Update 02/12/20 - I have updated the story with new content! I'm sure you all want to know how she is getting on, so I have posted further information, photos, x-rays and videos 
Introduction (original article 07/11/20)
I have written this article to share with others after my 2.5 year old ISA brown chicken experienced severe paralysis after becoming egg bound. Having a healthcare background I found it frustrating that the research and management of obturator paralysis articles did not relate to chickens. I hope this helps some of you after my trial and error experiences.
Background
"Rescue 2", yes that's her name, is a chicken that we rescued from a free range egg production facility when she was around 18 months old. She has always been a very happy and friendly chicken with no health issues. I found her laying on the floor under the laying box looking very unhappy and brought her up to the house. I think she may have been unwell most of the day by the time I had found her.
Day 1 - found under the laying box
The examination
I performed a head to tail check on her and couldn’t see any signs of trauma or obvious disease. Her legs and wings moved freely and easily when I gently manipulated them, her gape was clear, crop was soft, and she had no signs of parasites or offensive smell coming from anywhere. Initially I suspected she may have eaten something bad as my chickens free range and occasionally find yucky things to eat, or had coccidiosis, but after checking her vent and palpating the abdomen I could feel there was a large egg sitting about 1 – 2 inches down inside her cloaca through a thin membrane.
I have read that if a hen ‘hangs on’ to an egg instead of laying it, occasionally it can move and get lodged within their intestines (1, 2). This is a little different to the usual egg-binding in chickens and may need to be managed differently. I believe my hen had hung onto her egg as the nest boxes were full that day and I had an unusual amount of broody chickens, this can cause environmental stress which may make a hen egg-bound (3).
What is does Egg Bound usually mean?
When a chicken normally becomes egg bound it usually occurs because the egg is soft, larger than usual or malformed, which results in it rotating at a slower-than-normal rate down the oviduct. This happens quite often to young chickens and new layers. The result is an egg that can remain pressed against the obturator nerve (which runs just inside the pelvic canal) for a longer than normal period of time, which leaves the bird basically paralysed until the egg moves further along the oviduct, at which point the symptoms are relieved and the legs can move normally again (when all goes well) (4). This is called Obturator Paralysis and I will talk more about this further down in the article.
The usual treatment for being Egg Bound
After doing the usual Google and medical vet book searches (and of course BackYard Chicken searches!) I decided to manage her conservatively for the first 24 hours hoping she may try pass the egg herself. I used warm water baths every two hours with Epsom salts. Both of which are meant to assist with relaxing the muscles around the egg. I also gave her crushed up calcium after splitting up a human calcium tablet. The calcium is meant to help aid contractions of the oviduct to push the egg along. The use of Epsom’s salts and calcium seem to contradict each other, but anyways…we gave it a go and nothing happened.
By day two I was very concerned and she had become very lethargic, would not eat or move and I knew we had to intervene or would most likely lose her. After checking again, the egg had not moved at all and I had tried everything from gentle massage and manipulation of the egg to additional lubrication and warm water baths. She was given more calcium, and I had also given her subcutaneous fluids as she was getting dehydrated. I considered that because of where the egg was now situated inside her body that it was unlikely to now come out on its own.
Decompressing the egg
By this stage my hen was quite exhausted and needed critical help. We decided we would drain the eggs contents, then attempt to decompress the egg and hope that she could then pass it along on her own. We used a large needle (18g) and syringe (20ml) inserted through the side of her belly just under her vent and into the egg. It was very easy to palpate the egg by laying her gently on her side with my partner holding her.
We inserted the needle through the skin and into the egg, the egg was very big and after several full syringes we completely drained it of all its contents. A word of advice when using this technique, do not remove the needle from the egg, but leave the needle inserted into the egg and just detach the syringe from the back of the needle to empty it. Then reattach the needle back to the syringe and keep going.
