Please Help! Eggbound & Possible Prolapsed Vent

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

How is she

Unfortunately, Leeli died last week. We miss her a lot. Thank you for checking in on her.

 

[Bonnieboo]

I would take her to the vet if you have a chicken experienced one nearby. Good luck, I know you couldn't bear to see her suffer and possibly die. It's very hard and I understand x

 

[ruprolife]

Unfortunately Leeli passed away a couple minutes ago. She was fast asleep and suddenly woke up and began to throw up a lot. I think she may have choked on something when she threw up. I'm not exactly sure what happened or why. We tried everything we could.
She was such a sweet chicken and I'm going to miss her so much.
Thank you all for the help! Hopefully now we are prepared for the next time. Thankfully she was very comfortable.
Thank you all again for being there for the help and comfort.

Oh no!! So sorry! I was so thrilled to hear she laid an egg!! Praying for all you! I know people make fun of us but it is painful to lose a chicken!

 

[naomijm]

I have an eight and a half month old Buff Orpington (her name is Leeli) that is egg bound. She is panting and can barely stay awake. She can't stand up and doesn't have any balance. She is exhausted.
I brought her inside and she passed some egg yolk. That confirmed my fears.
We soaked her in epsom salt and gave her some tums.
I followed some instructions I found on other threads and reached inside to try and help anything stuck come out. I think she has an egg that is soft-shelled. The egg won't come out. She pushed several times but to no avail. Little bits of egg yolk come out every once in a while. It seems like it may be prolapsed? But I don't even know exactly what that is.
We even tried using a syringe to inject a solution into her vent (1 TBs white vinegar to 1 qt of water).
My mom is running out to the store to get some other supplies.
My whole family is frantically searching for what to do to help her. I'm honestly at my wits end and completely exhausted. Is there anything I can do or will she die? Does anyone have advice for me to try? I love my chickie so much.

Take her to the vet. She can get an X-ray that way you know if you If she has any of that egg left in her. I had a chicken with the same issue and she did have a prolapse, but they actually make a medication for parrots that she can take and it will make it so that she doesn’t lay an egg for about a month or so which really helps with the healing process. I don’t know a lot of people to take their chickens to the vet but I am one that does, and it has a saved my birds life more than once. Hope this helps! Naomi

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Last month my son noticed a chicken wobbling to the coop at bedtime and she didn't make it til morning. He didn't tell me until morning before going to let the chickens out. We lost Sally Ellen to being egg bound. Calcium is great for soft shell if it's combined with vitamin D3. I buy baby vitamin D3 drops and add some to a small dish of water. Magnesium would have relaxed her muscles a bit and perhaps helped her move the egg out. We administer it via a warm tub soak in Epsom salts. If it was truly a soft shelled egg just getting the soft shell out if you could reach it could help. If there was yolk and crushed shell it's a bad thing. They usually die of peritonitis- a serious infection from the shell. While the egg is stuck they can't move out any wastes either. The chicken is in some serious pain so I understand the anguish of every chicken owner watching their chicken going through this. I administer 1 baby aspirin for the pain. They are usually very grateful for the pain relief. I had a favored turkey be the sole survivor of a cane corso crazy blood lusting dog attack. She was smart and hide right away but not before he took a huge chunk out of her back. That was 12/28/2023 and it is 04/19/2024 today. She still has a huge hole in her back which is not healing up very fast at all, but it is healing albeit very slow. We gave her 1/20th of a human tramadol for severe pain and kept her wounds very cleaned. After two weeks we cut back on the tramadol and weaned her off of it and substituted the baby aspirin and only give her some if she is in pain. She's got a specific little cry when she hurts so we know. She debrides the wound herself, and from time to time it does need that. I give her antibiotic injections if she's acting listless but I also give her diflucan after a round of antibiotics. I have her off of the antibiotics, and she's holding her own. We raised her from an egg. Two weeks ago we moved her to a clean outdoor pen and clean her wound with antiseptic every day. She knows she is loved. I don't know if that wound will ever close up. She would love to breed and have a nest but her back would never hold up to being bred right now. I pray over her all the time. She's happy, and spending time with younger turkeys which she adores. We were left with three eggs from the turkeys that were murdered and I incubated them. We thought the one baby egg that made it was a boy but we named him Hope anyway. He's a girl! And I managed to pick up some of the same breed of turkey from another state. What a drive! They give us a fertile egg or two every day or so and I am incubating and hatching them all out. The parents don't let me pet them like all the other turkeys love. Gracie (the wounded one) and Hope (the only egg survivor) and a little tom from the new turkeys are all bunk mates. When he matures if she isn't healed I'll have to move him. Or her if I have the third turkey pen built by then.I just know in light of our darkest times and losing birds we hand reared and loved so much that we have a future with new babies. In the first batch we lost some favorites. Precious Pup, Little Shy One, Nizumi, Violet, and more. It grieved us to no end at the beginning. We may still lose Gracie yet. But if you believe in prayer, you also believe in the Bible. Revelation 5 has a verse that goes something like this: All creatures great and small will be praising God in heaven which includes the heavens and the earth and the seas and ALL that are in them. I worked healthcare since I was 14 until I retired close to 20 years ago. I've comforted a lot of people as they passed away and animals too. I just know we haven't seen the last of them.And those who come back often see favored pets. I plan to be singing my songs of praise with loved ones who have gone before me AND a whole bunch of pets including flocks of birds!!! I don't know if your egg bound sweetie made it.I hope she pulled through. I think I might have tried an injection of antibiotics just in case peritonitis was setting in, but sometimes even that doesn't help. I just know when we lose our sweeties, we WILL see them again. I don't know if this information will help anyone else but I hope so.

