Egg bound? Please help (update: not egg bound)

I have two chickens I think are egg bound, one can still poo, not sure yet if the second girl can, but when I picked up the second hen she vomited some thin brownish watery liquid which was very foul. her crop is very full, underneath and between her legs is very tight. There is a whitish slightly yellow feces coming from her vent, her eyes are drooping, looks like she wants to fall asleep. is she egg bound or is it something else? thank you for your help. i took a picture of the vent, if that will help i can post it. right now they are both in the bathtub in warm soapy water, should i be massaging the tight area on her stomach or not?

due to excessive summer heat most of our chickens stopped laying, this maybe the first time she's tried to lay in three months, she is 2 and a half years old. her vent is moving periodically in a wave like motion, is this a good sign?

We took her to the vet, she took an X-ray which did not show an egg. She did a rectal exam and some yellowish stuff came out which she assumed was yolk. She gave shots of calcium glutamate and two different antibiotics, as well as subcutaneous water and sugar. She is not trained in chickens but has some of her own. Right now our girl is very sleepy, resting in our bathtub; we're trying to keep it humid in the bathroom. Our other girl is much less serious, she just ate a bunch of cheese with crushed Tums in it. We have sav-a-chick and electrolyte water available to them, but haven't seen them drink yet. Last week we found a shell-less egg, which could explain the lack of an egg in the X-ray.

If there's anything I'm missing please let me know; I've been reading through all of the posts concerning egg bound hens. Thanks

It sounds similar to what one of my hens had. I think it was either salpingitis (http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/12/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard.html) or egg yolk peritonitis. Unfortunately, we lost our girl. Does your hen's abdominal area feel warm/hot to the touch? That could indicate infection.

Her tummy is not hot, but she is standing, even though she is obviously tired. I've been with her nearly constantly and she hasn't sat down. Some of the other symptoms match up too. Fingers crossed for her, she's a good bird.

I'll think good thoughts for her! Maybe you caught it early enough that the antibiotics will work some magic! Keep us posted.

Howdy losylee

Far be it from me to question your Vet’s diagnosis but a full crop and vomiting could also be an indication of sour crop or impacted crop; especially in light of there being no egg on the x-ray.

There is a good article on this in the learning centre:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Not saying that is the problem, but may be a good idea to cover all possibilities.

Thank you so much for that article.

If anyone is still awake...her crop is probably toxic because the vomit smells so bad. The article suggests helping her vomit up her crop in the morning only, but should I do it tonight? Nothing seems to be moving so I don't think anything in her crop is feeding her at the moment.

Tomorrow I will worm them.

Hey losylee

A am definitely not an expert when it comes to what ails chickens and as I mentioned, it may not be sour or impacted crop but, if it is, I have had experience with that.

One of my gals had sour/impacted crop and when I tried to vomit her, it did not go well and she coughed and spluttered and I did not try that again.

What I did for her was to remove all access to grain and only let her have some scrambled eggs or something soft. I fed her sardines in oil, which all my gals love and are happy to eat. After each small feed, I massaged her crop. The theory being that the sardines provides some nutrition and the oil helps move whatever is causing the blockage.

I also gave her some yoghurt to help with balancing the good/bad bacteria.

I am guessing that it is night time where you are so I would not stress her out tonight but if her crop is full first thing in the morning, the treatment suggested on that article or even my suggestions may be helpful.

I have treated two of my gals this way and both of them are alive and well today.

Thank you, I'll wait until tomorrow.

I plan on worming the flock tomorrow using Valbazen. I've never wormed before and the oldest are 2 1/2 yrs old. Theory being that since it's been so wet and still warm here lately, and with two chickens seeming ill, worms could be the issue.

Would the Epsom salt treatment for my critical girl be advised to maybe get things moving? She has not pooped all day, and since there wasn't a visible egg on the X-ray, then I'm assuming if she is actually egg bound it would be shell-less, or perhaps it's a lash egg blocking things up.

Her abdomen is so swollen and it seems like nothing is really moving through. I can hear gurgling sounds coming from her belly. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.

If any of this seems like a very bad idea, please let me know. I can't express enough how appreciative I am to the people on this board.