Once the egg was emptied we applied gentle hand pressure to the outside of the egg through her belly to decompress it. I heard a distinct pop sound when the egg broke. Be careful with the amount of pressure you use as you only want to use as little as possible to decompress the egg. This will ultimately cause bruising which she will need to recover from. We now had a chicken with a broken egg inside her but the relief was quite immediate (for all of us actually!). At this point we gave her more subcutaneous fluids (30mls of normal Saline 0.9% under the skin, divided into two places), pain relief (Meloxicam) and let her rest for the night. We would also start her on some antibiotics (Clavulox) for a few days and make sure she was pooing normally.
Picture 2 - After the Eggventure. Not looking too pleased about it and giving me the stink eye. Although I think this is her usual face. She is a hen with "attitude".
Pain relief, antibiotics and fluid
We used Metacam (Meloxicam) which is excellent in chickens, but I know there are other pain relief options available. I gave her the standard dose of 0.5 – 1mg/kg every 12 - 24 hours (5). Stronger doses from 1 - 2mg/kg are also spoken about in the literature and it appears with Meloxicam it is usual to start with a higher dose for the first 24 hours before halving the dose for the remaining time needed. In hindsight, I think 2mg/kg for the first day, dropping back to 1mg/kg would have been more appropriate. We also used Amoxicillin-Clavulanic acid (Clavulox) antibiotics for a week (125mg twice per day) but this is a little controversial in chickens about whether it actually works or not (6), but again there are other kinds available which would be ok, it just needs to be a decent broad spectrum antibiotic. For my chicken I could tell she was in pain when she would close her eyes and occasionally shiver. She did not develop any signs of infection but had some good bruising under her vent for about a week.
At this point she was still not eating or drinking by herself and we knew we would need to help her along for a while yet. I learnt how to carefully force feed her and also give her oral fluids. I did this for the first 3/4 weeks. Ideally this would be done using a crop needle (which saves a lot of time) which I bought later on, but initially I did this by hand. Chickens are not good eaters when they are in pain, or when they cannot stand and will often refuse to eat by themselves. But they will heal much faster if given a good diet and are force fed to ensure they eat enough. I bought my crop needles and syringe from here https://www.kimani.com.au/collections/crop-needles-feeding-tubes?page=3 (I also bought the 1kg bag of the Passwell handrearing food which has been amazing). You will need at least an 8g size and a proper feeding syringe (I use 50ml size and give her 40mls per feed) as they have a large hole for food to pass through.
Giving fluid to a chicken by subcutaneous injection is very easy, and actually maybe even safer than given by syringe orally. I have included a link to how to do this down in the references, just a note though, it’s much easier to just use a syringe and needle rather than what she shows in the video, but she shows some pretty good technique (7). I used sodium chloride 0.9% (10 – 30mls). Oral fluids should only be given in very small amounts (usually a 1ml syringe) and into the side and back of the mouth, avoiding the trachea (windpipe). Here is a great link to another article which shows how to do this safely. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/ It is very easy to accidently cause aspiration injury by putting water down the trachea, so do not do this if you are unsure. Instead just give a very wet food mix to her and force feed her this sloppy mix.
Recovery
The road to recovery can be slow in a paralysed chicken. Our chicken developed Obturator Paralysis from the egg compressing the nerve for an extended period of time within the oviduct. As I mentioned previously, when I was researching this topic, there really wasn’t much out there about this condition in chickens. There are a articles about ducks (4) and cattle (8), but most do not mention anything about rehabilitation or considerations for egg layers down the track. I am by no means an expert in the matter, but I can offer some ideas and some considerations that may help or be useful for others who are caring for a chicken with this problem which I suspect is more common than we think.
‘Rescue 2’ recovered well from her surgery and we were really pleased that she made it through the first night. We originally thought that we had left it too late as it was almost 3 days by the time we acted and decompressed the egg. She was pretty much paralysed and just laid flat inside the clothes basket for the first few days. I just gave her sub cut fluids and force fed her wet chicken food during this time. No fancy food and just good quality chicken pellets that had been reduced to mush by a little warm water. You can see me feeding her here
By the end of the first week she had some good control back over her wings, and by the second week her tail was starting to come up. In the third week she began to sit and squat. At the fourth week we had a chicken that was trying to take a step here or there and was rocking backward and forward like a seesaw!
