Expert: Abi - 9/11/2008

Question
Hi,

Hoping you can help, as we are very worried about our chicken. She is only young, been laying for about 6 months now. A bit of a run down:

SHe laid 2 double yokers in a row, followed by an egg that was not properly formed, it had a big hole in the top where the shell didnt meet. Following this, she laid 2 more double yokers in a row. Then about 5 days ago, she went in to lay her morning egg, and after returning home in the afternoon found her still in the box trying to lay. SHe looked quite stressed, huffing and puffing and kept checking underneath herself. She looked like she had a prolapse. The next day day we soaked her in a warm bath for about 20 mins, kept her on a heat pack for the aftenoon, and applied a little olive oil to the area. Follwowing this she laid a soft shelled egg, and another one the following morning. She has now not laid in 2 days, and has steadily dropped weight and been very lethargic- tail down, not moving a lot, very easy to handle (she was quite timid before) and really off her food. We have 3 other chooks which are doing fine- still laying an egg a day and seem healthy. We free range them and feed them a mix of laying pellets, backyard srcaps and shell grit.

Please help!!!!

Answer
She is probably egg bound. I would give her another warm bath, exactly like you did before, as well as applying the olive oil etc. Try to get some food into her; give her lots of treats and maybe even hand feed her. Grate some carrot really tiny so it's like mush and give that to her- it's what I use for poorly or injured chooks when they're off their food. Also, if she isn't eating she probably isn't drinking either, so you'll need to get a baby syringe or something and keep her well hydrated.

After this you need to ring up your vets and ask their advice (I would ring them after she has had a nice bath and is wrapped up in a towel to keep her warm). I regret that I am not a reliable substitute for a vet so cannot offer the expertise that they can- so you must do this. You may have to take her in so make sure she is very chilled out when you do as stressing them with bumpy car journeys and loud waiting rooms will make her condition a lot worse.

Thanks for your question.