4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[err_rachael]

maj is ill! she hasn't been laying for a few days and i noticed she had a bloody vent yesterday. she had been dripping on the ground as well as on the eglu. did a lot of googling and it seemed she had an egg stuck up there. so gave her a warm bath for 20 minswhich seemed to be soothing for her sore botty and rubbed some vaseline on.

 

(might be a bit graphic if you're eating...)

no egg or shell came out so took her to the vets. she really is in a sorry way. they couldnt figure out what was wrong and felt no egg inside of her. it could be that an egg has broken inside of her and the shell is causing the blood or it could be perotinitus. her bum looks really sore and kinda pulsates. the vets said it seems to be linked to her breathing because the pulsating goes in time. she is worryingly thin too wich i kicked myself for not having noticed sooner. but apparently chickens can actually fake eating. so they dont appear vulnerable and in a poor way to the other chicken. the vet gave us antibiotics for her, a bit of pain relief and wormer just incase. so she is all medded up at the moment. she told us to see how she goes and it's worth a shot. she needs a lot of tlc right now and has to be kept seperate from her sis. she's been in the bathtub since last night. made her a nesting area. she has her water and food there as well as treats. she doesnt seem very energetic so i dont think being in the bathtub bothers her. the vet said to keep her inside and warm.

 

i am hopeful though. since last night she has eaten 2x corn on the cob, meal worm crumbs, weetabix made mushy with warm water and some marmite on toast as well as drinking and eating the regular chicken pellets.

 

just wondering if anyone had any ideas? im wondering whether to continue with the baths, she seemed okay in it and was closing her eyes at times but apparently they do that if they are scared? i just dont want to stress her out even more. i'm really stuck and the vet seemed to be too. i dont want her to be in any pain, if it doesnt clear up then i think we'll have to put her down

[Plum]

I find this site is quite interesting for trawling through to try and get a clue what is happening http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

 

Antibiotics and wormer seem a reasonable start if no other obvious disease presents. Wondering whether it could be coccidiosis?

 

I would continue to bathe and I've used sudocrem on a sore vent before which was effective.

 

Hope she picks up.

[The Dogmother]

If the soreness on her vent seems to be internal (this seems to be borne out by the dripping blood) then it could be any number of things; a broken egg is the most likely. Your vet has done all they can in the circumstances. I would give her 36 hours to see if there's any improvement then re-analyse the situation.

 

A crusty vent (externally) is often caused by lice and mites biting it.

[err_rachael]

well she's been eating, drinking and had a lot of treats and seemed generally perky today. though her vent was still pulsating but not bleeding. so decided perhaps wrongly to put her back in the coop with maz as it's so sunny today and see how they get on. gave them both some meal worm and she retreated to the eglu straight away and sat in the nest straining to deliver an egg. maz in a very unsisterly way decided to peck at her bum making it bleed again so they've been seperated again. maz is in the shed in shame and maj has full scope of the coop. still continuing with the antibiotics but since yesterday she has been wheezing a bit through her beak. she had another bath and we bought some sudocrem today for her next bath. she is pooing but at the moment they seem to be green. what is worrying me most is her pulsating bum, it still hasnt returned to normal.

 

rang the vet and they are ringing back. she does seem perky and not really unhappy but i just wouldnt want her to be in pain. i dont want to find her dead will see what the vet says but i have a feeling she might have to be put down. it's really scary having such a poorly chickadee.

 

the vent isn't crusty. quite raw actually. and pulsating. really horrible to see.

 

thankyou for the advice. will keep you all updated.

[Plum]

Sorry she is still in trouble. Do you think the wheezing through beak may be that she is a bit hot. The green poo is probably because she's not been eating.

 

Horrid to see them suffering but hard to see them go. Hugs for you and hope she picks up pretty quick. May help to put the sudocrem on now to sooth the vent

[err_rachael]

hmm.. it is difficult to tell but i'm sure she's been eating. she's had quite a few corn on the cobs in the past few days. just wanted to let you know we put sudocrem on her poor bum we distracted her with some mealworm crumble stuff and pear so she didnt seem to mind it so much. vet still hasn't rang back after ringing them again. will probably have to ring them again tomorrow. will see how she is thanks again!

[err_rachael]

wow. ok, so maj laid an egg today! although it had a hole in it. she seems perkier too. will keep an eye on her. thanks Plum, i think sudocrem might have done the trick

[Plum]

You were right then - egg waiting. Well done Maj and just you behave.

[err_rachael]

after giving her a bath today it seems she has a small prolapse emptying out the shed today to keep her inside and blacking out the windows to prevent her from laying. she laid an egg today but the shell was streaked with blood. finding it difficult to push it back in because it seems to push back. really odd and quite scary. maj seems happy enough though. next course of action is applying haemoroid cream to it, keeping her in the shed with just food and water and giving the vet a ring tomorrow. do you think this is okay? i'm slightly worried about reducing her food/treats because i was trying to build her up because she is pretty underweight herself. i'm hoping the vet will be able to push it back in, i really cant seem able to. maybe it was this all along?

