The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on May 20, 2011, 04:50:38 pm
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oh bum. our lovely and oldest hen, chicken korma, is poorly. one of the very few we named and have become attached to.
She' wasn't looking too clever yesterday but nothing I was overly concerned about as still eating and drinking and wandering about. today however, I've found her sat in the nest box looking quite sad. I lifted her out and immediately the noticed her abdomen is swollen. she is waddling rather than her normal walk. I cannot feel an egg in the vent. her poo is lime green.
should I try any water baths etc? or perhaps at her age (about 4 we think) is this old age and she is just tired and wanting to rest in peace :(
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Could be E-coli, if it is the hen should get over it but it will be a little while before she lays again
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E-coli? that's sounding quite worrying - I don't *think* she's layed for a bit but my children eat the eggs our hens lay...
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Does it feel like fluid? We had one that suddenly swelled up with fluid. I googled it and it's called ascites or water belly.Apparently it's common in hybrids.Sadly there was no alternative but to cull her.
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Hi Katie, she just feels 'hard'. she also feels quite warm. I said to tony that maybe I should stop her suffering but for now we are keeping an eye. feeling quite sad as she was our first chicken :(
thank you for reply xxx
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Mmm, Don't know then, I'm afraid. 'Keeping an eye' is usually the best bet, for children and livestock!
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We lost one of ours to egg peritonitis recently.
She went downhill very quickly: not eating, not walking properly, upright sitting posture.
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E-coli? that's sounding quite worrying - I don't *think* she's layed for a bit but my children eat the eggs our hens lay...
E Coli is a natural bug present in the gut - every gut. Every bit of droppings smeared on an egg will have E Coli in, but it is dealt with by normal hygiene. Presumably Bioman means E Coli somewhere it shouldn't be, which is when it can be a problem. It's like saying someone has 'blood pressure'. We all have blood pressure but it becomes a problem when it is raised (or when we don't have any and then we are dead :o) If this is caused by a normal strain of E Coli then a simple antibiotic would help.
It does unfortunately sound to me like something which we have seen a couple of times and the hen always dies or has to be destroyed :(
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She's not looking great but she is an older hen and I have taken the decision to move her into the boot room and she is cosy in a spare indoor bunny cage with food, water, clean bedding and no draughts.
will see how she is tomorrow, if she is still with us but its not looking good.
thanks for the replies :)
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Its ecoli in a place it shouldnt be. It shouldnt affect any other of your hens as its present in every hen. It could not be mind; Chickens are notoriously difficult at diagnosed without a blood test :chook:
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THanks Bioman :) I think its my background as a nurse, I hear e-coli and panic as I only came across it in very ill humans ;D will see how she goes for now, she is comfortable (or at least is showing no signs of discomfort)
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We had a chicken recently with a very similar problem. Very swollen abdomen which was very warm, with messy green poohs, and waddled about very slowly or sat down. No interest in food or water. I tried everything like warm water baths and vaseline to no avail. Kept her in a crate separate from the others in case it was infectious. After 3 days with no change in her condition a vet visiting the horses next door came and had a look and did an internal examination to see if she was egg bound but decided she wasn't. However, the shock of the examination sent her into spasm and she died suddenly, just like that, which was quite a relief as she had been looking incredibly uncomfortable. When it was all over I decided it would be stupid to waste the opportunity of a post mortem to see if I could actually find out what had been wrong. As soon as the abdomen was opened, what looked like gallons of clear, yellow, odourless urine gushed out, and once that had gone her whole body returned to normal size. However, the interesting part was an enormous yellow, oval mass that had been floating in this liquid - it resembled cooked egg, no shell, and was approx 12 x 7 x 7 cms - far far too large to have come out by natural means if she had lived. When sliced in half, the yellow mass looked like layer upon layer of lightly cooked egg - I reckon it may have started off as an egg bound problem, then just got bigger and bigger. But there was no sign of infection, or any bad smell. No guarantee of course that your hen is suffering from the same thing, but it does sound very similar. Mine was a black rock hybrid, about 2 years old, and as far as I know she had been a good layer before this. Good luck, but if yours continues to be enormous and swollen for much longer I think you might have to call it a day - Tamsaddle
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poor old girl....
she's a good age!
