Not egg bound, it's EYP

[gallusdomesticus]

Unfortunately, I don't think the antibiotics will solve your hen's problem. If she has EYP, the egg mass is in her abdomen and her body will identify it as a foreign body and attack it with white blood cells. Antibiotics will supress this but once you stop giving it to her, the infection will resume. I just lost a hen last Friday in surgery for a blocked oviduct. In her case, a partial egg shell had blocked her oviduct and yolks started backing up. Since the yolks were in her reproductive tract, the vet said she did not have an infection, just a distended oviduct that was pushing on her other organs. She survived the surgery but never came out from under the anesthesia. The vet told me her problem was like EYP, except not as immediately serious since the yolks were where they were supposed to be (sort of). She said EYP was much more serious and said surgery to remove the egg mass was the only recourse.
That is one vet's opinion, perhaps yours has a different take. I hope your hen recovers.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Do you suppose I should just go head and call the vet for surgery?

 

[bakerjw]

You might have a chance to stave off the effects of EYP by keeping the chicken in a dark environment to shut down egg production. I am no medical expert but it seems that once pressure in the abdomen builds up and the oviduct gets compressed along with everything else that egg yolk production will continue to compound the problem.

With my last hen I can't imagine the quantity of yolk material that was in her absorbing back very quickly. There was just so much of it in there. Unfortunately this has made me a bit gun shy so the next time I have a hen with that level of swelling and no sign of being egg bound I will be quicker to euthanize. although I love my chickens my hens are production livestock and not worth a vet bill but that is just my situation. YMMV.

Please keep us posted.

 

[jjthink]

Your hen would probably need to be stabilized before any surgery could be done, probably with antibiotic and antiinflammatories to beat back the problem and help her gain strength. Hopefully your vet is experienced with this.
JJ

 

[CrestedGirl]

She is one of my favorite hens. I will do anything for her. We called the vet and they said they have done surgeries before. Her appointment for being looked at is tomorrow at 4:00. We have been keeping her in the house with towels covering the crate to keep it dark. She has had antibiotics for about a day or so. What would everyone recommend for antiinflamitory?

 

[CrestedGirl]

Also how much would a surgery usually cost?

 

[jjthink]

See what the vet says. I lost sweet hen Betty some years back because she was too weak going into surgery so anything the vet can do to bolster her strength can only help.
JJ

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Several hundred Dollars .... $200-400.00 would be a safe bet at least, he may want to keep her for a day, then he is sure to prescribe some expensive post op meds and that will raise the cost. Hate to say it but you could be into it for a tiddy sum once it's all said and done. Good luck.

 

[bakerjw]

Another factor to take into account is that surgery for EYP often includes a hysterectomy to prevent it from happening again.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

My hen's oviduct surgery was $430. Since she was a favorite pet, I paid it but realize it may seem an excessive amount of money. My vet said that the greatest risk in surgery on a chicken, or any bird, is they are very sensitive to the anesthesia gas they use. In my hen's case, she never came out of the anesthesia...her heart just slowed down gradually and stopped. I'm thankful she wasn't in any pain but it's always tough to lose a pet.