[Jomatta]

Hi everyone,
 
 
 
Yesterday I noticed our favourite hen Winnie was acting in a perculiar way. She seemed all hunched up with her tail feathers in a downwards position. She was very quiet, which is unusual for winnie as you normally hear her before you see her. She was stood in one position for a long time and not doing much at all.
 
 
 
I immediately googled to see what it could be and thought that she may be egg bound after reading a few entries. It seemed that either putting her in warm water past her vent or holding a warm flannel to it would be the best option.
 
 
 
As Im a dog groomer I have a bath and shower arrrangement in one of the outbuildings so we sat winnie in our hands so her feet werent in the bath and turned on the shower as hot as possible to create steam and held her above it whilst massaging around her vent. after 10mins we put her on the floor and she seemed to have perked up and was fluffng her feathers and then went out into the hen house for something to eat. soon after she passed an egg with no shell. We checked on her around 9pm and she was snuggled with her friends.
 
 
 
Today she was exactly the same but her vent was cntracting constantly. Today I decided to try the bathing as there were no eggs overnight from her or soft ones that we no of. She relaxed into the water and after 10mins i lifted her out and towel dried her. After a couple of mins she pooed a very water/mucasy poo with what looked like yolk in it as it was very yellow however, yellow strands rather than a block yellow colour. she was soon again in the hunched position as if she wanted to lay but nothing happening so i put her in the bath again. 10 mins later again she came out and seemed a lot happier, she was chirping which she hadnt done all day and she was mad to get outside and peck at the ground so i let her for a min as was mindful I didnt want her getting a chill. she passed another poo the same as the other. but her tail was more up in the air as normal rather than downwards, I brought her back in to dry her properly and then it was bed time anyway. she went straight in for something to eat and then got up on her perch.
 
 
 
They are fed on a layers mash mixed with rolled barley and they have barley and layers pellets available to them allday although they are out all day free ranging. Im concious after reading psts that maybe she hasn't enough calcium or grit so i put some sand in tonight and also crushed an egg shell up.
 
 
 
Does anyone have any experience of this? Im not sure if she is egg ound or not but I can't feel any eggs, there are no bumps anywhere but if she isn't producing shells i don't suppose I would feel them. She would probably be about 1 year old if that and hasn't seemed to have any problem previously although when hey first started laying we did get the odd soft shell...
 
 
 
Any comments Appreciated.
 
 
 
Thanks
 




ReplyQuote Multi

[ANHBUC]

I would just feed her layers pellets or mash and cut out the barley which I believe is low in calcium.  The layers is a balanced diet for laying hens.

The grit is to help the hens digestion as they don't have teeth the grit helps to grind the food in the gizzard (the second stomach). 

Crushed Oyster shell  provides extra calcium so should be available at all times for the hens to help themselves.

You have done the right thing with the bathing and keeping a close eye on her. 

If she is molting this can affect her eggs.  Lice and worms can also affect egg quality. 

I hope that Winnie makes a quick recovery.   

[Brambles]

One of my girls seemed quite poorly on Thursday and VERY pale.   Friday and Saturday she appeared much brighter but in the mornings was a bit hunched up, she had no signs of mites, egg bound (she hasn't laid now for a year!) there was nothing that I could see or put my finger on!... On Saturday she started quite a violent moult, it's as if now the warmer weather is here she is shedding a quarter of her feathers... Today she is a little quiet and tired looking, still losing feathers but she is eating and moving about well.... hopefully it is just a moult and nothing else... I am keeping an eye on her...  I hope Winnie perks up and gets back to her old self soon