Week 3 picture - such a cutie
Once she could stand to some extent we started putting her out on the grass for a couple of hours a day to encourage her to feel the sun and stretch and preen. I didn’t want to do this beforehand as she could overheat if left alone. You’ll know she is overheated by her panting with her mouth open. (They also do this when they are stressed). Some chickens (like mine) will not eat unless they are able to stand so if your chicken is like this, you may want to try a semi-sling for an hour or so to see if she will eat herself if upright. If you're in this situation with your chook, I would strongly encourage you to closely monitor her food during this time (weigh it if you have to) and supplement this.
Considerations for the future – 4 weeks later
As I sit here watching her out the window under the shady tree she is standing up and taking an occasional step, stretching and then sitting again, I am wondering about her future. Once she is back to supporting her own body weight and eating herself I was going to consider her gradual reintroduction back to the flock. I know I will need to be careful though, she will still need special monitoring and care for a month or so.
In this video you will see her able to squat and seesaw on her hind legs. This is at 1 month post become egg bound and paralysed.
‘Rescue 2’ is a lovely bird and I have grown very fond of her but unfortunately she will most likely have a fairly short lifespan. Being an ISA brown we know that these chickens are highly modified with their breeding to be docile and good egg layers, but at the expense of longevity.
In all reality she was most likely at the end of her egg laying career when we rescued her and becoming egg bound is probably a sign of further health problems to come. If she is to have a longer life, a consideration could be given to getting an implant for her so she doesn’t produce eggs anymore. This is done within Australia where I live but isn’t cheap. If we don’t do this then at the very least we need to be hypervigilant about watching for her next egg and ensuring that she has less stress to be able to lay in future. I did read that in a parrot it took almost a month for the old egg to pass! We haven't seen any sign of it yet, but her bowel is working sensationally so I am not too worried. I really don’t want her to suffer needlessly and want to give her every chance to go on and have as much of a life as she can.
Conclusion (OLD - Updates follow)
Obturator paralysis is most likely more common than we think in egg bound chickens with many chickens dying before they manage to free their bound egg. The pressure from the egg on the nerve within the oviduct can produce paralysis which can last for at least a month or more in my case. The care of a chicken with paralysis will often be time consuming, but not difficult, with pain relief, fluid therapy, force feeding and lots of rest required. Once the chicken can stand, normal eating usually recommences and the chicken will most likely make a good recovery.
Updates
9th November (4 weeks 3 days)
Today we started allowing contact with her friend "Rescue 1 (R1)". At first this was under the protection of a clothes basket as R1 was pecking her to get at her food. As she gets stronger we will start increasing the time and exposure. She attempts to get upright but can't stand with straight legs so is still squatting. Still no sign of any old egg that has come out and we look every day. Her general health is good, but perhaps a little depressed? Food intake is not great. Having the other chicken around seems to make her more interested in food.
19th November (almost 6 weeks) We are getting the implant!
Things are going really well. She has daily visits from R1 who keeps her company. She still sleeps separate to everyone else and I keep her in the laundry. I monitor her daily intake and also give her supplementary crop feeds to try regain a little lost weight. She is now trying to waddle unsuccessfully on her haunches everywhere. She is still unable to stand on straight legs yet, but is trying to still get around and is enjoying being more mobile. I have been in contact with the local vets who have sourced an implant for her. It's going to cost me around $300 for the visit (consult, x-ray and implant). I'm feeling more positive that she is going to make a good recovery and will return to walking.
22nd November (6 weeks 4 days)
It's amazing in just a few days how things are quickly improving. Today she stood properly with straight legs for the first time. For the last few days she has been trying to waddle around and flapping a lot. Now she has the ability to be more upright I think she will begin walking a little more normally. She is still tired a lot of the time and it must be exhausting! Still no egg, but she doesn't seem to be in pain and is eating quite well. I am still comp feeding her occasionally.
