kfsilver
Chirping
- Apr 16, 2021
- 44
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I have a hen who has been the one who runs up to me, demanding that I carry her around, talking to her, as I examine the pasture. She is the one who will run to me when she has a feather out of place, and bawk at me until I fix it. She is feeling down, and I am worried. I love her.
The facts:
1) My chicken is a Black Sumatra, who is six years old, and heavier than normal (due, I assume, to swollen belly). Her belly, however, is soft. Her vent area is the same. Swollen, but soft. Not obstruction noted, even with slight probing (olive oil lubricated gloved finger).
2) Chicken is still alert, and moving around, but not nearly as active as before. She is a hen who would run up to me, calling, and seek to be picked up. This has not happened in the last 24 hours, which is extremely abnormal for her. Her tail has also been down for the recent 12 hours.
3) My hen has had a soft swollen belly for the past three or four days. Her slowness and tail being down is within the past 12 hours. No other birds are exhibiting symptoms, nor does she have other signs of trauma.
4) She does not exhibit bleeding, broken bones, or other signs of trauma. The only external factor I can think of for her, is she has recently restarted laying after a few months of not (normal for her, as she goes broody often and then has "dry" periods).
5) My chickens are free range, so monitoring their food and drink is a bit more difficult, but she has seemed to be eating and drinking as normal. Her poop has appeared normal, but been larger and also less frequent. She is a hen who would poop (no matter how small) before stepping foot inside my house, or being picked up, but she does not seem to be doing the smaller poops. Only larger.
6) Treatment has not been administered, but her vent area has been recently cleaned of any residual poop stuck on her feathers. She does NOT have vent gleet.
She is my cuddle hen, the one who loves to be held and carried around. She is a pet to me, and as such I am unwilling to trust myself to do many of the manual treatments. I will have a vet look at her, but at the same time I want to know what to guide the vet to look for, as well as understand possible "easy" treatments (i.e. I am not going to need to stick needles in her, which I do not trust myself to do, but I will be willing to isolate and give special diets, for example). She currently has free range of an acre of backyard pastureland, and the coop is a fully enclosed structure with pine shavings or straw bedding, depending on what is available (I do also try to alternate). They are closed up at night. Any help is greatly appreciated.
The facts:
1) My chicken is a Black Sumatra, who is six years old, and heavier than normal (due, I assume, to swollen belly). Her belly, however, is soft. Her vent area is the same. Swollen, but soft. Not obstruction noted, even with slight probing (olive oil lubricated gloved finger).
2) Chicken is still alert, and moving around, but not nearly as active as before. She is a hen who would run up to me, calling, and seek to be picked up. This has not happened in the last 24 hours, which is extremely abnormal for her. Her tail has also been down for the recent 12 hours.
3) My hen has had a soft swollen belly for the past three or four days. Her slowness and tail being down is within the past 12 hours. No other birds are exhibiting symptoms, nor does she have other signs of trauma.
4) She does not exhibit bleeding, broken bones, or other signs of trauma. The only external factor I can think of for her, is she has recently restarted laying after a few months of not (normal for her, as she goes broody often and then has "dry" periods).
5) My chickens are free range, so monitoring their food and drink is a bit more difficult, but she has seemed to be eating and drinking as normal. Her poop has appeared normal, but been larger and also less frequent. She is a hen who would poop (no matter how small) before stepping foot inside my house, or being picked up, but she does not seem to be doing the smaller poops. Only larger.
6) Treatment has not been administered, but her vent area has been recently cleaned of any residual poop stuck on her feathers. She does NOT have vent gleet.
She is my cuddle hen, the one who loves to be held and carried around. She is a pet to me, and as such I am unwilling to trust myself to do many of the manual treatments. I will have a vet look at her, but at the same time I want to know what to guide the vet to look for, as well as understand possible "easy" treatments (i.e. I am not going to need to stick needles in her, which I do not trust myself to do, but I will be willing to isolate and give special diets, for example). She currently has free range of an acre of backyard pastureland, and the coop is a fully enclosed structure with pine shavings or straw bedding, depending on what is available (I do also try to alternate). They are closed up at night. Any help is greatly appreciated.
She is also a hen very prone to stress (feather plucking is an issue with her).
