Boybeck Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hello One of my three ISA browns is looking poorly. For a couple of days she has squatted on the pavement and expelled yolk and white. What shell there was , was paper thin. This morning she laid a nice hard egg. She is doing a lot of sitting and generally looking sorry for herself. The other two chickens are happily running around the garden and are very alert. Her backside feathers are all tangled with egg/runny poo. She appears to be clenching her bottom/vent every few seconds. They have been out free ranging all day. I have just put them back in the run and she has gone straight into the eglu and is sat on the nest. They were de-wormed a month ago and I have been feeding them crushed egg shell. They get to free range virtually all day. What do you think? Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgies Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sorry to hear your girl is unwell. When you say she's clenching her vent, is she straining? Their vents do move quite a bit normally (it looks like they're chewing a toffee with their bum sometimes!!!) She might need additional calcium which will not only form stronger eggshells but will increase the contractions required to lay the egg. Try giving her either limestone flour or ground up cuttle fish bone, or Zolcal-d in the water. What did you use to worm her with? I ask that because some people on the forum have used certain wormers to no effect and have had to change brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boybeck Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Her whole rear end is moving, when she clenches, i've never seen it like that before. She is about a year old. I used Verm-x and it has been ok. The egg production is high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgies Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Her whole rear end is moving, when she clenches, i've never seen it like that before. She is about a year old. Can you feel her abdomen? Does she seem hot/swollen? It might be an infection of some sort. I used Verm-x and it has been ok. The egg production is high. It may be that your chickens aren't picking up worms where they free-range anyway. However, I know that several members of this forum have used Verm-x regularly only to find their chickens are still infested with worms. Would recommend trying Flubenvet or Panacur maybe if you do suspect worms in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boybeck Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 Well the good news tonight is that she is a lot perkier. In fact, she's even running across the garden when I go out there. Perhaps she was feeling a little delicate after a boozy night out unbeknown to me! Very odd, but hey I guess we all have our off days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henhathnofury Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 My girl has exactly the same symptoms and seems poorly. But I am glad that your girl has perked up. Ours is due to go to the vet on Saturday, unless she gets worse. I will let you know though....in case it helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boybeck Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 Fingers crossed she gets better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgies Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Sounds like she might have had another softie behind the hard egg - they make the poor hens feel very unwell. So glad she's improving. Do clean her up when she's settled back down and doing okay won't you, as chickens can get fly strike in the same way that rabbits can. Fingers crossed for your poorly girls Boybeck and Henhathnofury! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henhathnofury Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Thanks so much for your kind thoughts...we have been out to her several times and she has now been eating and drinking. The softies have been going on for two long now..so we have to get her a full check-up I gave her bottom a wash and a check-over today. I am terrified of Flystrike....I once had a rabbit who had it and had to be rushed by ambulance to a vet hospital....awful. He survived but never again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slip and pitch Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Hi Jason, Sorry for the delay in replying to this thread. I have a black rock who does exactly the same thing. She frequently lays soft eggs and sometimes along with it she'll look really poorly and you can see her rear end having contractions as you have described. I add two teaspoons of limestone powder to their food daily to increase the calcium but she still lays them frequently. The vet I use has hens himself and says that some hens just don't process calcuim very well,despite all my efforts. (My hen that does this is approx 18 months old and perfectly happy apart from this). Last week I also started giving her "keep well",a natural supplement made by verm-x and this seems to have made a slight improvement. Hope this helps x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
