Stonecoast
Hatching
- Mar 3, 2025
- 8
- 3
- 8
Hello fellow chicken stewards!
1) Our Kermit is a 20 month old Ameracauna who typically weighs around 5 pounds. She feels just right at the keel bone - not too lean or too pudgy.
2&3) Hubby said she was standing off by herself two days ago, not fluffed up but just “looked unhappy.” I didn’t pay much attention as he is a worrywart about the girls…but yesterday he said she looked the same, and wouldn’t eat from his hand (not even cracked corn!). I went out to look and her feathers looked great, comb was nice and red, but she was just standing off to the side of the flock, blinking sleepily. He said she had been keeping her tail down - made me think egg bound. Picked her up and sure enough I can feel an egg in the abdomen…but it’s not near the vent yet. We had remarked earlier in the week that it was odd we stopped getting any blue or green eggs this week. Her vent area was mite-free, just a thin trail of feces on her butt fluff, and the vent area was very pale - despite the bright red comb and face skin! She would not take water or feed, and did not struggle at all. Her crop was moderately full and felt like it had normal feed in it. Massaged it just in case it was stuck though it wasn’t hard or excessively distended.
4) All other birds in the flock of 16 (a mix of half Orpingtons and some wyandottes, Marans, Black Australorp, Cream Leg bar, etc) are acting normal.
7,8,9) We brought her inside and I mixed some rehydration powder and a bit of Poultry Cell in water and used a syringe to put a drop on the end of her beak and she’d sip that down, repeat repeat repeat for quite a while. Still very lethargic. I also lubricated her vent with some coconut oil just in case. Set up a dog kennel in the bathroom with shavings, and put more of the water mixture in. She must have gotten a second wind from the syringe sips, as she went at that liquid like it was her favorite thing! Kept her quiet and warm for the night.
By morning she’d gone through 12 ounces of the mixture! I’d read about the calcium issue so I measured out about 400mg-worth of tums; and also crushed one of my meloxicam to add approx 2.5 mg to her water. She sucked it down fairly eagerly - still no egg. It is still lodged in the same place in the abdomen. She is not passing stool, but occasionally she’ll pass a jet of clear liquid.
6) I can’t think of anything out of the ordinary that would have stressed her this past week. It got colder again, but not too bad, she’s not on the bottom of the pecking order (middle-ish), no new pets or chickens or changes in care routine. I did notice about a week ago that they were out of aragonite so I added more to their little hopper.
More 9, and 10) I did offer her porridge (a slurry of cornmeal, oatmeal, a pinch of Fertrell’s feed balancer) and she pecked once but wasn’t interested. She really perked up after all the water but still seems so very tired. I hope she got enough meloxicam to help. And she is still raging thirsty.
I am not married to the working hypothesis of her being egg bound, feel free to hit me with your other ideas and insights! We haven’t given her a warm bath yet as I’ve seen so much contradictory or merely anecdotal info about that. I do not want to stress her unnecessarily. Could it be a stuck lash egg? Peritonitis? Salpingitis? I will call our vet in the morning, but they are a dog/cat practice and I think the only farm/exotic animal vet here is a veryyyyy pricey emergency outfit.
I want to do right for this young hen, and I don’t want her to suffer.
Thank you for your input!
1) Our Kermit is a 20 month old Ameracauna who typically weighs around 5 pounds. She feels just right at the keel bone - not too lean or too pudgy.
2&3) Hubby said she was standing off by herself two days ago, not fluffed up but just “looked unhappy.” I didn’t pay much attention as he is a worrywart about the girls…but yesterday he said she looked the same, and wouldn’t eat from his hand (not even cracked corn!). I went out to look and her feathers looked great, comb was nice and red, but she was just standing off to the side of the flock, blinking sleepily. He said she had been keeping her tail down - made me think egg bound. Picked her up and sure enough I can feel an egg in the abdomen…but it’s not near the vent yet. We had remarked earlier in the week that it was odd we stopped getting any blue or green eggs this week. Her vent area was mite-free, just a thin trail of feces on her butt fluff, and the vent area was very pale - despite the bright red comb and face skin! She would not take water or feed, and did not struggle at all. Her crop was moderately full and felt like it had normal feed in it. Massaged it just in case it was stuck though it wasn’t hard or excessively distended.
4) All other birds in the flock of 16 (a mix of half Orpingtons and some wyandottes, Marans, Black Australorp, Cream Leg bar, etc) are acting normal.
7,8,9) We brought her inside and I mixed some rehydration powder and a bit of Poultry Cell in water and used a syringe to put a drop on the end of her beak and she’d sip that down, repeat repeat repeat for quite a while. Still very lethargic. I also lubricated her vent with some coconut oil just in case. Set up a dog kennel in the bathroom with shavings, and put more of the water mixture in. She must have gotten a second wind from the syringe sips, as she went at that liquid like it was her favorite thing! Kept her quiet and warm for the night.
By morning she’d gone through 12 ounces of the mixture! I’d read about the calcium issue so I measured out about 400mg-worth of tums; and also crushed one of my meloxicam to add approx 2.5 mg to her water. She sucked it down fairly eagerly - still no egg. It is still lodged in the same place in the abdomen. She is not passing stool, but occasionally she’ll pass a jet of clear liquid.
6) I can’t think of anything out of the ordinary that would have stressed her this past week. It got colder again, but not too bad, she’s not on the bottom of the pecking order (middle-ish), no new pets or chickens or changes in care routine. I did notice about a week ago that they were out of aragonite so I added more to their little hopper.
More 9, and 10) I did offer her porridge (a slurry of cornmeal, oatmeal, a pinch of Fertrell’s feed balancer) and she pecked once but wasn’t interested. She really perked up after all the water but still seems so very tired. I hope she got enough meloxicam to help. And she is still raging thirsty.
I am not married to the working hypothesis of her being egg bound, feel free to hit me with your other ideas and insights! We haven’t given her a warm bath yet as I’ve seen so much contradictory or merely anecdotal info about that. I do not want to stress her unnecessarily. Could it be a stuck lash egg? Peritonitis? Salpingitis? I will call our vet in the morning, but they are a dog/cat practice and I think the only farm/exotic animal vet here is a veryyyyy pricey emergency outfit.
I want to do right for this young hen, and I don’t want her to suffer.
Thank you for your input!
), so here’s hoping Cal citrate helps her more than the carbonate form. And without D3 it won’t matter what she get anyway. Thank you!!
. But you have prompted me to look up the advantages/disadvantages compared to crushed oyster shell, so I’ll report back if I find anything useful!
