Egg Bound Chicken for at least 15 days.

[KarenJane]

Hello everyone,
I have a conundrum. We inherited 8 chickens from my late brother in law. We brought them home to Mississippi from Ohio on the 10th of June.

One of the chickens is egg bound. She has been since we got her, we suspect she was even before we got her. (BIL was in and out of the hospital for weeks before he died, the neighbors were taking care of the his girls) She is eating, drinking, pooping/peeing. Walking around like she is fine. It's been 15 days!

We have quarantteened her in the garage in her own pen.
Given her (and all of them) lots of calcium.
We have been soaking her in warm epsom salts baths and even tried putting olive oil in her vent.
We have tried massaging the egg to move along.
The egg has moved more in position but it's not coming out.
Like I said, she acts totally normal.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? We have had chickens in the past but never experienced an egg bound one. So this is all new to us.

Thanks to anyone who can offer any advise.

 

[HeritageFan]

Are you absolutely certain of her age?

If she -were- egg bound, am pretty sure she wouldn’t be behaving normally after over 2 weeks.

Any chance that she’s older and has stopped laying, or had been broody before her move?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Is it possible these are rescue birds or birds from an egg production plant?
I ask since several appear to have been debeaked.

An eggbound hen would likely have passed within just 48 hours. I don't think it's egg binding if it's been 2+ weeks.

Internal laying and egg yolk peritonitis take longer to kill them but chickens have symptoms when ill with those. They act sick, lethargic, walk like a penguin and get very dirty bottoms.

Chickens hate change and being moved is a big change. If it's lack of eggs that is concerning or a hen not laying it could be from the stress of the move.

 

[2ndTink]

I have the same question as HeritageFan, are you sure she hasn't stopped laying? They look like a production breed, ie Golden Comet, Cinnamon queen... they lay super well but stop at a younger age in my experience. I had one stop laying at a two years old, now the three year olds are all done laying as well. They are prone to reproductive issues. If she is pooping normally, she may not be egg bound.

 

[Mrs J]

I am no chicken expert.... but after taking a closer look at your pix... I’m thinking you probably have at least two different age groups, based on beak damage/ wear.

Damage can also happen during fights but it -looks like- two of your hens have damage to the tips of their beaks?
Hard to be certain that it isn’t the same hen but I believe I see a different shape to the damaged upper beak = two of them that are likely older.
Is the one you are worried about one of the hens with the beak ....
Call it damage, breakage, wear- but where the tip of the “upper” beak is missing?

Are your hens rescue? I say this because I have rescued chickens from a battery farm, unfortunately the beaks are cut to stop pecking/damage and also no idea how old, except at 18 months they are past their sell by date apparently If your hen was egg bound, she would have the penguin stance esp after 2 weeks on her last legs, you would know. Calcium and Epsom baths are perfect for treating egg bound hens, I don’t think that is the problem

 

[HeritageFan]

I am no chicken expert.... but after taking a closer look at your pix... I’m thinking you probably have at least two different age groups, based on beak damage/ wear.

Damage can also happen during fights but it -looks like- two of your hens have damage to the tips of their beaks?
Hard to be certain that it isn’t the same hen but I believe I see a different shape to the damaged upper beak = two of them that are likely older.
Is the one you are worried about one of the hens with the beak ....
Call it damage, breakage, wear- but where the tip of the “upper” beak is missing?

 

[HeritageFan]

Also trying to bump the thread in hopes that a more experienced chicken keeper will come into this conversation!
Sorry I don’t know who to tag

 

[KarenJane]

For the record.

We do not know where my BIL got these chickens.
We do not know how old they are.
He had them from when they were little.
Their beaks are not the issue here.
We have a chicken with a solid mass floating around in her abdomen.
She acts NORMAL. Eating, drinking, pooping.
They have been here since July 10th. None of them exhibit any symptoms of any issues other than that they are not all laying. We assume it's because of stress or age. We did not get them as layer chickens.

It was pretty stressful for us to see my BIL in the hospital dying of cancer at the age of 64. We took his chickens as a final act of caring and love for him, his world. He was a homesteader, gardening, canning, fishing. So we don't care if they ever lay an egg, we just want them to have a happy, healthy life here till they die.

So if no one has any advise for the egg bound issue I think this thread is finished.
I do appreciate all the concern and advise that was offered. So thank you.

 

[azurbanclucker]

So if no one has any advise for the egg bound issue I think this thread is finished.
I do appreciate all the concern and advise that was offered. So thank you.

Egg bound birds do not act "normal" after 2 weeks. They act close to death after that length of time, because they are. It's been suggested this is not an issue with egg binding, and it comes from a community expert. Up to you to decide whether or not to take that information. I definitely would. And I'd contact a vet with poultry experience to have her examined. An ultrasound or x-ray should answer your questions.

Best of luck getting her figured out!

 

[Kiki]

Hi, I'm no chicken expert so you're in good company.

We do not know where my BIL got them from, or how long he had them. I have no idea if their beaks are cut , worn or just deformed.

The one we are concerned with has a strangly deformed beak. It looks like she has a tooth on one side.

I wish we had more information on them, I wish we could ask him. But sadly we can't. This is our last good thing we can do for him. <3 :'(

Do you only feed them corn?
She's probably not egg bound...she's be dead if she had a stuck egg for this long.

She's probably laying internally which isn't good

Feeding only corn or corn often will cause others to start having laying disorders too. Get them on a layer type pelleted or crumbled feed only ASAP.