I have a female zebra hen, maybe four years old, who has had serious problems for at least a year now. she was always healthy, a pet store bird, bit smaller than my others, but always active and feisty. when this all started, I had placed her with a new mate, and I thought he attacked her at one point because he wanted his old mate back, but now I'm not so sure. there was blood everywhere, and especially on her, near the vent. I separated them to let her heal, tried them together again (they really seemed to get along - I never saw/heard any fighting!) after the blood occurred two more times in about as many months, I permanently removed her. since then, she's had a female companion, and I thought things were good.
however, she's had the bloody problem several more times. at first, I thought she wasn't getting enough calcium, and had broken/damaged egg inside causing this, but she never seems to lay eggs near the time of the blood. I'm beginning to think she has a tumor. the last few days, she's not so active, no blood, kinda puffed up, but not quite puffed like a sick bird if that makes sense. she did have blood a few weeks ago, but recovered from it fine (leaves her weak and anemic, but heat lamp and egg food have always bounced her back to normal within a few days) she plucked away the feathers around her vent, and she IS laying eggs right now, one a day the last three days. her vent is swollen, not raw or red, no further blood. she's ignoring the heat lamp, and sits on her top favorite perch, so she's not quite sick.
maybe an internal tumor that ulcerates and ruptures every so often, but now that she's laying, there's not enough space in her body to accommodate both egg and tumor??
I'm at a loss....
I thought broken eggs right away, but why so many? You feed a good diet, right? So I am sure she gets enough calcium. I have seen tumors on birds, that get worse while laying eggs. My uncle has a white hen with a tumor
no new eggs yesterday or today, she may be done laying (I hope!) She's more active and looking a bit better, but not back to normal yet. It's hard to tell about that growth, though. today, I though it looked bigger, but maybe that's just because her feathers aren't as fluffed around it. her vent still has some swelling, but not so bad. I'm keeping a close eye on her for now.