Poorly sick old Chicken

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Amy

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Hi
One of my old black rocks (about 6 yrs old) is currently acting odd. She is really lathargic. Wont eat with her tail pointing down. Not at all her usual spritely self.
The other day she was like this then perked up and was back to normal and I found a rubbery type empty eggshell near her so put it down to that. Today (few days later) she is back to being unwell, tail down, not eating and she seems to have released an egg white and yolk type thing minus the shell out of her vent and has now gone and sat in a nest. Still not eating etc. I have seperated her. Any suggestions? Two weeks ago they had a 7 day course of Tylan as they had a respiratory bug but all seemed to get over it ok.

Many thanks :(
 
Hi Amy, she probably passed what is called a "lash"- part of the reproductive tract- normally they recover well but at her age (she is ancient for a hybrid) she may be reaching the end :( Have you wormed her and checked for lice/mites? I would see how she goes and she may well recover :) Hope she is better soon,
regards, David :)
 
Hi David, Thanks for your reply!
I have just checked on her and she is still sat in the box. I moved her and again this eggy substance surrounded by what appears to be clear liquid like the white. She has stopped eating her food...even meal worm which she adores! She has a lot of yellowish goo stuck on her feathers near her vent. When I looked in on her she did get up and go outside for a walk around but she is definitely off colour. Should I be giving her oral Baytril? Or just leave her quiet and hope she recovers? She is one of my favourites, a real character and I hate to see her like this!
Thanks for your help!!
 
I have just looked at the other topic on her with Ovary as the subject and that is nothing like what my chicken passed. Mine is definitely a shell of an egg but it is rubbery rather than breakable. It looks like a deflated balloon!
 
Hi, they can be "rubbery" - i would wash her vent area and put her somewhere dry and warm- try to get her to drink and eat- Baytril will do no harm so you could try that as well- good luck and i hope she makes it.
regards, David :)
 
I have given her some oral Baytril and tried to coax her to eat with Warm porridge, rice crispies and watered milk, tomatoes, mealworms...you name it I think I've tried with no luck. Spoke to the Vet this afternoon and they are thinking possibly calcium deficiant as whilst I was away on holiday they ran out of grit and were without for 2 weeks...although they are in a large, almost free range pen. God only knows. Fingers crossed she is still with us in the morning as the vet suggested a calcium injection?!?!?!?
Thanks for all your help x
 
Hi Amy---as hens get older they can get retained eggs , as they are not being passed they can get repeated layers of albumen deposited around them which 'dry out ' to give a rubbery egg/mass which by the time it is laid is likely to be associated with infection. I just wonder if this maybe a possibility with your girl? Hope she gets better ok. Ros
 
Hi, thanks for your response. Majory died this morning. I checked on her earlier today and she was in a bad way, liquid coming out of her mouth, heavy breathing with a rasp to it and when we picked her up, yellow liquid just gushed out her vent. Put her back in her nest, went to ring the vet but when I went back to get her to take her to see him she had died. Just waiting for the vets to get back to me now regarding going some tests on her as I would like to know what she had. Im wondering if it may of been a tumar?!?! :( :cry:
 
Sorry Amy. It could be a number of things. It will be interesting to hear if the vet comes up with anything. Her age was against her unfortunately.

My 'guess' (and it is a stab in the dark) that it was perhaps a blockage in the reproductive system (sometimes an egg can miss the funnel and go into the abdomen and get infected too) that stopped shells being formed around the eggs if she kept laying shell-less eggs. This is called Egg Peritonitis if you want to look it up. A Post Mortem would be able to tell you for sure.

Tumors are also quite common in an older hens reproductive organs. This is an area that hasn't undergone a great deal of research since most studies are done for commercial reasons and only young hens are used in commercial production!

Personally I don't think there would be a Calcium deficiency - it's the first thing people say when a soft shelled egg is laid but it happens over a longer period of time and you are more likely to see thin shells, weak / broken bones or for her to stop laying, not missing shells.. modern (in date) feeds contain sufficient calcium anyway.
 
Thanks for your message Tim.

The Vet called back and said they didnt think a post mortem etc would be worth doing as non of my other hens are showing symptoms and as it was Saturday I didng fancy having one of my favourite chickens in my freezer until Monday so I decided to bury her instead.

I have no idea what it was but I think it may of been an infection and I possibly started the Baytril way too late to control it. Although I thought it was odd that she as off colour for a day or so then went completely back to normal for 2 days before going rapidly down hill. I would of though that if it was an infection, she would have just gone down hill?!?

It just seems so hard work to determine the problems therefore how to treat. I seem to get offered Tylan and/or Baytril for anything and everything?!?

Majory was 6 or 7 (I inherited her and her sister) and she had a really, really good life being constantly spoilt and having lots of cuddles and I believe that is a good age for a Hybrid to live too so at least that is something. :)
 
Yes Baytril and Tylan are broad spectrum antibiotics. These do kill bacteria which can cause disease but they also kill good bacteria too in the body so I always try to avoid over use.

There is also the problem that the more we use them, the more resistance is built up by the bacteria - the same problem as we humans have and why doctors don't prescribe them as often as they did.

Vets face a difficult job - it is very hard to say what is wrong sometimes and many vets simply don't see many chickens. Those that do often see broilers or layers, both of which have a limited life span... and if some go sick, they run a PM to find out what is wrong to save the birds left. You can't really do this for one sick bird of course as your vet says...

I'm slowly building up a Poultry Diseases section on the site which should hopefully help people to browse possible problems quickly but even so, it's very hard to diagnose many illnesses. There are a couple of books mentioned on this page too - Diseases of Free Range Poultry is especially good.

Chickens have air sacks instead of lungs to breathe and these are next to many of their major organs - once disease gets in, it soon spreads and they go down hill very quickly, one minute they are ok and 24 hours later, they are at deaths door.

Again, I'm sorry you lost her but on the bright side, she did well for a hybrid as you say.

Tim
 
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