Constantly Sick/Eggbound Chicken

[Skyla]

It started about a month ago when one of my four chickens became egg bound. This was my first time dealing with this and after making sure she was we put her in an enclosure when the egg pooped out about an hour later. The next day she seemed fine and I put her back, but later that night she started showing signs. We waited several hours when I decided to giver her one of these epsinsalt baths. It worked great, the egg coming out. She was fine but 2 week later, she again showed signs. Worried since we were about to go on a trip I made an enclosure and an hour later she was fine! We went, and when we came back she was back to normal. It has since been another 2 weeks when I noticed, today, that she was all puffed up again, eyes closed, not moving, and poop watery. Along with this another chicken, was showing the same signs, which has never been sick or eggbound before. I have not made sure that they were both eggbound this time, (by checking their butt) but their showing the same signs as last time when she was. I give them plenty of calcium, even have a separate tray along with whats in the food. They are all able to eat, no bullying, and I can't think of any reason why they are becoming sick and egg bound. The first chicken to get egg bound did become very sick last summer, lasting a week, but has been fine since then. I'm wondering if it's a virus causing this. If you have any ideas it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[azygous]

Some common causes of egg binding are poor nutrition, being fat, lack of exercise, and abnormalities of the reproductive system.

Some hens do not absorb calcium as they should from oyster shell. When I have an egg bound hen, as I did just this afternoon, the first thing I do is give calcium citrate 400mg with D3. This infusion of easily absorbed calcium very often will cause the egg to be expelled.

I gave my patient a ten minute soak in warm water and I blow dried her which gave her body some additional heat. Then I placed her in a crate in the garage and left her to rest quietly. Two hours later, she popped out an egg.

My hen and yours have had repeated bouts of egg binding. This doesn't bode well for either one. It could be an indication there is something going on in the reproductive track, and it's likely to continue to be a problem.

 

[Skyla]

Thank you, I appreciate the information. I will try out some of the things suggested to try to get the egg out. As for the cause, I feel they have great nutrition, they have a pretty big run for 4 hens, and they don't seem over weight. I'm guessing she must have problems with the reproductive track. They are hybrids to have high laying production and i hear it's common for problems to occur when they get older, which mine are about 2 years. I hope the other one that got egg bound is just a one time thing. Thanks again!