Monday, September 4, 2017

A Chicken Sitz Bath

I first got into chicken keeping in the spring of 2015.  Two hens remain from those original four.  Sweet Pea and Ruby Dee.  Are those two more important to me?  Perhaps not, but they do hold some sort of special place.  

And little Ruby gave me a scare a few days ago.



I'm just hoping we're out of the woods.

I'll go into a bit of detail in case any of you are chicken savvy -- Melba?  Perhaps you can help diagnosis.

I noticed Ruby's rear-end feathers looked "dirty" and thought she needed a little sponge bath.  I didn't get to it immediately and soon after saw she was lethargic.  A little panic (and guilt) set in.  If you recall, Emmy Lou, who was also an Isa Brown, just died in June and I did not intend to repeat that episode.

A little  sleuthing on the internet led me to think she might have a bound egg.  The advice was a sitz bath and abdominal massage.


Rick stayed nearby, a good thing, since the girl almost escaped during the 15 minutes of warm soaking.  Then the massaging.  Rick felt no tell-tale sign of a lodged egg.  BUT, we did see a little egg string in the sitz bath water.  Of course I returned to the internet to see what the signs of an internally broken egg are.  That led us to inserting, via eyedropper, a small amount of oil into her vent.  I'm truly not sure what we accomplished, but she seems to be displaying normal behavior now.

By the way, she did not object too strongly to being dried off from her bath with my hairdryer.
Who woulda thought...

8 comments:

  1. A diva-chick, who would have thought :)
    Hopefully the sitz bath will cures what ails her.
    Hugs,
    Jo

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  2. Hi Janet. Unfortunately when hens get to the age that your Ruby is now I have found that these "blips" do happen. Sometimes, if things internally are not too serious, I have found that a warm soak (I use Epsom Salts) does help. I also dilute a spoonful of Epsom Salts in a cup full of water and syringe some slowly into the beak (two person job here, one to hold and one to do the syringing). I do this twice a day for 3 days. From my own experience if the hen does not improve after this time there is something more seriously wrong, internally. Hybrids when they get older seem to suffer a lot from Egg Yolk Peritonitis (internal laying). I have had 3 of my old hens drained at the vets for this condition and given antibiotics. It can alleviate the problem and give them some extra time but inevitably once they start with this it always returns. Mary went to the vets to be drained (all the fluid from the egg yolk goes into their abdomen instead of where it should go). Unfortunately Mary never recovered and died 2 days later. What I believe is also quite common in hybrid hens are tumours and I think that Mary had tumours. Their insides are so complicated as they are geared up to lay every day, that egg laying problems are very common. A warm bath in Epsom Salts and indeed taken orally may help, it certainly will not do any harm. Oh and yes, they do not mind the hairdryer at all - done this in my kitchen many times!! I do hope she goes on OK - Please will you let me know? This chicken keeping lark can be very stressful and there is always more to learn so it's good to share experiences and knowledge. Good luck, best regards, Louise.

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    1. Louise, thank you (!) for going into detail. Perhaps I should try another bath (with the salts).
      Will keep you posted.

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  3. Janet, just a thought. When I first started keeping my hens I learnt a lot from a lady who wrote a chicken blog in Carlisle, Boston. She does not keep up with the blog now (she now blogs about her horse) but she keeps her cam and the old pages of the blog open. hencam.com She has kept chickens for over 20 years and is very knowledgeable. You may have heard of her - Terry Goldson.

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    1. Will look -- you are a fountain of information. Thank You again.

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  4. Oh Janet, you are such an animal person. I feel sure you saved Ruby's life. I've had that happen to a hen only once and that was back before we had a computer. I did have a chicken health book. I did not do as good a job as you've done and my little black hen died. I felt so guilty and awful. It worried me for the longest time. I really like that picture of you and Ruby. Your hens are lucky to have you!

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  5. Thanks for sharing this. I recently lost a Rhode Island Red to an internal broken egg like you described. I soaked her in warm water, but I never would have thought to use a dropper to insert some oil. If it happens again, I will try it because my lady didn't survive. :(

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    1. I'm finding diagnosing chicken ailments to be pretty tough! And, Lori, I'm sorry you lost your girl.

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