Vet visit - 22nd November
Today we went to visit the vet. She wasn't an avian vet but was still able to provide general assistance with her care. She took an x-ray and we saw that the egg is still insider her! It looks like one half has slipped inside the other and when she did an internal exam, she said that she could still feel the egg there (BEHIND THE MEMBRANE). She is at a loss really about what to do as she is not convinced about where the eggs location is - in her intestines, or in the oviduct. We can put her under a general anaesthetic and try remove the egg shell, but if it's in the intestines she may not be able to get to it, or even be able to remove all of it anyway. Another option is to go to a bird specialist (in Sydney, 3 hour drive) and then do some type of surgery (I'm not sure if they do a form of endoscopy like in humans) to remove it. In any case, she will need the implant to stop having more eggs as she most likely has a scarred reproductive tract and reproductive problems.
We choose to have the implant and manage her conservatively which has worked so far. She has been improving in her walking everyday, so I am hesitant to be more invasive if the egg is causing her no troubles. But we will need to stop her from trying to have more eggs!
23rd November - There's an EGG!!!
Ok, so I woke up this morning to the usual, R2 happily in the laundry waiting for me to pop her outside into the big bad world, but as I go to pick her up I discover an egg shell on the floor! It's soft shelled, broken in several places, and I can't find any egg yolk, did she eat it? I'm totally perplexed and decide to do a bit more digging about the Suprelorin implant. I discover that it can bring on ovulation in females and that it can be used to induce a heat in dogs. They do this and then mate the dog (then remove the implant). So it seems that the implant has brought on an ovulation in R2. I don't think that this is the old egg which has now come out but I text the vet and update her. I decide to take R2 back in for another X-Ray to see if anything has changed. She is behaving no different, if anything is quite happy. She is standing well now but can only walk forward and constantly tips over her food and water bowl.
27th November
We have gone back to the vet and taken another x-ray. It is exactly the same - the old egg is still there! We talk about how the Suprelorin implant can cause oestrus and ovulation in dogs. This hasn't been well studied in chickens unfortunately, but we believe this is what has occurred. So the big elephant in the room though is......... How did it get laid past the other egg? I believe my suspicions about the egg being in the intestines and not in the oviduct anymore could be correct. It is possible to still move poop (as it is soft) past an old cracked egg shell, BUT is is also possible to potentially push a soft egg past an old egg in the oviduct. Which is more likely do you think? In any case, we should now have up to 12 months without new eggs forming and this gives R2 the best possible chance of living out her short and hopefully now uneventful, happy life.
30 November
References
1. Espinosa RA. Egg-Bound or Impacted Oviducts in Poultry 2019 [Available from: https://www.msdvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/egg-bound-or-impacted-oviducts-in-poultry?query=egg bound
2. Hoppes SM. Reproductive Diseases of Pet Birds 2015 [Available from: https://www.msdvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds/reproductive-diseases-of-pet-birds?query=egg bound.
3. BARVETS. How to deal with egg binding in birds 2017 [Available from: https://barvets.com/egg-binding/.
4. The Majestic Monthly. Obturator Paralysis 2020 [Available from: http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/mmissue72.htm#:~:text=Obturator Paralysis occurs when an,just inside the pelvic canal.&text=Obturator Paralysis is more common,or who lay abnormal eggs.
5. Poultrydvm. Meloxicam 2020 [Available from: http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/meloxicam.
6. Shannon L, Cox SK, Bailey J, Fortner C, Davis R, Gerhardt L, Souza MJ. Pharmacokinetics and Drug Residue in Eggs After Multiple-Day Oral Dosing of Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid in Domestic Chickens. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery. 2020 Mar;34(1):3-8.
7. Sweetheart Silkies I. Administering Subcutaneous Fluids to Chicken 2014 [Available from:
.
8. Poulton PJ, Fisher AD, Mansell PD, Pyman MF. Clinical findings from 104 cases of calving paralysis in dairy cows from Gippsland, Australia. N Z Vet J. 2019 Jul;67(4):214-218. doi: 10.1080/00480169.2019.1602086. Epub 2019 Apr 25. PMID: 30935292.
