet might be needed. Like my head chook, I haven't noticed or checked if her crop has been emptying, wasn't till a sour crop with another that I thought to grab her 1st thing & check. she has been offish for a while also, there crops may have been not quite right for a while.

[raffik]

Just thought I'd provide an update.

 

Took Belina to the vet today as she still hadn't got any better.

She seemed to pick up when I moved her into my warm utility room but whenever I put her outside again, she regressed.

 

The vet had a look at her, said it wasn't sour crop, but it could be Peritonitis. If this is the case, then it could be fatal.

 

He took her temperature and said it was high. He gave her an antibiotic injection in the breast (which she didn't like at all bless her).

 

He has also given me some antibiotics that I should put in her water.

 

If she doesn't pick up, then they can do an xray to see if she is egg bound (she hasn't laid since Christmas). But he said that if she was, then they wouldn't be prepared to operate.

 

I am observing her and if she doesn't get any better then I will take her back.

 

I'm just praying that the antibiotics will help!

[Groovychook]

Fingers crossed for Belina xx

[chelsea]

fingers crossed for you that the antibiotics will help

 

let us know how she goes.

[The Dogmother]

Can you let us know what the symptoms are so that we can help?

 

Peritonitis is very obvious, so if she had it, your vet would have noticed straight away.

 

Chooks have a high temperature anyhow - 104-105deg as opposed ot our 97deg

[raffik]

Hi Claret

 

I'll try and be as thorough as I can.

 

Shortly after Christmas, Belina became very withdrawn.

She had always been the most inquisitive chicken; if I came into the garden, she would run up to me and step of my feet and fly up to my hands thinking I had some treats for her.

 

She went off her food. She then would literally sit in the middle of the garden, not moving, just closing her eyes as if she was sleeping.

 

I first thought she might be egg bound, because she hadn't laid an egg in over a week.

I took her inside my utility, where it's warm. I massaged her vent with vaseline to try and encourage her to lay. It didn't do anything. At this stage, I still believed she was egg bound.

 

She would be hunched up and uncommunicative towards me. I also noticed that my Pepperpot had pecked some feathers from Belina's neck.

 

After another week, she still hadn't got any better. I then thought that if it wasn't being egg bound, then perhaps it could be sour crop.

She did have a large solid crop and when I squeezed it, she would burp disgusting gas in my face. I gave her some olive oil over the course of a week to ease the blockage, and then massaged her. I also turned her upside down because I read that it helped.

 

Nothing apart from some grey goo came out. I had recently changed the straw in the laying box to something a lot longer that I got from a farm shop. I thought that perhaps she had eaten some of this and it had become tangled. However, her crop feels completely empty and not full in the morning.

 

She hasn't laid an egg since 23rd December.

 

Earlier this week, I noticed that she had retired to the eglu during daylight hours.

I then decided to bring her back inside. I tried her with cat food, some tonic in her water, and she seemed a little better. A lot more inquisitive and bright eyed.

 

After two nights, I thought I could try putting her back in with the other two girls. However, she looked miserable again, hunched in the middle of the garden, eyes closed, tail feathers down.

 

I took her to the vet and it's the only specialist poultry vet in the area. He said that she could be egg bound. However, he said that an xray would cost me £165 and even if it showed that she was egg bound, they wouldn't operate on her because it would be too risky. He said that it would be more humane to put her down.

 

I told him I hadn't wormed her, so he has ordered me some chicken wormer which I am still waiting for.

 

He said that her temperature was 104 which he said was high, but after some subsequent research, I have learnt that this is normal.

 

He said she could have an infection and gave her an injection in the breast.

I mix the liquid stuff in with her water and have moved her to the (Warm) cellar which has a door out onto a little garden. She seems very slightly better.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Am desperate for any advice as I don't want her to be in pain/discomfort.

 

What are the symptoms of peritonitis?

[Egluntyne]

Doesn't sound much of a poultry specialist if he didn't realise that hens have a normally high temperature, and that he didn't seem to address the symptoms of sour crop that you have described. Sorry to be blunt.

