That's a catchy blog title, huh? For a while, we've noticed that Sarah (she's the red one above) doesn't seem to lay very often, although she does sit in the nest box regularly, and recently, she and Bessie each decided that it was TIME to lay an egg, so they just both got in.Anyway, we took her to the chicken man (who is wonderful, if you're local and in need of a good chicken man), and he said she had a lot of fluid in her body cavity. He gave us the name of the one vet he was aware of in our county who sees chickens.
The vet thinks she has a hernia. We think she was born with it, because she's always seemed like she had a little extra in the breast/body. Being chicken newbies, we just thought that was her usual physique.
Anyway, she's not in pain, and surgery would probably be more traumatic, so she'll live out her (not very egg-productive) days in our little backyard.
She's the top hen, and she has a wonderful personality, so we're happy to have her.
However, I have been lobbying for a bigger coop so we can get another one. We'll see how that goes. I usually win these arguments; it just takes a while.
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6 comments:
I have always wanted to have chickens! I am still waiting until that happens :)
Our chicks are coming any day now. I am so looking forward to them.
I love your attitude about keeping Sarah through her days of relative unproductivity. I've read too many books on chickens that say get rid of hens that aren't producing
Thank you for posting this! We have a beautiful Plymouth rock chicken named Consuela who had hernia surgery four days ago and she is doing exceptionally well! She had a sac on her rear that I thought was a prolapsed egg, however, the vet saw right away that it was a hernia - filled with her intestines. She probably had a weak abdominal wall since birth (hatch!?!). Anyway, Iif left alone, she would surely have died a painful death. The surgery was risky but worth it, and she will be able to join the rest of the flock after her sutures come out in three days. Who knew chickens can have hernias!?!
i also have a chick with a hernia he is just 4 weeks old . there is no vet here who sees chickens at all so i have to be my own vet so to speak we are watching him very closely to see what will happen
Good luck with your new chick! Maybe you will be lucky like we were!
Hey - I have a plymouth rock who has just been diagnosed with a hernia. And I think we are opting for surgery - but googling to see I found this! Is anyone able to giv eme an update - anon - did your plymouth rock go on to have a good happy life? And Julie hows did youre go without surgery??
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