Unwell hen, calcium covered fart egg. Egg bound?

[MizzClucker]

My girls all seemed well this morning. All were up and out running about (free range, door is always open) eager to get their scraps. Scraps were scrambled eggs, strawberry tops, peas, oatmeal, cucumber. All together maybe a cup and a half for 7 hens. Went to check them before we left for sledding at about 3:00 as we had only got 5 eggs that morning. We usually get 6 or 7. Noticed Violet was hunched up standing funny on the straw bales. Went to investigate and she kind of snapped out of it and scampered through the corral fence where I saw her poop. Checked on her when we got home at 5:00 and she was hunched up again on top the straw but standing over a teeny tiny fart egg which had a calcium ring like you would find on the egg that comes before a slab sided egg. She wasn’t as eager to run from me this time so I carried her to the coop and checked her vent. It looks fine to my uneducated eye. Could she be eggbound even though she’s pooping and laid an egg, kind of? Or maybe something else?

 

[azygous]

It does sound as if she's having egg issues. The little egg she laid, did you open it? Did it have liquid inside or was it solid waxy stuff?

In my experience with chickens and layers, sometimes more than one yolk is released by the ovary within a 25 hour period. This can cause discomfort, and I will see the hen go back to the nest after laying the first egg, and out will come a soft-shelled egg or just a mess of egg white. On one occasion, two perfect eggs were laid in close succession.

I'm finding that giving a crushed calcium supplement tablet will ease the discomfort and allow the hen to pass on out the additional material. It seems the distress is very limited, and the hen reverts to normal behavior soon after getting rid of the second egg mass, whatever form it takes.

If your hen doesn't rebound after her visits to the nest, and instead descends into a state of lethargy, standing around with tail held low and flat, then Houston, we have a problem.

 

[MizzClucker]

K so an update and a new dilemma. The fart egg was completely normal inside, just Teeny tiny. The egg itself was smaller than a golf ball. I will try to attach the pic I took. She didn’t lay for a couple days then yesterday a normal egg and she is behaving normally. But now a different hen, our favourite of course is acting funny, but different. Her head and neck seemed to be leaning to the right and twisted a bit. She isnt falling over but she is leaning to the side a bit and walks in a circle when she tries to walk. Her tail is drooping. She seems alert, when I went out there she was watching me and alert to her surroundings.

 

[MizzClucker]

 

[Eggcessive]

K so an update and a new dilemma. The fart egg was completely normal inside, just Teeny tiny. The egg itself was smaller than a golf ball. I will try to attach the pic I took. She didn’t lay for a couple days then yesterday a normal egg and she is behaving normally. But now a different hen, our favourite of course is acting funny, but different. Her head and neck seemed to be leaning to the right and twisted a bit. She isnt falling over but she is leaning to the side a bit and walks in a circle when she tries to walk. Her tail is drooping. She seems alert, when I went out there she was watching me and alert to her surroundings.

Your second sick hen sounds possibly like she has wry neck (torticolis, crook neck,) which is a neurological symptom. Things that can cause it are head injury, vitamin E or B1 deficiency, and in certain viruses. I would start her on some Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell 3 ml daily, or another type of poultry vitamin which can be placed in the water.

 

[MizzClucker]

Your second sick hen sounds possibly like she has wry neck (torticolis, crook neck,) which is a neurological symptom. Things that can cause it are head injury, vitamin E or B1 deficiency, and in certain viruses. I would start her on some Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell 3 ml daily, or another type of poultry vitamin which can be placed in the water.

Is it ok if all the hens get it? Like if I put it in the communal water?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sure, the others can tolerate it for a bit. Electrolytes in some may cuase diarrhea or they may not drink it as well as plain water. Sometimes it can be easier just to give the NutriDrench or Poultry Cell orally. How fresh is your chicken feed? Vitamins can leech out if it has been setting around for too long.

 

[MizzClucker]

So I went out this afternoon to check on them again and her head and neck seem ok. But she is walking in circles. She doesn’t seem delusional as she can track me and the other chickens with her eyes. She is also controlling her head and neck ok because I tried to grab her around her neck and she was able to dodge my hand once and wriggle her head free the second time. It seems to be her left leg. She lifts up super high very slowly then tries to place it in front to walk but it crosses over the right leg. It seems like she’s trying very hard to walk properly. At one point she got to the wall and then slid along it so she picked up pace a little like she was pleased she was actually going somewhere. Her right foot is getting scratched up quite a bit because the left one keeps stepping on it. I was told that they had all been vaccinated for Merricks when I purchased them.

 

[MizzClucker]

Just got the babies to sleep so I’m heading out to do chores. I got some “Electrolytes Plus” today but the directions say to dilute the whole pouch in 4 L water. I was just going to syringe feed it to her. So how much do I give one chicken?