How to help a dying chicken

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I have 6 pet hens. Some have lived to the age of 12. Those were Aracauna green egg laying chickens. They still laid occasional oddly shaped eggs, but heck, they were eggs. Now I have some coming Aracauna 3 year olds now and have added 3 tame and friendly Barred Rocks. I give the eggs away to neighbors by putting boxes of eggs in their mail boxes. This is probably a Federal crime.

In Texas I had an old lady rancher friend down the road who raised cattle, hens and guineas. She knew all about chicken doctoring.

I found this video How to Help a Dying Chicken. I thought it was about euthanizing a hen. No it is not about that,

This video is delightful. My old lady rancher friend knew things like this. For instance, to break a broody hen of sitting plunge her into a bucket of ice water.

 

[greybeard]

For instance, to break a broody hen of sitting plunge her into a bucket of ice water.

How long do ya hold her down?

 

[Twisted]

How long do ya hold her down?

If ya hold her down like a cookie in milk until it stops bubbling, that'll break her. Or is it "brake" her?

 

[greybeard]

I watched a little bit of one of those 'unbelievable' type programs just last night, Dan Akroyd was the host. I missed most of it to go see what the dog was raising heck about but one segment was about a chicken named Mike that lived almost 2 years without a head... It was in the late 40s I believe.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

She says to give the hen a warm espom salt bath for 5 minutes. I enjoy the wise guy comments but these are pet chickens as well as our and everybody else's egg supply. There may be something to these baths

In the comments section of the video there is a discussion by others who have also done this. A woman wrote having the hen a squatting in anupright position in the water like that (the same position they take when they are actually laying the egg) opens their cloaca. the lady put on a glove, lubed it up with KY jelly and gently inserted a finger and found a very large egg. So working with more lubrication she hen was able to deliver the egg. Others had done this and found a large weird and funky egg that did not pass properly through their 'egg factory' so it got extra layers of egg materials. These were also removed. This is like pulling a calf because those hens were egg bound. There is discussion that the warm epsom water bath relaxes the muscles and invigorates the chicken. You've heard the term Mad as a wet hen. I had an old lady rancher friend in Texas she raised cattle, hens and guineas. She said to break a hen of broodyness dunk her in a bucket of ice water

This lady in the video is so sweet and kind. I love the part where the door opens slightly and a cat's paw reached down to mess with the measuring cup.