Sick Chickens

GAH! I've had two sick chickens in the past couple of weeks. One poor girl had an egg break inside of her which then froze to her *ahem* and made quite the mess. Brought her inside and gave her a warm bath. As that was the first chicken bath I've ever had to give, I was a little nervous about how it would go.

Ha! The silly chicken totally thought she was in heaven. She just hunkered down like it was the spa treatment of a lifetime. Very hilarious. I only had to keep her inside for a day and a half before letting her back with the flock.

The other girl, though, had a combo problem of prolapse and chicken gleet. I will spare you the awful details, but suffice it to say prolapse is where her girly parts come outside her body. It can kill a chicken pretty quickly if not dealt with right away. You have to push her parts back in and keep the area clean.

Truthfully, I was almost to the point of culling her, but my stubborn side kicked in and I fought hard to save her. She was given an epsom salt bath at least once every day (pushing her parts back in when needed), followed by a salve rub, and fed ACV water and other probiotics.

That went on for five days. Yes five. Nasty business. I think I deserve a chicken owner medal or something. I feel like I graduated and I am now no longer a naive backyard flock owner. :)

The weirdest thing that happened while caring for her was two times while giving her a bath she laid an egg. I totally thought she was dying in my arms the first time she laid one because she was in so much pain from her prolapse. Her eyes would roll back in her head and she squealed little tiny squeals. Poor girl. I felt so awful. 

I was even keeping her in the dark so she wouldn't lay, and yet she kept on laying! I was so shocked when that first egg popped out.

I'm not gonna lie I was unsure whether it was safe to eat or not since she was sick, so I discarded both eggs. I felt very wasteful but it just kinda weirded me out.

Anyway, she is back out with the flock and seems to be doing okay. I'm still monitoring her but hopefully we're in the clear! Have you ever had to deal with prolapse in a chicken?