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Please help my chicken is very sick

 
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My Cornish cross is sick... Her face and head are very swollen and she has 2 big masses on either side of her vent... Idk what to do
 
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Welcome to Permies Leah.

A few pictures would be really helpful. If you look at the bottom of my post, you'll see a link to "permies-works" which leads to information about all sorts of useful things, but particularly about how to post pictures.

Hopefully with pictures, some of our chicken people will recognize what you may be dealing with. We've often been able to help people with chicken issues.
 
Leah Worrell
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This is the mass on the right side of her vent... It's hard
20210807_213438.jpg
Mass on right side of vent
Mass on right side of vent
 
Leah Worrell
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This is the mass on the left side it's also hard
20210807_213426.jpg
Mass
Mass
 
Leah Worrell
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This is her lil face... She is a Cornish cross about 5 months old hasn't to my knowledge laid an egg yet... I do have a Cornish cross rooster that was in the same pen as her and also 2 orpingtons 2 silkies 3 naked necks and 6 americaunas... None of them have are showing any signs of sickness... I found her standing in the thing we have for water in their pen... There wasn't any poop in the water and I just soaked her in a warm bath for about half hour and no poop in there either... That's why her bottom feathers look the way they do tho is because they're wet.. I don't think it's gleet or whatever that's called her poops were fine before
20210807_213354.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20210807_213354.jpg]
 
Leah Worrell
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Her belly feathers are all gone too ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ I should've been paying better attention I should've noticed this... She seemed happy and her normal bully self the day before yesterday ( her and the rooster like to pick on the smaller flock members a lil... They're the king and queen of the flock) I feel so awful... I didn't know till bout 2 weeks after I got the pair that they're designed to be mean chickens... They grew so much faster than the others that's y I decided to Google the breed... I would never eat my chickens I love them all they're my babies... I'm a terrible chicken momma for not realizing she was sick before now... I don't want her to die please if anyone has any suggestions I'll do whatever I can to save her
20210807_214301.jpg
Belly
Belly
 
Leah Worrell
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I posted some pictures thank you for letting me know
 
pollinator
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You mentioned she has yet to lay an egg...based on her breed SHOULD she be laying by now? Those two lumps COULD be unlayed eggs. If they break or she cannot pass them, it may well be fatal.

You may want to Google "egg bound", I believe the simplest treatment,early on, is warm water/epsom salt soaks.

IF you have access to a farm or bird vet I would be making a hasty trip to their door.

The other day when at my vet there was a client sending a dead chicken for necropsy and had brought another in to be euthanised that looked dreadful, suspecting Marek's Disease.

Fortunately the vet was running late and while waiting to be euthanised the chicken dropped an egg (had not laid in over a week)!  Needless to say, the bird was not euthanised, and was treated with some oral calcium, and told to add a plain TUMS to the water and add oyster shells to the feed.

That is pretty much the extent of my chicken knowledge, hope it helps.

 
Leah Worrell
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Do you know how often I should do the baths? I've given her one but she wouldn't sit down in the water no matter what I tried... She's quite large and strong... It my understanding that this particular breed have a high mortality rate being as they mainly are slaughtered at 8 to 9 weeks... I didn't know anything about her breed when I got her... And by the time I found out I already loved them so much I just did my best to give her the best life possible... They've even been to the beach and got to run and forage in the sand... I don't have the money for the vet... And there isn't an avian or feathered creature vet around here that I'm aware of...
 
Lorinne Anderson
pollinator
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My understanding is the warm water relaxes them so they can pass the egg...

The calcium won't hurt her, dissolve a plain TUMS in a cup of water and give it to her a droo at a time IF she won't drink it unassisted.

Sounds like she is a "meat" bird, perhaps they have been bred in such a way that laying is difficult for them (if they are intended to be slaughtered before they would begin laying).

Sory I can offer no more, I sadly have very limited chicken knowledge. I think Google may be your best friend until someone more knowledgeable can step in. You could specifically check for health issues that affect this breed; or perhaps type in her symptoms and see if anything pops out. I do suggest you only "click" on vet or farming type links to ensure you are dealing with informed websites. With the popularity of back yard chickens there are a lot of folks with just enough knowledge to be dangerous - frankly, such as me! All I can offer is what I overheard the vet telling the person with the sick chickens. My specialty is wildlife rehab - so I have some skills, but nothing chicken specific.

Did you look in the chicken forums on the permies site to see if you could find similar cases? Perhaps there are some older posts that relate to your situation.
 
Leah Worrell
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Thank you so much for all you've suggested... Google wasn't helpful with the symptoms she's having but I haven't looked up the breed specifically or if there's any common ailments that's something I will do right now... I looked a lil in the forums but didn't see anything quite like what's happening to momma... Im gunna go back and look again... I appreciate all your help and for taking the time to even try at all. Thank you so much again.

I'll update her condition as time goes by... I really really hope she makes it ๐Ÿ˜ž๐Ÿ˜ž๐Ÿ˜ž
 
Leah Worrell
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Nothing has changed really... Her face seems like maybe it's a lil less swollen... But she still won't eat or drink
 
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Leah, I am no expert, but I feel for you and know how scary it is to not know what's going on with your chicken or how to help them when they obviously aren't well. I presume you have this chicken isolated from the rest? If not, definitely do that.
You might check out this link: http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php
If you just click the boxes that match your chicken's symptoms, it will give you a list of possible causes. Just be careful not to let it freak you out the same way one can get freaked out reading about people illnesses on the internet and suddenly become convinced they have all sorts of awful things they don't.
I could be wrong, but making sure she's getting food and water seems pretty crucial. You could try giving her water and possibly some egg yolk in a needle-less syringe or eye dropper as shown in this video: https://youtu.be/BZUqbbj1pj4?t=197 Definitely don't try to put anything down her beak, as she could choke.
You said she won't lay down in the bath. Could you raise the water level so her bottom ends up submerged even if she stays standing?
I hope you're able to figure out what's going on and get your baby feeling happy and healthy again!

 
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