How to check vent area for possible egg bound?

Hi everyone, I posted a thread the other day about a hen I believe may be egg bound. She has the classic tail down and tucked under pose and doesn't look comfortable. I tried checking for the egg but couldn't feel anything...I'm wondering if I have the right area? I washed well and lubed my index finger with olive oil and slowely went in, in an upward direction.....I couldn't feel anything and stopped when I was in to the depth of my second knuckle on my finger....all I got was a punch of poop. I have done this twice now, the second time I wasn't able to go in as far and she looked pretty uncomfortable so I stopped....got a punch of poo again....I can feel it when it is ready to come out, so am I in the wrong area? Please help!

Hi Becca.
Sometimes you can feel the egg from the underside by "carefully" feeling from the outside. You may also want to try a warm soak to help relax her and the vent. There are a couple excellent threads telling you step by step what you can do. I'll see if I can find them.

Well her abdomen is swollen so it is hard to feel for anything there. I have given her two baths about 20 minutes each, one Friday night and one last night, and still nothing. That is why I would like to know if I am in the correct area when I am checking the vent. If you have any links to detailed threats I would appreciate it. I have done a tone of reading on how to treat a hen if she is egg bound, but there is really nothing that tells me how I would know if I am in the right area when checking the vent if I don't feel an egg and she poops when I do it. It is posible the egg could be a rubber egg and perhaps I'm not feeling it for that reason? She is eating and drinking water, but the poor thing is in a lot of discomfort and I am wondering if it would just be best to put her out of her misery. I'll give her a few more days but I hate to see her suffering.

She could be an internal layer as well.
Sounds like you're doing everything right.
I went through this with a hen last year. She was 3yrs old, so getting up there for a chicken.
She went on for a few weeks.. warm soaks, invasive probing, etc.
I think she's a rare case, but I still have her. Her laying is over, but she seems to have absorbed whatever it was and is now thriving.
Here are a couple threads. I hope they help.
Good luck!


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=32648&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22308

Thanks for the info and the links! I've suspected her being an internal layer as well. We adopted her in late November and the previous owner didn't give us much info on the two that we took from them. They said they were a year or two old and that was about all the info I got other then their breeds. In December someone laid a rubber egg and I have never had that with any of the hens from our current flock so I am thinking it was her. You mentioned that 3 yrs old is getting up their for a hen, I was told they would live a lot longer then that....like close to 7 years?

You are correct. From what I've read, 5-8 years I think is about average. But egg production starts slowing down as they get older.
I have production Reds and Golden Comets. They are excellent egg layers. In their second year I would get 7-9 eggs a day from my 9 girls.
Now, I'm lucky to get a couple. Of course, I'm down to only 7 hens now, and the one I told you about no longer lays.
If you treat them well and give them good care, you may even have one for 10-15 years.
Right now, I have two in my basement because they had nasty poopy butts. These two tend to get pushed off the perches and sleep in the nesting boxes.
And now the cold temps has caused them to spend more time inside... so of course, they lay and poo.
So, last night was chicken spa night in the basement. They both got a warm soak and I worked all the nasty poo from their bumms.
This morning they are dry and happy and back to their old fluffy butts.
Temps are going up to 30F today, so I'm slowly moving the pen toward the cooler part of the basement so they are acclimated enough to go back out tonight.
Yes, the things we do for our "pets".

Best of luck with your girls.

I also forgot to mention that while drying her yesterday after her soak, we discovered she has absolutely no muscle in her breast area. I found this rather bizzare and wonder how she could be like this when she has been eating, we feed layer pellets from a local feed mill. So I am starting to wonder if her body just isn't functioning properly. I could believe how much of her breast bone I could feel, I could pretty much grab it with two fingers on each side of the bone and grip it firmly.

Yes, more like 7 or 8, or even 10 years. I believe the record is around 15. Some will even lay a few eggs for 7 or 8 years. But problems like internal laying and ovarian cancer are evidently getting more common as birds are bred for more eggs. Here are a couple more links:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/79443/tell-me-about-your-internal-layers

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/362422/drained-a-hens-abdomen-rest-in-peace-olivia-11-5-10