Introduction (original article 07/11/20)
I have written this article to share with others after my 2.5 year old ISA brown chicken experienced severe paralysis after becoming egg bound. Having a healthcare background I found it frustrating that the research and management of obturator paralysis articles did not relate to chickens. I hope this helps some of you after my trial and error experiences.
Background
"Rescue 2", yes that's her name, is a chicken that we rescued from a free range egg production facility when she was around 18 months old. She has always been a very happy and friendly chicken with no health issues. I found her laying on the floor under the laying box looking very unhappy and brought her up to the house. I think she may have been unwell most of the day by the time I had found her.
Day 1 - found under the laying box
The examination
I performed a head to tail check on her and couldn’t see any signs of trauma or obvious disease. Her legs and wings moved freely and easily when I gently manipulated them, her gape was clear, crop was soft, and she had no signs of parasites or offensive smell coming from anywhere. Initially I suspected she may have eaten something bad as my chickens free range and occasionally find yucky things to eat, or had coccidiosis, but after checking her vent and palpating the abdomen I could feel there was a large egg sitting about 1 – 2 inches down inside her cloaca through a thin membrane.
I have read that if a hen ‘hangs on’ to an egg instead of laying it, occasionally it can move and get lodged within their intestines (1, 2). This is a little different to the usual egg-binding in chickens and may need to be managed differently. I believe my hen had hung onto her egg as the nest boxes were full that day and I had an unusual amount of broody chickens, this can cause environmental stress which may make a hen egg-bound (3).
What is does Egg Bound usually mean?
When a chicken normally becomes egg bound it usually occurs because the egg is soft, larger than usual or malformed, which results in it rotating at a slower-than-normal rate down the oviduct. This happens quite often to young chickens and new layers. The result is an egg that can remain pressed against the obturator nerve (which runs just inside the pelvic canal) for a longer than normal period of time, which leaves the bird basically paralysed until the egg moves further along the oviduct, at which point the symptoms are relieved and the legs can move normally again (when all goes well) (4). This is called Obturator Paralysis and I will talk more about this further down in the article.
The usual treatment for being Egg Bound
After doing the usual Google and medical vet book searches (and of course BackYard Chicken searches!) I decided to manage her conservatively for the first 24 hours hoping she may try pass the egg herself. I used warm water baths every two hours with Epsom salts. Both of which are meant to assist with relaxing the muscles around the egg. I also gave her crushed up calcium after splitting up a human calcium tablet. The calcium is meant to help aid contractions of the oviduct to push the egg along. The use of Epsom’s salts and calcium seem to contradict each other, but anyways…we gave it a go and nothing happened.
By day two I was very concerned and she had become very lethargic, would not eat or move and I knew we had to intervene or would most likely lose her. After checking again, the egg had not moved at all and I had tried everything from gentle massage and manipulation of the egg to additional lubrication and warm water baths. She was given more calcium, and I had also given her subcutaneous fluids as she was getting dehydrated. I considered that because of where the egg was now situated inside her body that it was unlikely to now come out on its own.
Decompressing the egg
By this stage my hen was quite exhausted and needed critical help. We decided we would drain the eggs contents, then attempt to decompress the egg and hope that she could then pass it along on her own. We used a large needle (18g) and syringe (20ml) inserted through the side of her belly just under her vent and into the egg. It was very easy to palpate the egg by laying her gently on her side with my partner holding her.
We inserted the needle through the skin and into the egg, the egg was very big and after several full syringes we completely drained it of all its contents. A word of advice when using this technique, do not remove the needle from the egg, but leave the needle inserted into the egg and just detach the syringe from the back of the needle to empty it. Then reattach the needle back to the syringe and keep going.
