Egg bound? Or something else?

[sbmcqueen]

We have a poor sick chicken, but not sure what is wrong. She is an 18 month old Buckeye.

This started today. She is not moving around very much. She is mainly stands right beside the water dish, and drinking a lot of water. All the others started going to the roost, and she still just stood there.

Her crop is empty except for the water.

We tried a warm bath just incase she was eggbound. We think she was egg bound in the past, but this was when back she was a pullet over a year ago. In general, I'm not sure whether she has trouble passing eggs. She typically makes a lot of of sound in the next box(like it might be uncomfortable?). Her vent seems to be pulsing.

She is isolated, and ate a very small amount of scrambled egg, but not very much. Also added some vitamins in her water. She is passing stool, but has runny diarrhea.

If you have any thoughts, please help. I know she is really note feeling well, as normally she is very very hard to even catch and right not is quite lethargic.

 

[sbmcqueen]

Just a little more information...but the past two days, her stools have much more normal(except for one this morning). She's trending well

 

[sbmcqueen]

Still not full appetite, but it's a little better day by day. Worms, grasses, and egg are still the favourite, but she will eat a little corn, and today pecked at her food a little bit.


Rooster actually got her to eat some soldier fly larvae today(it was very cute). She is in close to the others just separated by a mesh fence. He keeps trying to call her over... I found a place with a hole under the fence, and kept encouraging her to take more treats and enthusiastically gave her treats under the fence.

 

[sbmcqueen]

She's still a yard chicken by day, and a house chicken by night(there is not enough forage food in the main run, and most of the food she will eat(like egg) in bigger amounts, the others will eat immediately... I've been having her in a side run to make sure she's eating enough, but still in touch with the flock).

This morning though, she woke up and started really scarfing her dry food in the house. She's showing more interest in the flock and what they are up to. I let them hang out a bit...everyone's starting their first moult(including her), so some of the hens are a little mean right now. I am keeping an eye on them.

I will keep integrating her a little more each day though, and once she's eating enough chicken food on her own have her hang out more with her buddies.

 

[sbmcqueen]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help, and I'm so grateful for this group. She did pretty well for about two months. Her appetite perked up, and most days she was with the flock for at least part of the day. She ate a lot of tasty treats, and enjoyed foraging in the garden. I set worm traps for her, and give her a hand hunting. She went through a molt, so we kept her as a house chicken at night so she wouldn't be cold (or picked on). She actually got pretty used to it and anytime it would start to rain, I would hear her soft knock at the door to come inside. On nice days, sometimes I'd work outside, and she'd hang out with me while I worked at the laptop.

She then went downhill quickly, and passed over the rainbow bridge yesterday. I am unsure what the mass was in her abdomen(suspect internal laying as she had spent time trying to lay in the summer with no egg.) but it got bigger over time and think this was the issue. I'm a little heartbroken, but glad for the time we had an that she was able to have a pretty good chicken life.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she's feeling better.

Sometimes when they have start to have reproductive problems, they can have good and bad days.

I'd consider getting extra Calcium into her for a week to see if that helps her expel an egg or get things back on track. 600mg Calcium Citrate with D3 is what I'd give, just pop the tablet into her beak and let her swallow.

 

[sbmcqueen]

I'm glad she's feeling better.

Sometimes when they have start to have reproductive problems, they can have good and bad days.

I'd consider getting extra Calcium into her for a week to see if that helps her expel an egg or get things back on track. 600mg Calcium Citrate with D3 is what I'd give, just pop the tablet into her beak and let her swallow.

I hope it keeps up. She's still not eating really...just a little yolk or butter. Her being in a better mood(and able to poo) though is encouraging, and really hoping. Poor little darling.

She has always been the runt, but she's a fighter.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

In egg binding, how often does the chicken show no interest in trying to expel the egg? When we had a dark calm place for her, she stayed standing (could not get her to sit). She hasn't really been trying to get an egg out. She doesn't seem to have any interest in nesting. Just wondering if this might be a clue something else is up?

Is she wandering around and foraging, not in distress and pushing, then she's not egg bound. Egg bound is when an egg is blocking the cloaca (vent).
She may have laid the egg internally if she's got a swollen abdomen or the swelling may be from some fluid. If she's eating/drinking and moving about, then I'd monitor her. Do provide calcium for her for a total of 7 days from whenever you started it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The calcium can help with contractions in the reproductive system, so if she's having trouble expelling an egg or material from the reproductive tract it may help.

Photos of her and her poop may be helpful.
If you suspect infection, then you can try treating with an antibiotic like Amoxicillin to see if that helps as well.

 

[sbmcqueen]

Is her crop emptying overnight?
You've dewormed her?

The crop is emptying.

Just sharing incase it benefits any Canadians but vetster.com was a good telemedicine option and they can prescribe, but it takes a couple of days.

The vet thinks the issue is the mass(there is something that feels like an egg in her abdomen, but is a little more irregular, and not something she is trying to pass). Unfortunately, she does not think very much can be done. It may be a tumour or internal laying. It may also also salpingitis, but with no lash egg the vet thought that was less likely with her age. She didn't think antibiotics would help, or that her quality of life will improve. She was starting to eat MondayTuesday, but since has not been very interested. The vet suggested we put her down which is heartbreaking, but I do not want her to suffer or spend too much time in distress. She has always been the underdog but pulled through, so this is really hard.