Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...

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marygall

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Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« on: May 30, 2009, 18:10 »
Can anyone give me advice about my poor little hen, Jenny. She has been laying soft shelled eggs on and off for a while - I've upped the calcium and bought some ex battery layer pellets and she seemed to be doing ok. However, on Friday morning her feathers were streaky with what looked like diahorrea but could have been broken egg. I washed her feathers and noticed a line of what looked like soft egg shell coming from her vent. I tried to remove it but she became quite upset, so I left it.
Today she's very thirsty and not herself at all, she's still got dirty feathers round her vent area and her appetite is poor. The others are being a bit bossy with her.
What should I do?
Any suggestions?

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nnbreeder

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2009, 18:36 »
For now I would seperate her from the others. there are a few conditions that could cause this but for now what I would do is to give her some yogurt for the extra calcium or you can give 1/4 of an antacid tablet like Tums. Both have a easier usable for of calcium then the oyster shell does.

 Just to be on the safe side though I would get her to the vets as soon as they open Monday.

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marygall

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2009, 12:56 »
Thanks for your advice nnbreeder, she was much the same today but wobbly and I called the emergency vet for advice - it looks like she has a broken egg inside and there's not much that can be done.
Very hard, she is my favourite hen. They are very fragile creatures really, it doesn't take much to upset them.

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nnbreeder

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2009, 14:54 »
If the vet and yourself was willing there is a surgery that could be done. It would be costly and the hen would never lay again. What they do is to remove the reproductive organs and clean out any eggs that are inside.

 Here is a link but there are graphic photos of the surgery, if you might decide to do this it may be handy for the vet to read it.

  http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=diseasecasestudies&action=display&num=1169201098

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Aunt Sally

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2009, 16:45 »
brilliant information nn :)

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nicchick

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2009, 17:58 »
This happened to my lovely ex-batt Valentine not long after we had her. She had one baytril injection to ward off infections and has recovered. Everyone expected her to die but she is still with us and that was mid - February. Her shells are just hardening up with yoghurt, limestone flour with cod liver oil as well as grit. There is lots of useful information on here and if it hadn't been for that I would have lost her. I hope she gets better soon, Nic.

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marygall

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Re: Poorly hen - it's Saturday, the vet is shut...
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2009, 18:15 »
Thanks for the advice and information - this little hen is not insured and I really couldn't afford a major surgery for her.
However, I decided just to make her as comfortable as possible. I gave her a warm bath and the quarter tums that nn suggested and she seems to have picked up a little. She's still drinking a lot - and sometimes the water runs back out of her beak, which is worrying -  but she's started pecking a little at food too.
I'm going to keep my finger's crossed and hope that she'll turn out like your hen, nicchick, and defy the vet's prognosis.


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