Fancy Gyno Exam

                                                     See the behind? That's not normal!

She has not moved this fast in several days. I think she remembers Sunday's exam. I can tell from this angle, chasing her, that there is something wrong and there are missing feathers.

bath, gloves, rags, medicine dropper, jar of olive oil, newspaper

I carried out very hot water in the granite ware pot behind the tub. By the time I caught Fancy, the water was just right. My camera is under the lid on the plate. Exam gloves are on top of lid. Rags have an eyedropper on them and the little jar is olive oil for her to ingest and to go up her bottom by means of my gloved hand. The paper was on the table to catch any water that might run over so it would not get on me. That was a good idea and worked yesterday, but today there was too much overflow, so my best sandals and pants were soaked.

feathers gone; swelling

            bottoms up; poop all over

There is lots of runny, nasty-smelling poo all over. It smells much worse than usual. Poop is not formed. It is all over her feathers.

chicken bath

I am putting lots of pressure to hold her back end down. See the water pouring over. Now, I know why some sites suggest putting a chicken in a five-gallon bucket. But, she might be afraid of that. At least she could stand. However, there was lots of wing-flapping, straining to get free, and escape.

Is this camera on?

She got a full 20 minute bath/soak in very warm water with a tad of Dawn, original formula. She gave a few pitiful objections, clawed around on the bottom, trying to stand. She just closed her eyes several times. I was not sure if it was in resignation of her fate or because she was relaxed. I suppose I am anthropomorphizing when I think she can feel resignation. She did look relaxed and peaceful even though I had a firm hand on her back.

 soggy bottom

The green on the cloth is paint residue. Don't get excited or sick. Her vent is closed, if you can see it--just below the rag, sort of a smile. She is fresh from the bath, soggy, wrapped in a towel and not really happy.

After this picture, I held open her mouth while Mark put olive oil down her throat. Her head kept just disappearing into the towel even though I had hold of her beak and had forced it open. I was gentle. Nevertheless, she squabbled with me about whether she was going to allow this indignity. She sort of choked when he squirted the first dropper of oil. The second did not have quite the same effect. She was smacking. If she had lips, she would have been smacking her lips...nom...nom...nom.  Then, she shook her head and seemed over it all.

notice one foot all curled and the other caught in the towel.

 See how huge she is on her backside?

withdrawn head....she looks so pathetic

I have her wrapped in the towel to control her wings flapping. However, she can really withdraw her head to try and escape me and avoid the medicine dropper.

 notice the distended bottom that causes her wide based stance

Actually everything not covered by the towel is huge and firm. When I put a gloved, oiled finger in her, I could feel swelling. It cannot be organs. I felt nothing vaguely like an egg. I could put my finger in two places/orifices, one above and one below. Well, I don't thing I was feeling in the same orifice and just feeling around the lump that honestly must be the size of a grapefruit.

Okay, let me explain. There is a vent, one orifice in the outside of the body. Just inside is the oviduct. The egg moves down the oviduct and gets the shell just before leaving the oviduct. As the egg leaves the oviduct, it enters the intestine and the egg closes off the intestine and poop, and the egg comes out of the hen. Got that?

I carefully felt her and could identify her bones, feeling them simultaneously from inside and outside by using both hands. Everything was smooth otherwise with no indication there was an egg or broken shell. The distension was large. She is depressed,lethargic, has no appetite, and just stands all the time, even during the night most of the time.

She was very still and quiet while I had my finger in her. I wondered if she liked it, if it relieved pain, if she was just so traumatized she could do nothing. I also wondered if I hurt her. Hope not.Mark was supposed to have taken a picture of the procedure.

From my extensive reading on the Internet in the last 24 hours, I think she has egg yolk peritonitis. That means antibiotics that I cannot afford. Either the pet store in town or a poultry supply will have it, hopefully. If she does not get it, she dies. And, I don't have to go to the vet to have him prescribe it!

I kept her in the cage last night. This morning, I lifted her out so she would not have to fly up and then jump down. She is so awkward and swollen that it the least I can do for her.

I am emotionally exhausted!

For about five minutes I used the hair dryer on her bottom. She tried to avoid it, but then seemed okay with the warm air.

Just to make sure I was administering the olive oil correctly, I searched and found these instructions.

Your turn

What do you think? Can you tell her behind is swollen? That is why she cannot walk well. 

Flipping Fancy: Hen Gyno

No gyno pictures!