Once the egg was emptied we applied gentle hand pressure to the outside of the egg through her belly to decompress it. I heard a distinct pop sound when the egg broke. Be careful with the amount of pressure you use as you only want to use as little as possible to decompress the egg. This will ultimately cause bruising which she will need to recover from. We now had a chicken with a broken egg inside her but the relief was quite immediate (for all of us actually!). At this point we gave her more subcutaneous fluids (30mls of normal Saline 0.9% under the skin, divided into two places), pain relief (Meloxicam) and let her rest for the night. We would also start her on some antibiotics (Clavulox) for a few days and make sure she was pooing normally.
Picture 2 - After the Eggventure. Not looking too pleased about it and giving me the stink eye. Although I think this is her usual face. She is a hen with "attitude".
Pain relief, antibiotics and fluid
We used Metacam (Meloxicam) which is excellent in chickens, but I know there are other pain relief options available. I gave her the standard dose of 0.5 – 1mg/kg every 12 - 24 hours (5). Stronger doses from 1 - 2mg/kg are also spoken about in the literature and it appears with Meloxicam it is usual to start with a higher dose for the first 24 hours before halving the dose for the remaining time needed. In hindsight, I think 2mg/kg for the first day, dropping back to 1mg/kg would have been more appropriate. We also used Amoxicillin-Clavulanic acid (Clavulox) antibiotics for a week (125mg twice per day) but this is a little controversial in chickens about whether it actually works or not (6), but again there are other kinds available which would be ok, it just needs to be a decent broad spectrum antibiotic. For my chicken I could tell she was in pain when she would close her eyes and occasionally shiver. She did not develop any signs of infection but had some good bruising under her vent for about a week.
At this point she was still not eating or drinking by herself and we knew we would need to help her along for a while yet. I learnt how to carefully force feed her and also give her oral fluids. I did this for the first 3/4 weeks. Ideally this would be done using a crop needle (which saves a lot of time) which I bought later on, but initially I did this by hand. Chickens are not good eaters when they are in pain, or when they cannot stand and will often refuse to eat by themselves. But they will heal much faster if given a good diet and are force fed to ensure they eat enough. I bought my crop needles and syringe from here https://www.kimani.com.au/collections/crop-needles-feeding-tubes?page=3 (I also bought the 1kg bag of the Passwell handrearing food which has been amazing). You will need at least an 8g size and a proper feeding syringe (I use 50ml size and give her 40mls per feed) as they have a large hole for food to pass through.
Giving fluid to a chicken by subcutaneous injection is very easy, and actually maybe even safer than given by syringe orally. I have included a link to how to do this down in the references, just a note though, it’s much easier to just use a syringe and needle rather than what she shows in the video, but she shows some pretty good technique (7). I used sodium chloride 0.9% (10 – 30mls). Oral fluids should only be given in very small amounts (usually a 1ml syringe) and into the side and back of the mouth, avoiding the trachea (windpipe). Here is a great link to another article which shows how to do this safely. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/ It is very easy to accidently cause aspiration injury by putting water down the trachea, so do not do this if you are unsure. Instead just give a very wet food mix to her and force feed her this sloppy mix.
Recovery
The road to recovery can be slow in a paralysed chicken. Our chicken developed Obturator Paralysis from the egg compressing the nerve for an extended period of time within the oviduct. As I mentioned previously, when I was researching this topic, there really wasn’t much out there about this condition in chickens. There are a articles about ducks (4) and cattle (8), but most do not mention anything about rehabilitation or considerations for egg layers down the track. I am by no means an expert in the matter, but I can offer some ideas and some considerations that may help or be useful for others who are caring for a chicken with this problem which I suspect is more common than we think.
‘Rescue 2’ recovered well from her surgery and we were really pleased that she made it through the first night. We originally thought that we had left it too late as it was almost 3 days by the time we acted and decompressed the egg. She was pretty much paralysed and just laid flat inside the clothes basket for the first few days. I just gave her sub cut fluids and force fed her wet chicken food during this time. No fancy food and just good quality chicken pellets that had been reduced to mush by a little warm water. You can see me feeding her here
By the end of the first week she had some good control back over her wings, and by the second week her tail was starting to come up. In the third week she began to sit and squat. At the fourth week we had a chicken that was trying to take a step here or there and was rocking backward and forward like a seesaw!