 

The symptoms of peritonitis are a swollen abdomen, a waddling manner of walking because of the swelling, laying ceases and when the swelling is severe, the comb can become bluish when the hen sits down as a result of back pressure interfering with the circulation.

[The Dogmother]

Sorry I haven't been around today and thanks for adding your advice Egluntine.

 

I don't think that it sounds like peritonitis, or you'd have noticed that her abdomen was hard and distended. I think that it sounds like a diegstive problem, probably sour crop by the sounds of it (although it's hard to tell without seeing her).

 

Try her on an exclusion diet, just pellets, no treats at all. Give her/them live yoghurt mixed with Bokashi Bran, put ACV in the water and Avipro too. Worming wouldn't harm either.

 

When it's uncertain like this then all you can do is to treat the symptoms, I'm afraid.

 

I just wish that I were nearer

[Plum]

No advice to add but I hope she picks up for you.

[sandyhas3chucks]

is the liquid stuff baytril? that would be more anti biotic, don't know how our"experts" feel, but personally I would syringe it straight in her beak, my guess is that she is not drinking much either on her own, & therefore she won't be getting the rest of the anti biotic that she needs in her.

have you tried tempting her with really really runny mash.

mine also go a treat for warm scrambled egg.

good luck how is she today

[Daphne]

I hope your hen is feeling a bit better today. I can't add anything too helpful I'm afraid, but I just wanted to tell you that we had an egg bound hen a fortnight ago. She had a very 'squishy' feeling undercarriage. We took her to the vet, he lubed up and felt inside her and found the egg. It was still quite high and so after trying to get it out manually, he gave her a shot of something and eventually got the egg out (intact - had it for lunch!) All this took about 20 mins, our girl was extremely good, the egg was quite round rather than egg shaped which is why I think she had difficulty. This cost about £32 - partly time and partly whatever the meds were.

 

I'm a bit puzzled about having an x-ray - we have egg peritonitis in the past and I'm sure vets can tell if there's an egg there or not. He did say if he didn't get it out, and she didn't pass it naturally then you could do an op to extract the egg but that would be very expensive (and prob not worth it). I now have ENORMOUS respect for our girls - I watched the vet and her vent very closely until the very end when it just didn't seem physically possible for her to expel the egg with his hand up her bottom as well!

[raffik]

Belina passed away this morning.

 

I got home yesterday afternoon, and the other two had roosted in the Eglu but I couldn't see Belina. Then I spotted her stood still and trembling in the corner of the garden. I knew she was going to die, I just had this feeling, and I was right.

 

My boyfriend said that we should have her in the cellar to sleep but I said no, I want her to be in, so I put her in a box of fresh bedding and some water and put her in the utility, which is warm from a radiator and the boilers etc and I sat with her, stroking her and telling her it was going to be okay.

 

She was on her way out, no two ways about it and I knew there was no more I could do for her. I woke in the middle of the night wondering if she was scared (I hope she wasn't)

 

When my boyfriend woke in the morning, at 06:45, he said that she was still alive.

When I woke up at 08:00 and went into the utility, she was dead, so I can narrow the time of death .

 

She was so obviousley ill before she died. Just very lethargic and not interested in anything that was going on around her. The anti biotics didn't work and the vet didn't seem to know what to do. I just hope I didn't let her down and I did as much as I could do give her a fighting chance.

[Daphne]

I am sorry to hear this; you did everything right and have nothing to reproach yourself with. It sounds like it was her time, you made her comfortable and gave her as safe and loving an end as you could. Its all we can do sometimes. RIP Belina.

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear it.

[Plum]

I'm so sorry. It must be very hard for you, you tried.

[Guest]

oh bless, sorry to hear the sad news

[iar fach goch]

So sorry to hear your news, we lost our first hen on Sunday and are all devastated. Ours was fine until Sunday morning and was gone by the afternoon. I never thought I could grow so attached to a hen, but I've been heartbroken. It sounds as if you did all you could.