My Hard rock is in trouble! Help Please!

Hi every one! I need some home made medical advice please! My tiny bantam Hen "Hard Rock" is very very sick! I usually hear her every morning, so loud that it hurts my ears, calling to be fed! then She started laying a couple of weeks ago and she became even louder! She sound like a Jungle Bird, when she Cackles! Then the weather turned and all the Hens that were laying , stopped! So when Hard Rock Became Quiet , for the first time in her little7 month old lfe, I didnt pay it any mind. then we had a little repreve in the weather and it warmed back up to the 40's and some of the girls started to lay again and singing as usual! But not Hard Rock! I noticed that she was all humped over and wings dragging! Her color was way off and she just huddled in the sun like she was trying to get warm! I picked her up and found out she was in trouble!

this is how she looks now!

I checked her cloaca to see if maybe she was clogged and found that she had a growth about the size of a silver dollar just to the left of the opening! I rushed her inside and washed her in warm water and sat her in the warm water for a while! She was shaking so badly!
The growth is very hard, at first I thought I was feeling an egg , but I dont think that is what it is! It doesnt move around and it seems to be in the skin!
I tried to hold her and take pics but they arent very clear!
Heres one so you can see the place ment of the Knot! Of course this is her Backside and the knot is visable nxt to her Cloaca!

take her to the vet, if you've got one that does birds or "exotic" pets. She's a pet, and she's exotic. Good luck. Keep us updated.

Oh, dear, Eufala. I'm sorry. Post your question at "The Emergency Room" here: http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi

Good luck.

thank you all, She is still the same today , but Im watching he closely. Thanks Zep for the site I will go there now! tomorrow is Monday so I will call my vet and the local Ag. Dept. for help!

Good morning ! Well shes about the same but she is eating and Pooping! She moves around but looks like a Penguin when she does! She is shivering and I try to keep her warm! I have her in a cage in the house close to a heating vent so she is keeping warm!
I went to 3 different sites, and thanks to you Zeppy,I added one more! They all said that she should be " floated " in Warm water! There were a lot of discussions on inserting oil and other substances into the vent , pros and Cons! I am a con , I dont wont to do anything invasive that may cause her harm! All the sites do advise that the warm water cannot hurt her and many have gotten good results this way. so for now that is what I am doing!
Here she is " soaking"!

As you can see , Mr. Pepito, is also worried and is keeping a close watch on her!

Bless her little heart! And her little you-know as well! Please post what happens!

they think shes egg bound?

Hi Y'all, well shes doing better! Not up to par by a long ways , but shes seating real well and even tried to make a nest when I added hay to her cage! She got up one time and Stretched her left leg way out behind her and Yawned, I hoped maybe she was going to try and lay her egg , but no.
Well shes definitely tired, around 4:00 today she put her head under her wing and went to sleep so I covered her cage with a blanket. I checked on her around 6:30 and here she is quite annoyed with me but ,at least, she does respond! Night Night Y'all.

Im Sorry Phicks, I didnt answer you! No one knows for sure. there were so many on all the sites I checked out that had questions about their chicks with the exact same symptoms. Some did take their chickies to the vet and had exrays and some had invasive things done! Im just going along with warm water now and as long as she seems to feel better I will keep it up! I am going to assume she is egg bound. But sheis eating and Pooping, and drinking really well. there is no discharge or discoloration at all.

Hi my name is Dana i've been watching this sorry for your hen. you might take a oil and very carfully put it back there not to get it on the feathers. and warm moist heat really helps if she is egg bound i have chickens and have never had this problem. but it was a cute picture of her sitting in the water! chicken hot tub lol. We do what it takes hope it works out for you.

I understand the eggbound problem's more common when it's cold out. Hope she mends quickly!

I had the same problem with one of mine last year. Poor girl, I feel so sorry for her.

I did the warm water bath and greased her vent with some warm oil. She was very sore looking and swollen.

I found on some website that they could be treated with some injectable solution........can't think of name of it right now, but I went to animal supply and got some and gave her a shot of it in the thigh. The next day she was back to normal. Don't know if that's what did it, don't even know if I gave her the right dosage........ but I figured that I had to do something for her or she was going to die on me anyway. I may have just gotten lucky, or it might have actually helped. I'll try to get you the name of the solution and post it. Later she finally laid a mis-shapened egg with just a thick membrane rather than shell. It was all discolored and ugly. But then she got ok and went back to normal laying in a few days.

Darn it ! I just went out to look at the bottle and the label has come off and been discarded. Sorry. Seems like it was Sodium something, something......... I wish I could remember, but it's been a year and I only used it once. It's a big bottle, 16 oz. so I guess it will last forever........whatever it is.

Hi every body! Well the temperature here today hit 60, Whooo hoooo!!! So I took HardRock out side and let her have some good old healing sunshine for a change! She loved it and did everything a Chicken is supposed to do , only a little slower and a little scrunched up! she sat in the sun and just absorbed it , but this afternoon I will bring her back in! Her little bottom is the same! I dont think the Knot has shrunken at all! Im totally out of things to do!
Peggy, did your Hen have the swollen knot below her vent or was the vent itself swollen? Im still totally lost on what the knot is on my girl! A Freind told me that it sound like Mericks disease and that causes Abscesses and or tumors! I guess my reading for tonight will be on that subject! Im not giving up and as long as she is eating , drinking and pooping, I refuse to put her down!
My only thing is that I dont know if what she has is contagieous or not! I do know all my babies that I ordered for Mc Murray were innoculated against Mericks ! Hard Rock is not from that brood, She is the offspring of two birds I got from a neighbor and they have never had a problem like this with their chickens! So the investigation and treatments go on! (Sigh!)

