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Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!
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jumblejack wrote: »Right guys. Haven't been on her for a long time but have a few hen issues.
1) broody hen
I have a broody hen who has been sitting on 3 practice eggs and then I added 6 fertile eggs.
She has now been sitting for 3 weeks but the eggs keep disappearing. I am now down to 2!!!!
Is she eating the chicks?
2) sick hens
This is even more disturbing
4 days ago, one of our hens had to be killed. She had a very messy back end and appeared to have hurt her leg by the way she had been walking. She had laboured breathing and got to the stage where she couldn't stand. She appeared bloated.
When we killed her, we expected there to be lots of blood but not a thing (her heart was so weak it wasn't pumping!)
When she was being plucked we noticed that her abdomen was like a water balloon. It released a LOT of yellow fluid. She was so just skin and bone despite having looked plump when feathered, poor thing. We didn't eat her!
Now yesterday I was in the garden with them all day as I was putting a PVC roof on their enclosure so had the chance to observe them as I worked.
I noticed that another of the ex batts was behaving oddly. Her back end was moving in and out constantly like she was straining and it was very messy again. She kept looking like she was going asleep and going still. Toward teatime she was VERY still and hardly moving. She looked like she couldn't stay awake but was in a standing position.
I was upset as we had let the other chicken go on too long really. I asked hubby to kill her and stop her suffering.
When I went into the enclosure the White one (I don't know the breed name but she is my favourite and lays green eggs!) was beginning to act strange too.
I looked at her back end which was now messy (she is usually very clean) and she was closing her eyes and going still. Oh no!!
I am about to go out and check on them all but am dreading it.
Anybody have a clue.
At first I thought that the first hen had ascita due to the abdominal fluid. I didn't check the body of the second one. I was too upset.
I have researched online but come up with zilch.
I now only have 5 hens as 2 have now gone.
Yesterday morning I was considering introducing day old to the broody (who is isolated from the others) but now I daren't as I can't introduce healthy chicks to an illness if that is what it is?
Help!
Not sure about where your eggs under the broody are going, but pretty sure your first sick hen had peritonitis.
There are two types: sterile and bacterial. Both will kill them eventually, the bacterial quicker as it is an infection and they display all the signs of infection. A chicken can live with sterile peritonitis though, but eventually the weight of the fluid in the abdomen presses on their organs (including their lungs, which may be why yours was labouring to breathe) and will cause their death.
Some chicken owners choose to have the fluid drawn off and that can be helpful and extend the chickens life if you have a vet that knows what they are doing. Alternatively, some people learn to do it themselves. There are a few videos on youtube about drawing off the fluid.
As for your other chickens, it may be they are struggling to lay eggs and are egg bound. If you know they haven't laid an egg in the last few days they could be backed up and straining. Sometimes you get an extra large egg that blocks everything. A nice warm bath can help, as it helps the chicken relax that area and allow the eggs to start to move.
By the way, this is a very good chicken forum and if you search through their archives you can usually find all sorts of good information http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/
Well I've had a great start to a Sunday morning. At 7:35am I was face to face with a prolapsed vent on one of my girls. I've separated her from the others in case they start pecking at the pink flesh and sent hubby out to Tesco for supplies.
He told me it's only because he loves me that he would go to our local Tesco with his head held high and buy two plastic bowls, hemorrhoid cream, duct tape and KY jelly. :rotfl:"carpe that diem"0 -
i have just spent about 3 weeks dealing with my first and last (hopefully) prolapsed vent. chucky is fine now , and the heamorrhoid cream certainly works."if the state cannot find within itself a place for those who peacefully refuse to worship at its temples, then it’s the state that’s become extreme".Revd Dr Giles Fraser on Radio 4 20170
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Hi I'm sorry if there is already advice on here somewhere about this problem. I have 3 chickens who this time last year were providing us with loads of eggs. I've recently discovered that one of them is eating all he eggs laid by the others before I can collect them ( dried yolk on beak - dead give away!) I've tried putting golf balls in the nesting box, which worked for a short time. Does any one have any suggestions to break this habit or do I have to face the inevitable and get rid of her. As I'm vegetarian I'm a bit squeamish about killing an otherwise healthy chicken.
