Chicken walking funny

[Bluepheonix13255]

I have a black Sussex that's walking, standing, etc. As though she's always squatting. I would assume she's egg bound but she's been like this for about 5 days. She has a protrusion from right around where a bound egg would be, but it's not solid. I don't know what the deal is. It could be some illness I don't know of, she could have had an egg break within her, or she could even be egg bound and I'm just wrong thinking she's not.
I don't know anything about chickens and we don't have a chicken vet aside from UT vet. Hospital. And I can't dish out hundreds of dollars everytime a chicken gets sick

 

[Bluepheonix13255]

I don't know how to delete, so until I find it.
UPDATE
I made this post before checking on her this afternoon. Read some recommended posts, googled some stuff, and went and checked. The mass under her is smaller and she's not squatting as bad.
Seems to be on the recovery. Still don't know what it was, but all's well that ends well- for now- I guess.

 

[Eggcessive]

Could you get a photo of her vent area showing the mass? Is it coming out of the vent opening, such as a prolapsed cloaca? A prolapse occurs when straining to lay and egg or with constipation. How old is she? Does she normally lay eggs? Has she ever passed any lash egg material, which resembles a fleshy colored mass from salpingitis? Egg binding could cause one to walk like a duck widelegged. Sometimes a vitamin B 2 (riboflavin) deficiency can cause them to walk on their hocks.

 

[Bluepheonix13255]

Could you get a photo of her vent area showing the mass? Is it coming out of the vent opening, such as a prolapsed cloaca? A prolapse occurs when straining to lay and egg or with constipation. How old is she? Does she normally lay eggs? Has she ever passed any lash egg material, which resembles a fleshy colored mass from salpingitis? Egg binding could cause one to walk like a duck widelegged. Sometimes a vitamin B 2 (riboflavin) deficiency can cause them to walk on their hocks.

She's about 2 years old- maybe month older or younger. She lays regularly, and I the most unusual thing I've seen laid by any of my chickens was a soft egg- this was not recent, and was not a brown egg- which black Sussex lay. There was never anything really obvious visually. I only palpated it because of her posture- not because I saw anything. She didn't actually look swelled up or anything. She walked like she was trying to touch the base of her tail to the ground, but oddly wasn't really lethargic- went about her day like normal except for the perpetual squat. She could run, but just looked awkward doing it.
As I've said- she's actually recovered relative to this morning and the past few days.
From reading other threads and the like I think it MAY have been egg yolk peritonitis that wasn't infected or anything. That may have been the cause, but I think the squatting may have just been minor "water belly" - like a couple golf balls of fluid. Though I'm guessing as I say that.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she has egg masses or water belly, it doesn’t go away. I would just keep an eye on her. You can post a picture or download a video (to YouTube or Vimeo) of her doing this and post a link here.

 

[Ponypoor]

She's about 2 years old- maybe month older or younger. She lays regularly, and I the most unusual thing I've seen laid by any of my chickens was a soft egg- this was not recent, and was not a brown egg- which black Sussex lay. There was never anything really obvious visually. I only palpated it because of her posture- not because I saw anything. She didn't actually look swelled up or anything. She walked like she was trying to touch the base of her tail to the ground, but oddly wasn't really lethargic- went about her day like normal except for the perpetual squat. She could run, but just looked awkward doing it.
As I've said- she's actually recovered relative to this morning and the past few days.
From reading other threads and the like I think it MAY have been egg yolk peritonitis that wasn't infected or anything. That may have been the cause, but I think the squatting may have just been minor "water belly" - like a couple golf balls of fluid. Though I'm guessing as I say that.

Sounds like she was walking like a penguin and if so that is a sign of being egg bound. I would keep an eye on her to ensure she is laying her egg normally.

Good luck and hope she is fine