[Plum]

Possibly it was. You are doing the right thing and as she is well in herself keep going Do see the vet because he will give you antibiotic cover. It takes a while to get the swelling down before it goes back inside, while it's swollen it irritates so they push it out like an egg.

With feeding use wheat or mixed corn if you have it and grit or weetabix is fine but try and keep off pellets so it discourages laying which you are already doing. You are darkening her area which is good as well.

 

I found sprinkling sugar on the prolapse took the swelling down quickly. It's a bit weird but it worked.

 

Maj I said behave Keeping my fingers crossed it settles down.

[err_rachael]

we've been giving her antibiotics but we may well need a top up supply from the vet tomorrow. talk about a duh moment, me and my mum kept thinking... we need to get some wheat from somewhere hmm... and then you said weatabix which we have quite a lot of! just taken her layer feed away and replaced it with broken up weetabix biscuits. thankyou tons Plum you've been so helpful, I'll be sure to tell maj who to be grateful to for the warm baths, creams and weatbix suggestions! will keep you updated on how it goes tomorrow

[Plum]

Well went through it with one of mine early this year and glad to say she recovered and went on to lay well but she suddenly died later from something else

[err_rachael]

oh that's sad chooks are quite fragile creatures really aren't they

[err_rachael]

just a bit of an update. the haemmoroid cream stuff really works! the tiny fleshy bit that was poking out seems to have gone in by itself thank goodness. so no trip to the vet. she's still in the shed (with binbags over the windows to make it dark) with weetabix broken up, water with poultry acv conditioner with apple cider vinegar trickled inside it, grit and osyter shell and some corn. I worry a lot about her. Do you think there's anything else we can do? Her bum is still...sorry to be graphic..puckering all the time. I think she's doing well to have a break from laying, poor chook. Sounds mean but I'm quite glad her bit of innard seemed to go in by itself. I couldn't get it in myself after many tries and the vet is quite expensive!

 

Her sister maz still has all the scope of the walk in run and eglu. Gave the eglu a proper scrub it today and clean. Feel quite bad that maj won't be able to partake in the freshness of it tonight.

[The Dogmother]

Their vents do normally pulse anyway. I'd let her out to be with her friends and keep an eye on her.

[err_rachael]

I'm a bit wary only because we tried the other day and maz pecked her and made her bleed everywhere. She is also pretty underweight and quite fragile

[The Dogmother]

See if you can have her in a run where they can see her but aren't able to peck at her.

[err_rachael]

I could let her free range around the walk in run? It's just I thought I was supposed to keep her in the shed for a week to prevent her from laying and time to recoop. maybe I'm wrong?

[The Dogmother]

You can keep her in the shed for a week, but you will then have problems introducing her to the others again, she will also mope and get lonely. I'm not humanising her here; chickens are flock animals and get miserable if they are on their own.

 

If she seems healed then I'd put her back outside, but that's just my opinion.

 

To stop a hen laying, withdraw water for 24 hours, then feed on wheat instead of layers feed - usually works.

[Plum]

Can you put the eglu run in your big run. You could put something up to make it a bit gloomy to discourage ovulating. I put some black bin liners over the top of the run which cut out some of the light.

 

If there is any red or blood at the vent you could use gentian violet spray to disguise it

[err_rachael]

thanks for both of your replies. i let her out for a good free range in the garden today whilst maz was in the walk in run. they could see eachother and maz got plenty of worms. her vent is no longer bleeding but she has a bare bottom because she's been plucking our her feathers there. she hasn't been laying so i think the weetabix, corn and keeping her in the dark shed has worked. i think i'll see how she is tomorrow and maybe let them free range together for a bit under my supervision. i dont think she is quite better yet. thinking about taking her to the vet because i know all of their vents pucker a bit but hers doesn't seem normal. but the haemeroid cream did the job it no longer looks sore.

 

i would use the eglu run but we dismantled it to use as a fixture in the walk in run for the glug and food. would have been handy if i had kept it! going to look out for a rabbit hutch and run online on freecycle too for the future.

[Plum]

Could you knock up a little run with a bit of 1x1 and chickenwire from Wickes or similar

[err_rachael]

the day we put her in the shed we did try to. we have the movable chicken wire fencing we bought from omlet a while ago. we set it up around the shed so she could just go in and out of the shed at the same time but my dozy cat decided it interfered with her route in the garden and almost got herself caught in it. so that idea was a no go.

 

i could try and convince my mum to corden off another area in the garden, just not around the shed for maz while she recovers rather than her being in the shed all day? she's only been there for 3 days now but seems to have perked up. she enjoyed her free range today. i dont really want to put her back in the eglu and walk in run with maz yet because her bum still doesnt seem quite right. i'd like the vet to take another look at it.

 

or another option is to let her free range under my supervision for the next few days until we see the vet. to add another problem to the very big list, my neighbour said a few days ago that she had seen a fox around. that's all we need

 

thanks again plum

[Plum]

You're doing fine but I would do as you say and let them have a bit of time together each day under supervision and as you say it's not worth taking the risk of further injury.

 

Wouldn't take chances with fox around

[err_rachael]

thanks i will try that out today looking into a last visit to the vet for maz for a final check up and hopefully a thumbs up