When mine had the problem, she was swollen and red all over her bottom side. It just looked like there was a baseball in her back end. You described that little Hard Rock had a knot off to the side.

My hens swelling wasn't off to one side, it was her whole back end, and was huge. I couldn't tell from the pic you posted if it looked like my hen's. If it's off to one side, it seems like maybe it could be something else besides being eggbound.

Yes, thats exactly how her knot is , off to its self and round, Her actual vent is fine and no swelling! Shes doing so good today! She is out again with her " familY" and she seems so much better! Here she is scratching happily away , trying to impress My little buff Japanese Roo!

Poor little thing. I sure hope the little roo dosen't have any big ideas. I'm sure she would want to say, "not now".

I hope she continues to do okay, and gets better soon. Keep us posted.

i use to breed a lot of budgies some of my hens would get egg bound id take a card board box cut holes in the bottom then hold the box with the hen in it up over the heat if theres a egg she will expell it in about a hour usaly after do the trement for just a few mins

That makes one wonder if this may not be a case of eggbinding. Since she has been floated in warm water and nothing happened. I would think the warm water would do the same thing for her if she was, as the warmth in the cardboard box for your budgies.

Eufaula, how is she doing ?

I would take her a vet asap.. She may be suffering.

Larkie

I have a little hen just like her, I'll have to keep an eye out for this problem. I hope everything goes ok for her.

Vets here won't see chickens, rare or not. Wish they would, but I've not found one yet. I'm glad she's perking up, because she must be feeling somewhat better.

Really? I found that there were a few, who did birds anyway, who would. I wish we had a strictly chicken vet around here, but no dice. oh well....

How's our baby, Eufala?

If egg bound the shell will easily break under slight pressure and then pass readily. To accomplish this use KY jelly and lube your finger and feel the egg. If that is what it is use a sterilized phillips screwdriver (rubbing alchol) to rupture the egg with a sharp tap on the protruding end. 'When broken carefully remove the egg parts and flush the cloaca with sterile water.

Are there conditions other than egg binding that could match Eufala's descriptions and any simple ways to tell the difference before she gives a sharp tap with the screwdriver?

The eternal dilema having to make a diagnosis over the internet. That is why we have veterinarians. I think it is easy to tell if it is a tumor or an egg. But its not my finger.

Sorry Steve. I wasn't asking you to make a diagnosis over the 'net. Just wondering if there were other conditions that might have similar symptoms that Eufala might want to look into in case she can't find a vet willing to treat a chicken. Sounds like that's an issue in some areas.

Eggs are eggs and they are hard and located in the Cloaca if bound. It would not be too difficult to check. Certainly anything up in the abdomen should be left in the hands of a specialist. I have often reached up in birds and broken the egg to relieve the problem.

Hey Every one! Well Hard Rock is doing very well today! She is doing " chicken " Things and is walking so much better! She is still a little Cautious of the Roos, but other than that she is doing great! Since she has been handled a lot more , by me, and removed from the Chicken Compound at night, the other Chickens give her a wide berth! They let her know that she is now on the bottom of the" pecking order", but still one of the family! Now this doesnt mean that they are pecking her, only that now she has to wait her turn at the water jar and feed . She no longer has the perch of her choice like before, but has to take a space that is left!
the knot on her underside has reduced in size and seems to be going away! Im almost convinced now that the " tumor" might have been just a thorn or a maybe an insect bite! At Any rate, She is recovering now and is showing me her old self now!

Happy to hear that she is doing so much better.

Good news, Eufaula.

That's great!

We can now rest with the hope of social acceptance and returning health. Good job Eufaula!

Glad she's better. Do you think it was just a cyst or something ?

Hi peggy, I just dont know! I did what I could for her and kept her as warm as a chicken can tolerate, during the cold nights! She seems to know that I was trying to help her, because she would let me walk up to her and just pick her up every after noon! Before she was as wild as a jungle bird! But now she has quieted down and is very subdued in her everyday activities! The "cyst" or knot or "tumor" did reduce in size ,but isnt gone .
I am still trying to locate a local Veterinarian in my area that will treat a Chicken but they are apparently non existant around here! All Our vets are mostly,for 4 footed critters and Charge an arm and a leg to treat them!
There is a very nice young Lady that works at the local Animal Auctions, She is actually a Dept. of Agriculture Employee, that makes sure all the animals are healthy and humanely handled. I will ask her the next time I see her, to recommend a Vet. for Birds. I am quite sure she will know someone! She may even be able to tell me , what Hard Rock's problem is!

Usually small animal veterinarians who work on birds will examine with knowledge a chicken. Look in the yellow pages for a vet who does exotics, birds etc.

It's been a week since we've heard anything about little Hard Rock. Just wondering if there's any news on how she's doing.