I have heard of people rigging eggs.
They blow the contents of it out (just like you used to at easter when you were a kid) mix the contents with some raging hot chilli pepper or oil of cloves, then inject it back in, seal the hole up (no idea how; tape? Wax?) and put it back in the nest box.
Doing that a few times might work?"carpe that diem"0 -
i have just spent about 3 weeks dealing with my first and last (hopefully) prolapsed vent. chucky is fine now , and the heamorrhoid cream certainly works.
I'm debating wether to set up conditions to encourage mine to go broody while the prolapse is healing. It would give her system a rest for a while.
I'm putting her in the dark to try and slow down and stop her laying eggs for a bit anyway, so might see if she's inclined to go broody and sit.
Have you ever tried any other ways of sorting out the prolapse, like sugar water baths and honey, or strapping with flexi bandage?"carpe that diem"0 -
TBh it was a bit of a nightmare and very time consuming. part of the secret is keeping it moist and the flesh healthy; I bathed her twice a day in salted water. the H cream does teh job of sugar and honey. I would liked to have put a few stitches up there , but didn't know where to start. Have never heard of flexi bandages. Where exactly do they go ? I didn't want to bung her up. She laied a few times whilst prolapsed and if the flesh is irritating her she will immediatlely strain hereself to prolapse again. I alsmost gave up but neighbours persuaded me to keep trying and they took her for an hour or so to stretch her legs.
However the feeling that you have saved her life is a great bonus.
Hope all goes well for her and you
Best wishes Lj"if the state cannot find within itself a place for those who peacefully refuse to worship at its temples, then it’s the state that’s become extreme".Revd Dr Giles Fraser on Radio 4 20170 -
TBh it was a bit of a nightmare and very time consuming. part of the secret is keeping it moist and the flesh healthy; I bathed her twice a day in salted water. the H cream does teh job of sugar and honey. I would liked to have put a few stitches up there , but didn't know where to start. Have never heard of flexi bandages. Where exactly do they go ? I didn't want to bung her up. She laied a few times whilst prolapsed and if the flesh is irritating her she will immediatlely strain hereself to prolapse again. I alsmost gave up but neighbours persuaded me to keep trying and they took her for an hour or so to stretch her legs.
However the feeling that you have saved her life is a great bonus.
Hope all goes well for her and you
Best wishes Lj
The Little Hen rescue website has a medical information page and show a chicken being bandaged up to make a sort of nappy to keep the prolapse in. Looks as if it might be done at night and taken off in the morning before egg laying. I had heard of some people slightly 'widening' the vent by (I won't go into any more details here) if it appears it is the chicken's vent not being wide enough to allow big eggs out causing repeated prolapsing, but that's a very, very last resort.
Well, my girl has her own palace to live in for the next few weeks. I cleared a shed in the back garden and she's in there. She's had a nice warm bath, been cleaned and had Prep H put on her prolapse. I taped up the windows to make it dark and am feeding her only grain and water to try and stop the egg laying process for a while.
She seems very well in herself and is still nice and feisty, so I'm hoping she'll pull through."carpe that diem"0 -
Thanks ljonski , just had a look at the site you recommended - think I need to get other half to make me a rollaway nest box. Just managed to get one egg before they ate it - feels like I'm at war with the chickens!0
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Back to the drawing board on my prolapsed hen's new home. Just went up the garden to check in on her and the shed is roasting and she's panting, looking very hot and uncomfortable.
Just put her outside in a pen to cool off until i can think where she's going to go that is dark and won't give her heat stroke.
I don't think there is anywhere outside. We just have no shade in the garden."carpe that diem"0 -
Just cleaned up my chicky's back end again before she goes to bed and applied some Prep H....and took the bull by the horns and gently pushed the prolapse back in using the flat of my thumb. It got to a point where her body started pulling the tissue in of its own accord.
Yowzer, yowzer, yowzer......need a stiff medicinal drink.
I'll check her before bed to see if it's still in, and then again in the morning. My fingers and toes are crossed."carpe that diem"0 -
Hope she pulls through Steel. Good luck.0
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