Week 3 picture - such a cutie
Once she could stand to some extent we started putting her out on the grass for a couple of hours a day to encourage her to feel the sun and stretch and preen. I didn’t want to do this beforehand as she could overheat if left alone. You’ll know she is overheated by her panting with her mouth open. (They also do this when they are stressed). Some chickens (like mine) will not eat unless they are able to stand so if your chicken is like this, you may want to try a semi-sling for an hour or so to see if she will eat herself if upright. If you're in this situation with your chook, I would strongly encourage you to closely monitor her food during this time (weigh it if you have to) and supplement this.
Considerations for the future – 4 weeks later
As I sit here watching her out the window under the shady tree she is standing up and taking an occasional step, stretching and then sitting again, I am wondering about her future. Once she is back to supporting her own body weight and eating herself I was going to consider her gradual reintroduction back to the flock. I know I will need to be careful though, she will still need special monitoring and care for a month or so.
‘Rescue 2’ is a lovely bird and I have grown very fond of her but unfortunately she will most likely have a fairly short lifespan. Being an ISA brown we know that these chickens are highly modified with their breeding to be docile and good egg layers, but at the expense of longevity.
In all reality she was most likely at the end of her egg laying career when we rescued her and becoming egg bound is probably a sign of further health problems to come. If she is to have a longer life, a consideration could be given to getting an implant for her so she doesn’t produce eggs anymore. This is done within Australia where I live but isn’t cheap. If we don’t do this then at the very least we need to be hypervigilant about watching for her next egg and ensuring that she has less stress to be able to lay in future. I did read that in a parrot it took almost a month for the old egg to pass! We haven't seen any sign of it yet, but her bowel is working sensationally so I am not too worried. I really don’t want her to suffer needlessly and want to give her every chance to go on and have as much of a life as she can.
Conclusion (OLD - Updates follow)
Obturator paralysis is most likely more common than we think in egg bound chickens with many chickens dying before they manage to free their bound egg. The pressure from the egg on the nerve within the oviduct can produce paralysis which can last for at least a month or more in my case. The care of a chicken with paralysis will often be time consuming, but not difficult, with pain relief, fluid therapy, force feeding and lots of rest required. Once the chicken can stand, normal eating usually recommences and the chicken will most likely make a good recovery.
Updates
9th November (4 weeks 3 days)
Today we started allowing contact with her friend "Rescue 1 (R1)". At first this was under the protection of a clothes basket as R1 was pecking her to get at her food. As she gets stronger we will start increasing the time and exposure. She attempts to get upright but can't stand with straight legs so is still squatting. Still no sign of any old egg that has come out and we look every day. Her general health is good, but perhaps a little depressed? Food intake is not great. Having the other chicken around seems to make her more interested in food.
19th November (almost 6 weeks) We are getting the implant!
Things are going really well. She has daily visits from R1 who keeps her company. She still sleeps separate to everyone else and I keep her in the laundry. I monitor her daily intake and also give her supplementary crop feeds to try regain a little lost weight. She is now trying to waddle unsuccessfully on her haunches everywhere. She is still unable to stand on straight legs yet, but is trying to still get around and is enjoying being more mobile. I have been in contact with the local vets who have sourced an implant for her. It's going to cost me around $300 for the visit (consult, x-ray and implant). I'm feeling more positive that she is going to make a good recovery and will return to walking.
22nd November (6 weeks 4 days)
It's amazing in just a few days how things are quickly improving. Today she stood properly with straight legs for the first time. For the last few days she has been trying to waddle around and flapping a lot. Now she has the ability to be more upright I think she will begin walking a little more normally. She is still tired a lot of the time and it must be exhausting! Still no egg, but she doesn't seem to be in pain and is eating quite well. I am still comp feeding her occasionally.
