Single hen

[Beccy and Niki]

Can anybody please give me some advice

 

About 4 days ago our chicken Joyce laid an egg that didn't seem to have a shell.

The following day she laid an egg that was so fragile that it broke in my fingers. Since then she's not laid any eggs and she's got really runny poo.

 

Her feathers don't seem to look right either.

 

Today she's just standing there and not really wanting to move. She also seems bigger and fatter but I'm not sure if it's because she's kind of pulling her neck into her body. Now she's just laying down and not really moving very much.

 

I've checked her over and can't see any sign of mites or anything like that. Her vent looks healthy and I don't think there's any sign of a stuck egg. Her eyes are shiny, but she's just not herself.

 

I don't know what to do (other than taking her to the vets)

 

Has anybody got any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

Beccy

[chelsea]

it could be another soft shelled egg on the way. Softies do tend to make them go hunched, quiet. sort of "zoned out" for about 24 hours or so. Once the egg is passed the hen returns to normal. If she is new to laying soft shelled eggs are common.

 

Has she been wormed? hunching is also a sign of worms.

 

I would keep a close eye on her.

[Guest]

difficult one, could be a softie or she could have contracted a bacterial infection due to the egg yolk not being eliminated properly. I'd take her to the vet because if she's put on baytril in time she should be ok.

 

Do you give them grit and oyster shell or crushed, baked egg shells to help with their calcium intake?

[Beccy and Niki]

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

We've had both chickens for about six months and they've both been laying for about 4-5 months and we've never had any problems with their eggs before. (maybe 1 or 2 soft spots during their laying time).

 

I haven't wormed them though as I thought it should be done every 6 months. (suppose I should really be doing this now).

 

If she's no better tomorrow I'll go to the vets with her.

[Egluntyne]

You say she looks bigger and fatter. Is she waddling with a wide legged gait and does her abdomen feel hot and 'boggy' when you pick her up?

[Guest]

we worm roughly every 3 months.

[Beccy and Niki]

You say she looks bigger and fatter. Is she waddling with a wide legged gait and does her abdomen feel hot and 'boggy' when you pick her up?

 

No she doesn't seem to be waddling with a wide gait.

 

Just nipped outside to check her abdomen. I felt the healthy chicken first so I knew what to compare it against. It definately feels bigger and I suppose you could say boggy. But it didn't feel hot.

[Egluntyne]

I'd keep an eye on that side of things and take her to the vet if there is no imrovement or if it worsens.

 

I'd also worm them with Flubenvet to be on the safe side.

[Beccy and Niki]

Thanks Egluntine.

 

She perked up quite a lot on the Saturday (lucky as we were going away for the weekend). She still hasn't laid an egg, so we're going to worm her this week.

[Egluntyne]

Glad to hear that she has perked up.

[Beccy and Niki]

Following my earlier post, Joyce perked up and she's now back to her old self again.

 

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

She's not laid another egg since her poorly spell. Everything else about her is fine she just isn't laying.

 

So I guess it's now about 7 weeks since she laid an egg and she's about 8 months old. We've wormed them, stopped all treats but she just isn't laying. (Marjorie our other hen is laying 1 egg every day still).

 

I feel like it's a bit pointless taking her to the vets as she is a fit healthy chicken!

 

Any ideas anybody?

 

If all else fails, I think we'll just buy another chuck to join them as Marjorie's egg production alone isn't enough

[Budgies]

It could be a number of things, but if she feels a big more boggy in her abdomen, it does sound as though she might have developed egg peritonitis, where her ripe egg yolks are going astray internally and not going through the egg laying tackle.

 

Is she still sitting on the pot and thinking she's got an egg coming but not actually laying anything? That's usually a fair indicator.

 

If it IS peritonitis, you'll need to keep a close eye on her. They can quickly develop infections where the fluid surrounding those rogue egg yolks (which is the bogginess in her abdo) becomes infected. That makes life very hard for a chook because she has 9 air sacs around her body and the fluid starts to press on these, making her breathing difficult, especially at rest.

 

It might be worth a visit to the vet to confirm anyway, and get the best advice on caring for her.

[Beccy and Niki]

Is she still sitting on the pot and thinking she's got an egg coming but not actually laying anything? That's usually a fair indicator.

 

It's funny you should say that. She still sits there every morning to lay an egg but nothing appears.

 

Thank you very much for your advice. Think I'll pop her to the vets this weekend.