Mathilda our ex batt is unwell. She's been a little off colour for a week or so but today it was more noticeable. She's sitting a lot and closes her eyes. I did a bit of research and wondered if she was egg bound. I brought her in and her underneath feels quite firm - certainly firmer than my other girls and it could be egg shaped but I'm not really sure (didn't want to press too hard).
I gave her a warm bath which she seemed to enjoy - I didn't expect her to willingly sit down in it! Then I wrapped her in a warm towel and put her in the dog crate. She is drinking and I saw her eat some sweetcorn this morning but if she's eaten any since then I haven't noticed. She did a poo which was watery with some white and some brown bits which looked quite gelatinous (sorry TMI!).
I'm not sure what else to do. I can't really get her to a vet before Monday and to be honest I'm not sure how good they are with chickens anyway!
She does have mites so (so I discovered today when one crawled up my awm!) so I've powdered her (and she lost some in the bath she had anyway! LOL). d**n things sneaked in when we weren't looking as we're good at looking for them and scrubbing the house! The house has been thoroughly cleaned, fried with a flame gun and powdered today! I'm kind of assuming that the mites aren't the issue as her comb is still red (though a bit floppy but it's always floppyish anyway since it got ripped last year). The other chickens are all as lively as ever so the mites aren't an issue for them.
I don't know how well or even if she's laying. One of the 4 does lay pretty soft eggs and I don't think we've ever (maybe once or twice) got 4 eggs in a day. 2 or 3 are the norm - but of course we don't know which chickens they come from and if one is not laying..... There were 3 eggs there this morning which seems pretty normal - so in one respect I'd be surprised if she was egg bound as if she'd laid normally today wouldn't I have had 4 eggs? If so as mentioned before that isn't normal for us.
Edited to add: she's also pecking the toe on her left foot. When I checked her feet the left seemed slightly less responsive than the right (I moved the right toe and she curled it under, when I did that with the left she did not.). I can't see any reason for her to peck it but she keeps doing it.
Any advice, recommendations etc?
Thanks!
