Puffed up chicken

[Anonymous]

I have 3 ex-battery chickens (I did have 4 but 1 died about 6 weeks ago) - 1 of the 3 left is looking a little bit sorry for herself. She has been the liveliest of all of them and follows me around whenever I go an see them but yesterday she was looking a bit odd. She is more puffed out than usual and yesterday layed a shell-less egg whilst out in the run and seems to have very runny, yellow poo. Last night she didn't perch as she usually does - she was laying in the straw where she usually lays her eggs. This has all come on quite suddenly and I am quite worried that she is going the same way as the one that died, although at the moment she is moving about and drinking but is just not her lively self. I'd be very grateful if anyone can help me with this.

 

[Tim]

Hi SJK.

It could be a number of things and it's very hard to say - but - Have they been wormed regularly?

When you say yellow droppings - can you be more sprecific? Are we talking light brown to yellow or bright yellow? If it is the first, that is quite normal. The caeca are a pair of tubes that allow fermentation of undigested food to take place in the digestive system of a chicken - when the contents come out, it looks like a dark mustard colour / froth. It is expelled once a day.

Yellow droppings can point to a number of things from respiratory disease, dietary problems or worms.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tim

I haven't wormed them since I have had them, which is since March this year. I have not seen any yellow droppings today but yesterday there were a few patches of what was fairly bright yellow, just after she had laid a shell-less egg. I was wondering if it were possible that the shell of the egg could still be inside her and it is causing discomfort. She is however moving about but not as much as usual and she is not eating much, which is very unlike her. I caught her a little while ago hiding in a dark spot behind the door.
They are fed on mash - which is what they had as battery hens. I tried feeding them pellets but they chuck them out of the feeder.
Any ideas what to do next??
SJK

 

[Tim]

Hi SJK,

Personally, I would worm them all again - If you treat birds once with a product it kills the worms but you do need an ongoing treatment plan to kill worms that hatch from the eggs inside them and that are picked up either directly, or from an intermediate host such as snails, earthworms etc. Repeat treatment is required to continue to reduce egg numbers, ideally to be most effective, you need to kill the worms before they are mature enough to lay their eggs. The life cycle of growing worms depends on the type of worm but varies between 2 and 8 weeks so if you have an infestation you want to get on top of quickly, to get the best effect, treatment should be repeated within this period.

I have used Flubenvet for many years but have had some great results with Verm-X this year. It is 100% herbal and is gentle on the digestive system.

More info on worms and worming.

The shell less egg is fairly common in hybrids that are bred for high egg production but if you get a large number, check what you are feeding them. As they get older, the shell quality will unfortunately deteriorate. More info on soft shelled eggs here.

If she isn't too good, you may need to get her to the vet as it could be so many things really and often they go down hill quite quickly.

Let us know how she gets on though...Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tim

Just thought I would let you know that my puffed up chicken is now looking much better. She was feeling very sorry for herself over the weekend and last night hid herself in a dark corner of the hen house but this morning she was back to her normal self. I found laying on the straw where she had been hiding a big lump of folded shell that she was obviously having difficulty passing. As she had laid a shell-less egg on Friday this must have been left behind and once she had passed it she was okay again.

Thanks for your help and I will get them wormed now to rule anything like that out in the future.
SJK

 

[Tim]

Hi sjk

Good to hear she is back to normal!

Tim