Unsecure chicken perches

[Mrs Potts]

Hello and hope you have eaten.

 

Hettie was very slow this morning, wandered past the grub and glug and stood still, whilst the others hogged away. I tested her appetite with a small bowl of peas, sweetcorn, a little tuna, mealworms and pellets, quite moist. She wolfed that down and accepted some syringes of water too. Her vent and under feathers were all clean and dry, but she had a little knot of poo near so I tried to wash that out (thinking about fly strike). She went back inside the run and promptly sat on the floor, which makes her rear end look like a mud bath and about a hundred times worse.

 

I checked her vent up close this evening, to make sure nothing had laid in her muddy drawers. A runny yellowy white poo squirted out with something was wriggling in it - worm not maggot. I looked it up on the Poultry Forum poo page link and think it is the Blackhead worm.

 

She's looking a bit sorry for herself now, just standing in one corner. She hasn't laid for two or three days (relief if they end up in her eggs ). The coop has had clean aubiose today, to prevent as much fly interest in the coop as possible overnight. Obviously we are off to the vet tomorrow morning, to find out what is wrong, but

 

- is there anything else I can do to make her more comfortable?

- will she make it through to tomorrow?

 

Thank you.

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Thanks for that, I'm eating some icecream .

 

Has she been wormed recently?

[Mrs Potts]

Hi.

 

They were done at the beginning of March with flubenvet pellets. Funnily enough, my neighbour and I agreed to buy another bag this morning, when he kindly came to have a look to check she wasn't egg bound. He had to help one of his ladies out a few weeks back, but he didn't think Hettie's problem was the same.

 

Sounds like a case of the you-know-whats then? I did try to hang on until I thought dinner time was over - sorry about the ice cream.

 

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I managed to choke my icecream down .

 

Worming is generally recommended every 3 months or so, so it might be worth doing again. Hope the vet can help tomorrow .

[Mrs Potts]

Thanks, ANH. She has just had some moist sweetcorn, so fingers crossed. She just looks so glum!

[The Dogmother]

I agree with ANH, worm them all more regularly, pop some ACV in their water every now and then and keep treats to a minimum. A high worm load will make them poorly but even more so if the hen is ailing anyway or not eating the right diet.

[Egluntyne]

Flubenvet pellets?

[squiffs]

Flubenvet pellets?

 

 

I think she's referring to the medicated feed you can buy, for eg. Marriage's?

[The Dogmother]

I think perhaps they may been the pre-medicated Marriages pellets.... *shrugs*

[Mrs Potts]

Hello, again.

 

Yes I did mean Marriage's pellets - apologies for the colloquialisms. My neighbours and I just use that phrase.

 

All my hens are due for reworming now anyway so vet recommended those for the de-worming so I can do everyone, rather than her treating just Hettie. She thinks Hettie may be egg bound, but not quite sure and also that her crop was quite full and hard. So:

 

- calcium injection to strengthen and help pass any eggs that might be in there

- warm baths to help with that too

- Baytril in case she has an infection (temperature of 105)

- me to syringe in some oily water through her beak and massage the crop upwards

- if her crop isn't better after a couple of days, to take her back for hen tipping or surgery

 

All I can picture is cow tipping (I'm sorry, the image was just there) so it obviously is not that ... but what does that involve?

 

Thank you.

 

[The Dogmother]

They will try to empty the crop, but TBH it's tricky as hen's don't have a gag reflex and can easily aspirate any contents of the crop as it comes up. I'd not risk it myself.

 

If her crop is still hard and full in the morning then give her oil 3 times a day, massage the crop and feed her on live maggots, that ought to clear any blockages unless there's a blockage further down the digestive tract, in which case the prognosis isn't good.

[Mrs Potts]

We limped on Monday and Tuesday, with diet of yoghurt and olive oil, massaging crop, baths, Baytril etc.

 

By Wednesday, she would not eat or drink. Lots of yellow runny poo in the coop too from overnight, especially in the nesting box. Marriages pellets had arrived but just knew she would not eat these, so took her back to vetecause I thought she would be PTS. This vet, who knew more about hens, thought her crop nice and soft, if a bit big. They gave her a worming injection, a Baytril injection and an injection to give her contractions to help clear her out and told her that if she didn't get better, it would be FR in the sky and no mistake - they couldn't do any more for her. I've had amused looks at the vets from staff about taking in a hen, but this vet was lovely and chatted to Hettie all the time, which was lovely.

 

I know she had just been wormed but it was last FR for a week for the other two and frankly, didn't expect her to live so thought a last sunny afternoon would be nice. She gave a small cooing noise and did the biggest chicken poop I have seen - primrose yellow.

 

This morning she is eating her worming pellets along with the others, and drinking, and walking about the run a little more. Will continue the yoghurt and Baytril dip and baths if necessary. Not sure which visit helped, but don't really mind. Vet's fee on Monday was £20, yesterday was £13 including consultations and all the injections and for a well Hettie, I thought that was reasonable.

[Chucky Mama]

Vet's fee on Monday was £20, yesterday was £13 including consultations and all the injections and for a well Hettie, I thought that was reasonable.

Ridiculously cheap, they have been very kind to you

[The Dogmother]

Blimey yes!

 

Glad to hear that she is improving.

[Mrs Potts]

I think I probably looked more forlorn than Hettie when I went in!