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

Oh no!! So sorry! I was so thrilled to hear she laid an egg!! Praying for all you! I know people make fun of us but it is painful to lose a chicken!

Thank you!
It's sad seeing a little creature be in pain. Especially one that you've watched grow up from a little fluffy chick.
I definitely miss my Leeli, but I'm glad she's not in pain anymore!

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

Last month my son noticed a chicken wobbling to the coop at bedtime and she didn't make it til morning. He didn't tell me until morning before going to let the chickens out. We lost Sally Ellen to being egg bound.

I'm so sorry to hear that she died. It definitely happened really quickly with Leeli as well. It's really hard to lose a chicken.

Calcium is great for soft shell if it's combined with vitamin D3. I buy baby vitamin D3 drops and add some to a small dish of water.

I have definitely learned from this experience how important calcium and d3 are! We are going to keep a bottle on hand to give as soon as we see any signs of egg-binding in the future.

Magnesium would have relaxed her muscles a bit and perhaps helped her move the egg out. We administer it via a warm tub soak in Epsom salts.

We gave her an epsom salt bath right away when we realized it was egg-binding.

If it was truly a soft shelled egg just getting the soft shell out if you could reach it could help. If there was yolk and crushed shell it's a bad thing. They usually die of peritonitis- a serious infection from the shell. While the egg is stuck they can't move out any wastes either.

She did lay a soft shelled egg, but I believe there was another broken egg inside of her. I did reach inside her vent to try and help the egg come out. I tried to be very careful and ended up deciding I couldn't remove it without causing more damage to her. Ultimately, I believe the calcium and D3 was what helped her to lay the egg. It was still too much for her body to handle and she passed away about an hour or so after laying the soft-shelled egg.

The chicken is in some serious pain so I understand the anguish of every chicken owner watching their chicken going through this. I administer 1 baby aspirin for the pain. They are usually very grateful for the pain relief.

I didn't know you could give aspirin to a chicken. I am a first time chicken owner, so there are lots of things for me to learn. I will definitely look into that!

Gracie (the wounded one) and Hope (the only egg survivor) and a little tom from the new turkeys are all bunk mates.... I just know in light of our darkest times and losing birds we hand reared and loved so much that we have a future with new babies. In the first batch we lost some favorites. Precious Pup, Little Shy One, Nizumi, Violet, and more. It grieved us to no end at the beginning. We may still lose Gracie yet.

I sure hope your girl heals soon! I'm sorry to hear she was hurt. I am sorry that you lost your other birds as well. Leeli is the first hen we have lost. I really miss her. It is definitely hard.

But if you believe in prayer, you also believe in the Bible. Revelation 5 has a verse that goes something like this: All creatures great and small will be praising God in heaven which includes the heavens and the earth and the seas and ALL that are in them.

I am a Christian! I love God's Word. God is good and I know He has a purpose for all things!
Thank you for being kind! I hope you have a good day.

 

[Ajb1952]

Would you be able to take her to an avian vet?

 

[Chickengirl470]

Try sardine oil I’m dealing with the same thing right now came here for some help too sardine oil seemed to help my noodles a little

 

[tlcmurphy]

Their baby passed away