Vet visit - 22nd November
Today we went to visit the vet. She wasn't an avian vet but was still able to provide general assistance with her care. She took an x-ray and we saw that the egg is still insider her! It looks like one half has slipped inside the other and when she did an internal exam, she said that she could still feel the egg there (BEHIND THE MEMBRANE). She is at a loss really about what to do as she is not convinced about where the eggs location is - in her intestines, or in the oviduct. We can put her under a general anaesthetic and try remove the egg shell, but if it's in the intestines she may not be able to get to it, or even be able to remove all of it anyway. Another option is to go to a bird specialist (in Sydney, 3 hour drive) and then do some type of surgery (I'm not sure if they do a form of endoscopy like in humans) to remove it. In any case, she will need the implant to stop having more eggs as she most likely has a scarred reproductive tract and reproductive problems.
We choose to have the implant and manage her conservatively which has worked so far. She has been improving in her walking everyday, so I am hesitant to be more invasive if the egg is causing her no troubles. But we will need to stop her from trying to have more eggs!
23rd November - There's an EGG!!!
Ok, so I woke up this morning to the usual, R2 happily in the laundry waiting for me to pop her outside into the big bad world, but as I go to pick her up I discover an egg shell on the floor! It's soft shelled, broken in several places, and I can't find any egg yolk, did she eat it? I'm totally perplexed and decide to do a bit more digging about the Suprelorin implant. I discover that it can bring on ovulation in females and that it can be used to induce a heat in dogs. They do this and then mate the dog (then remove the implant). So it seems that the implant has brought on an ovulation in R2. I don't think that this is the old egg which has now come out but I text the vet and update her. I decide to take R2 back in for another X-Ray to see if anything has changed. She is behaving no different, if anything is quite happy. She is standing well now but can only walk forward and constantly tips over her food and water bowl.
27th November
We have gone back to the vet and taken another x-ray. It is exactly the same - the old egg is still there! We talk about how the Suprelorin implant can cause oestrus and ovulation in dogs. This hasn't been well studied in chickens unfortunately, but we believe this is what has occurred. So the big elephant in the room though is......... How did it get laid past the other egg? I believe my suspicions about the egg being in the intestines and not in the oviduct anymore could be correct. It is possible to still move poop (as it is soft) past an old cracked egg shell, BUT is is also possible to potentially push a soft egg past an old egg in the oviduct. Which is more likely do you think? In any case, we should now have up to 12 months without new eggs forming and this gives R2 the best possible chance of living out her short and hopefully now uneventful, happy life.
30 November
References
1. Espinosa RA. Egg-Bound or Impacted Oviducts in Poultry 2019 [Available from: https://www.msdvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/egg-bound-or-impacted-oviducts-in-poultry?query=egg bound
2. Hoppes SM. Reproductive Diseases of Pet Birds 2015 [Available from: https://www.msdvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds/reproductive-diseases-of-pet-birds?query=egg bound.
3. BARVETS. How to deal with egg binding in birds 2017 [Available from: https://barvets.com/egg-binding/.
4. The Majestic Monthly. Obturator Paralysis 2020 [Available from: http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/mmissue72.htm#:~:text=Obturator Paralysis occurs when an,just inside the pelvic canal.&text=Obturator Paralysis is more common,or who lay abnormal eggs.
5. Poultrydvm. Meloxicam 2020 [Available from: http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/meloxicam.
6. Shannon L, Cox SK, Bailey J, Fortner C, Davis R, Gerhardt L, Souza MJ. Pharmacokinetics and Drug Residue in Eggs After Multiple-Day Oral Dosing of Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid in Domestic Chickens. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery. 2020 Mar;34(1):3-8.
7. Sweetheart Silkies I. Administering Subcutaneous Fluids to Chicken 2014 [Available from:
8. Poulton PJ, Fisher AD, Mansell PD, Pyman MF. Clinical findings from 104 cases of calving paralysis in dairy cows from Gippsland, Australia. N Z Vet J. 2019 Jul;67(4):214-218. doi: 10.1080/00480169.2019.1602086. Epub 2019 Apr 25. PMID: 30935292.
