Wanted Please - Harrogate / York / Leeds area

[thegamwellsmythes]

Hi,

 

One of our girls, scrambled, is a bit poorly.

 

At the end of last week she laid two soft eggs in a row and the second one she must have broken on its way out as there was an eggy mess around her vent and a bit of soft shell stuck in the vent. The vent was sticking out a bit too much as well. We got what we could of the soft shell out and nudged the vent back to it's normal position.

 

Ever since shes been a bit subdued and tired.

 

She's eating and drinking well, has a nice red sticky up comb but is sleepy between bursts of activity. Her droppings are also very watery although they seem to be a normal colour, a bit white maybe.

 

We think the soft eggs may have upset her or caused a tummy problem of some sort.

 

We've been mixing some probiotic yoghurt in with the mash but are thinking of taking her off the pellets and just giving her corn to take her off the lay for a bit to see it that helps.

 

Might take her to the vet tonight as well.

 

Any other ideas. She is quite lively when awake but seems to tire very quickly and then has another sleep before another lively spell.

 

Jane and Paul

[Dolly]

It's possible there could be some egg shell still stuck inside her (we had a hen with similar symptoms following a spate of soft/shell-less eggs), I would suggest a trip to the vets so they can check and remove anything you may have missed. Our hen was back to her normal self within 24 hours once the stuck egg shell had been removed.

Let us know how you get on.

[thegamwellsmythes]

Ta for the response.

 

We got home last night and she had perked up a bit, not back to her normal self but more lively.

 

I had a bit of a look around and found a lump of soft shell, not at all egg shaped, a lump which must have been very tricky to pass . It has a bit of different coloured soft shell stuck to it which I guess must have been a bit of the previous soft shell. We think that may have been causing a blockage.

 

She's still not quite right this morning but we've changed the food additive from chicken spice to one with more calcium in it so we'll see how she gets on. Her poo was a bit yellow this morning which I think is the remains of the soft eggy lump coming out. This happenned the last time she had a soft egg incident a few months ago.

 

I wouldn't be suprised if we get another soft egg.

 

We took a picture of the weird egg thing so we'll post that next.

 

More fascinating poo/weird egg updates as things progress.

 

We're going to let her sort things out herself for another day or so and see how she gets on.

[Plum]

Aren't they a worry, I have one who lays all sorts and often retains some membrane or shell. If you find some membrane or shell hanging out you're best to check its all out. You can do it yourself just keep things really clean or get the vet to remove any that's left. Hope she picks up

[thegamwellsmythes]

Ta for the reply.

 

That's kind of the plan. We thought we'd got all of the last one out, I even had a clean poke about and couldn't feel anything left, but I guess soft shell is hard to feel inside a soft vent. She was very calm about it I must say.

 

We'll post any more developments.

[gongladosh]

How is she now?

[thegamwellsmythes]

She seems to have picked right up.

 

Shes not tired as she was and isn't waddling about or spending much of the time resting.

 

We might have seen the last of the eggs from her but thats not a problem.

 

Shes basically back to her inquisitive self. I think her friend Boiled might be trying to be top chicken whiile she fully returns to normal but Scrambled will put a stop to that eventually.

 

As Boiled hasn't laid an egg for around 3 months we're thinking so getting another layer in a couple of weeks once Scrambled has settled down. We don't want to cause more stress by introducing a new bird just yet.

 

Generally good news.