Sunday, 5 pm
I just finished putting Fancy in a bath. She complained about being picked up....right during her dinner! She flapped and squawked when I tried to turn her up to see her vent. There is nothing hanging out. So far, no prolapse. But, after I bathed her, actually soaked her I could see  better. The vent is quite evident. There was something fleshy that I could see inside. The vent is round, opened with something inside that is flesh I poked it and it is quite solid. So, I shoved my finger in farther. I don't know if that was a prolapse or not.

Hen gyno exam is not as gross as I thought. It was all  just pink flesh, just like any other flesh. Later, after another brief soak I looked and the vent was closed but pulsing. I could see that whatever was causing it to be open was now receded after my pushing on it. I put my finger all the way in again, and YES, I do have rubber gloves that I just bought yesterday. Otherwise, I would have had nothing. And, this would not have happened.

If I had possessed three hands, I would have taken pictures. I used an aluminum pan that I carry vegetables in for Fancy's bath. It is used for food and will be again. It is not for prepared food, just to hold apples before I cut them up, etc. Just because it is aluminum is one reason that I never put prepared food in it. Now, I have a second reason. It will be disinfected to the best of my ability.

Hens don't like to be flipped. She squawked and flapped. They especially don't like to be set into water that may have been too hot. No, she as right-side-up when she was placed into the bath. She tried her best to escape, gripping the side of the pan., clawing and squawking and flapping. But, she relaxed under my iron grip.

Fancy, "SIGH..."

The residue poop is not gone from feathers. It is gone from feathers near the vent. I used an old pair of pants, gotten from my rag bag to wipe Her Poopiness. As I had her upside down, she held her head up like she was trying to look off to the side. If I relaxed my heavy-hand position, she made a bid for freedom and uprightness.

She would have been easier to contain if I had not been careful about grabbing her just anywhere. But, I did not want to break a wing or injure her as she fought and flapped and kicked and clawed. Once I had to let go and stick a finger in her, she seemed okay.

One problem I had was the water should have been a bit deeper. Since I could not carry enough in the pan, I had to keep a heavy hand on her behind to get her vent in water. I almost fell coming down the back steps, so I didn't need to go back one more time for another gallon. And, I had no helper. Everyone was busy, did not answer the phone, or just did not care to discuss the matter. The neighbor with a chicken did not answer the door! One friend called a guy who had a layer house and said this happens to all animals. Sometimes they live. If a person has 80,000 hens cooped up, does he really care?

5:30 pm, Sunday
I got a feeder and waterer up in the cage--make do, of course. She is partaking of my offerings- water and raw oats. I will cook some oats in a bit.


When I held her in the water, she had her mouth open, panting. I am hoping it was the extra-warm water or stress. But, she made a clicking noise when she panted. I could feel it in her body, too. Now, she is neither clicking nor panting.

However, she is straining even now, it appears. But, this is not all the time. i am standing near her cage, watching her. The way she is standing, her tail is down and there is a huge area that is bowed up/rising/bumped up. In other words, she does not have the relative smoothness from neck to tail. The midway between neck and tail is a marked "valley" when the lower part of the back that  is bumped up and her "shoulders." I say she is straining since the part rises and falls like a muscle being flexed and relaxed. She is very quiet, cannot see me, and is relatively still. She does not appear to be in distress.

Oh, I have never flipped a chicken before, but it appeared that the area between her legs was more "there" than it should be. It seems to be huge, from leg to leg, which would account for the splayed/spraddle-legged walk. I felt the area and sort of squeezed it. She did not react. But, it appears this is the area that is the problem.

I took a little plastic dish from food and put two holes with the icepick. Then, put two heavy twist ties in the holes and twisted once. Inside the house pen, I twisted several times around the wall wires.

water and oats

And, at the other end of the pen is Fancy.

                                                     7 pm, dark, and she still stands

I called Charlie just to talk and see how he was managing with his shoulder surgery. He started screaming to buy a new chicken for that amount of money. He has no soul. I yelled at him and told him I was not even considering spending that kind of money, that he could at least say it was too bad. 

Exbf just listened and hung up. I did not want money, just to talk! I think I hate people.

At least Fancy seemed content once she was inside in the cage where she spent the first few months of her life and later spent 14 months in safety until their outdoor pen was fortified.

It seems strange, but Pepper made her first overture to me the day Fancy first seemed lethargic. She came and talked to me like Fancy does.  Rarely do Thelma and Louise talk to me. Well, Louise did come and talk to me, but she complained about Pepper.

For how this all started and today's first post read this.

Wonder if it hurts Fancy to sit?