Egg bound? Broken egg inside?

[Kris5902]

I have an underweight hen I rescued who was dropped and injured her leg/foot. Leg is doing much better, but she has been laying very thin shelled pointy eggs. (She also laid a really wierd body checked one early on). I treated her for SLM and dosed her with Ivermectin on April 15. Yesterday, when I was washing her foot off to rub it with Vaseline, (They always step right in a nasty poo when they know you’re going to mess with their feet!) I thought I felt a little “crunch” from her belly.

She pooped normally twice this morning. Would she be able to do that if she has a broken egg inside? Could she be egg bound? I gave her tums. She definitely seems to be straining a bit, but is mostly alert and talkative. I’m hesitant to try to soak her due to a lack of running water or electricity to dry her off. Suggestions? I’m going to put her back in her crate for a few hours and check on her again in a bit.

 

[Kris5902]

I can’t upload video right now... but here are some pics. I’m getting close to attempting to insert a finger and check for an egg... she has pooped 3 more times, several droppings at each go.

 

[Kgriffith0712]

Sorry to hear about your baby. When i had chickens that were egg bound, they would become lethargic and their combs would droop. I could also feel, below her vent, a puffy area where the egg was impacted. When this happened to one of my eldest hens, I soaked her in warm Epson salt bath (about 20 minutes) to relax her muscles. I was able to feel the egg and extract it. However, she passed shortly after the extraction. I believe she was too far gone and the extraction was too stressful for her.

 

[Kris5902]

She is pooping a lot... I changed my mind on bringing her back out to her crate in the barn... she’s hanging out in my living room while I work outside

 

[Kris5902]

She passed the egg, and is looking much more perky today. I’m just paranoid sometimes as there’s so much that is not good with my rescues.

 

[nightowl223]

I'm glad to hear she laid. The rescue hens are definitely usually beaten up and overworked and weak, that's certain. I detest the treatment they get in the big factory farms (as I detest the treatment of ALL species in those holes).

The poop does look normal, though, and the cloaca doesn't look bad, either, so those are two big plusses for her. I would say the tums did the most help, as, if she had to heal an injured leg bone, that would have sucked up a lot of the calcium they need to lay.

 

[Kris5902]

I'm glad to hear she laid. The rescue hens are definitely usually beaten up and overworked and weak, that's certain. I detest the treatment they get in the big factory farms (as I detest the treatment of ALL species in those holes).

The poop does look normal, though, and the cloaca doesn't look bad, either, so those are two big plusses for her. I would say the tums did the most help, as, if she had to heal an injured leg bone, that would have sucked up a lot of the calcium they need to lay.

Rescued from a similar situation, but not quite as bad as a factory farm, thankfully! That is primarily why I raise my own meat... They are happy animals with more natural lives (except for my tendency to hug and groom them, I’m sure wild cows don’t get brushed and scritches, poor things)

I don’t know why I didn’t think she was robbing herself of calcium to heal the leg! That makes perfect sense why her first post injury egg was normal, then they went almost shell less, thin and body checked... my “doh” moment for the week!

She didn’t mind the bath in my sink, but wasn’t a fan of the blow dry, or Vaselined finger exam at all. Turns out I can just fit a small hen in the bathroom sink of the RV. Had to fire up the generator to run the hairdryer though.