From Practical Poultry -
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Quote:Egg bound hens
A hen is said to be egg bound when she fails to lay her egg
This is a common condition, and may result from inflammation of the
oviduct, malformed or double yolker egg, or a too large egg in a young
pullet
The bird seems very restless
She will drink little and eat little
She will tend to stand all hunched up
She visits the nest regularly in an attempt to lay her egg
Hew oviduct may end up protrude due to excessive pushing by her to eject
the egg; internal haemorrhage or exhaustion may occur and the fowl may
die
She may smell badly
Her vent will look quite red and protrude
She may have faecal matter that has built up behind the egg, if you see
white liquid that will be her urates trying to pass (urine in chickens)
Sit her in a tub of warm soapy water
Make sure the vent is submerged for about 30 minutes, this may seem like
a long time, but you have to relax the vent area and make is subtle for
the egg to pass through, it really does help the hen, 85% of the time
this will be all that you will need to do for her and the egg will pass
out with a little push from her
You can rub some lubricant around the vent area if you think that may
help too, KY jelly, petroleum jelly, Vaseline or Olive Oil all work fine.
Make sure you isolate her from the other hens, or they will peck at her
vent causing more damage
Put her into an isolation cage, put plenty of news paper down first and
then put heated towels down they will act like a heat pad for her, no
drafts when she is wet or she will catch a chill
You can heat up towels in your microwave, works a treat
If you have a heat pad that would be even better, put plenty of towels
over it or it will get messy
Leave her for a little while to see if she passes the egg, if not, repeat
the warm water and soap again
Some people just use the heating pads, this sometimes seems to relax the
muscles and allow the egg to slip out
If this doesn?t work, you may have to resort to removing the egg
manually, not a nice task, and she will complain about what you are doing
bitterly, you will need two people to do this task
Using KY jelly, Petroleum jelly or Vaseline, insert your finger in the
vent
With your other hand you can press gently on her abdomen moving the egg
down the oviduct towards the cloaca
Once you can see the egg, if it won?t pass, then rupture the egg and
gently remove all the shell
Some have suggested you use a sharp instrument, I would not recommend
this at all it could result in causing the hen internal injuries
The shell of the egg will be very sharp when broken and could also damage
the chicken internally
Once you have broken the shell, make sure you remove every particle
carefully
The cloaca should then be washed with a weak warm water/salt solution,
this is to make sure all the egg contents and shell has been removed from
inside the hen, if it isn?t it could cause bacteria to start growing
inside her, and then you?ve got an even bigger problem to solve
Once the egg has ejected you will want to keep an eye on her for a while
There may be another egg backed up in her oviduct system, especially if
she lays an egg every day or every other day
Sometimes they absorb the egg, but this is very unlikely and very unusual
If you can?t find the egg and it has gone from the hen, more than likely
she has eaten it shell and all
If it has ruptured inside her, you should look for small pieces of shell,
or evidence of any cuts around the vent area
Just remember while your looking and sticking your finger in places she
would prefer you didn?t, the egg shells can be quite sharp and may cut
you and her
If you do find any cuts around her cloaca, rinse with hydrogen peroxide
Watch her for listlessness, dull eyes, and signs of fever
Infection can come on pretty quick
Keep a close eye on her, this could happen again to her and she will need
immediate action to fix the problem
How to help prevent the hen from laying any more eggs
If there is any small prolapse gently push it back into the chicken with
your fingers.
The chicken should then be put on a maintenance diet of wheat and water
and put in a dark cage.
Leave the hen there for a week.
However, it is important to restrict the chickens diet to maintenance
only for possibly a couple of months. This does work!! Alternative to
maintenance diet is feeding the chicken enough to keep it alive, moving
and keeping warm plus enough extra feed for it to produce eggs.
You may find that by reducing the feed it brings on a forced molt
By reducing feed intake so that the bird has just enough feed to keep it
alive, moving and keeping warm you are feeding for maintenance only. The
chicken will not lay eggs and so give it the best chance of recovery.
rolapse and am following the care advice given.