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that does sound incredibly similar. crikey :-\
she is a good age little blue - lovely girl she is too x
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I have just read an earlier post which I think relates to the same chicken, Chicken Korma, in which you said she was laying shell-less eggs. I occasionally used to get eggs without shells too, but with 8 chickens it was impossible to tell which was laying what. I am now wondering if my sick chicken was the shell-less layer, and that the mass I found inside was several days/weeks worth of shell-less egg build up. Now I come to think of it we have had no shell-less eggs since her demise, so perhaps that's what it was - Tamsaddle
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Yes korma has laid the odd shell-less (jelly like) egg for a couple of years now. her eggs have been quite fragile for ages too. all in all it is sounding like the same problem. how sad :(
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Slight spanner in the works of my theory this morning!! Just found a shell-less egg in one of the nest boxes and as Korma is safely tucked up in our boot room (aka hospital wing) and the boxes were empty last night, someone else is laying them...eek
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All very mysterious. Sounds like Korma is hanging on there in the hospital wing - just hope she gets better. But it is all a great worry while it goes on, and one doesn't have a clue what to do or what the problem is. Thinking of you - Tamsaddle
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How is Korma getting on?
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Hello Tamsaddle, thanks for the message :) Korma is still with us. have put her outside with her flock again today, was a bit worried that because she'd been inside for 3 days or so, they might knock her to bottom of pecking order and bully her but no, they've been fine!
she perked up a lot out side, scratched about and did chicken-things. she's gone quiet again now though an dkeeping herself to herself. she doesn't look properly ill, just tired and old bless her.
swelling has gone down a bit too x
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I've got a hen who is just the same. I isolated her 3 days ago and she just sits in one place most of the time, but is eating and drinking. Horrible green and yellow poo - did wash it off but it keeps on dribbling out (sorry!). I was just going to brace myself for the inevitable and there she was up and drinking.
i massaged her crop yesterday which felt quite "foamy". She has had hard-boiled egg, rice, milk, bread - and is eating.
Every day I have said - give it one more day!
so - I'll give it one more day and see....
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Good news - glad to hear Korma seems to be getting better - Tamsaddle
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I think I spoke too soon Tamsaddle. She looks like she might not pull through today. It appears that she might drift off in her sleep - I think that would be a peaceful way for her to go as she is just sleepy, not in pain and I can't do the deed in those circumstances (obviously I would if I had to) but she's a cuddly old pet :'(
how's your girl fifi?
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I am in the same position as you! I think she would be better off put to sleep - but her beady eye watches me all the time...
This evening I will have to get my husband to put her down - she isn't any better - or any worse - but lots of nasty poo.
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:( really hard isn't it. we've not had any poo for a couple of days now and I really think she's about to slip away this afternoon. hey ho, these animals they do work their way into our hearts x
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Strangely if it was one of the cockerels / turkey etc - wouldn't mind a bit! But my poor old brown hen......
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you still hanging on too fifi? mine's still with us. sleeping very peacefully bless her. offered her cucumber earlier as she's not really drinking but she turned her beak up at it. leaving her to sleep now x
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Poor old love. :-* to you both
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bless them, poor girls...
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come on folks if they are that ill then either take them to the vets or put them down. we all want our sick birds to make it and they can do but by the stage that they are showing that level of sickness they are pretty far gone.
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she died peacefully in her sleep, head under her wing.
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don't get to upset you tried. but sadly they tend to be very sick by the time they are showing that level of illness. we have lost two bird to a similar condition one put down the other found dead. both were my sons pets. strangely the little red hens don't seem to suffer the same problems.
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RIP little Korma, no more suffering now
x
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Sorry you lost your old girl, but very glad the end came peaceably at home.
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Ditto to SallyintNorth's comment. Bet she had a jolly good life with you while it lasted - Tamsaddle
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Thank you :) she is now buried under a rosebush so truly was a pet (she was my first chicken!)
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Just had to send mine off to that big ole henhouse in the sky...
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and my boy Lenin today ... sleep well old fella. :(
no more jokes about the black silkie cock... ;)
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Oh dear :bouquet:
and thanks little blue, I just splurted plum wine all over my keyboard reading that about silkie cocks!
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what's funnier .... he escape from my neighbour's box to go to market... so Lenin was my neighbours black s.c. who slipped over the fence
:o ;D
and now he's stiff ...Sorry!!!
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;D poor lenin!!
one of the orphan lambs that died was called hovis (had to bite my tongue about being 'brown bread')!!
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poor Hovis, got that tune from the ad in my head now (thanks!)