Does this look like a egg problem? Or?

[Yoda]

If she is free ranging she could've laid eggs anywhere really then you confined her and she stopped laying. I doubt it is an egg issue cause the bird has been this for awhile now and she wouldn't be here today if she had an egg stuck inside her all this time. I would just let her out and back to where she was and watch her. Be sure to place crushed oyster shell in a place she can readily get to it.
I placed the above hen in Ares pen and the first thing she did wqas breed right in front of me so we shall see if she lays eggs.

 

[casportpony]

I had a chicken that had a cloacal deformity, so she couldn't pass her first egg... She lived for many weeks before finally succumbing to EYP. Not saying that's what's going on here, just that they can and do live for a long time with a stuck egg. If anyone is interested, I have necropsy pictures from a few chickens that died this way.

-Kathy

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Hello peapeople,
I'm bumping this thread because Squeaky and I had a veterinary adventure today which might be useful to others.

You may recall that I thought Squeaky might be eggbound last Summer. I tried unsuccessfully to catch her and give her calcium, and then she just seemed OK again, so I stopped worrying.

About a month ago, she started acting listless, standing around with wings drooping, and she started breathing through her beak. She has been listless and having this breathing trouble off and on since then. I finally managed to catch her and take her to the vet today. It turns out that she did have an egg in there last Summer, and it's still in her egg chamber. Not only that, she's been laying other eggs around it. She also had an infection and had a fluid buildup in her abdomen, which was compressing her lungs and giving her the breathing problem.

One option for this was surgery (which I can't afford). Squeaky's wonderful vet drained fluid (over 300 ml!) from her abdomen, gave her cortisone, and I am giving her amoxycillin for the next week. Her vet says that the presence of the egg may work as a contraceptive and keep her from laying, once the infection and fluid problems are solved. She'll always have the egg in there, though.

I'll keep you posted on her progress, in case anything like this ever happens to any of your gals!

 

[casportpony]

Wow, sorry to hear that, hope she gets better. Many people have read that they'll be dead in 48 hours if they have a stuck egg and I keep trying to tell people that they can linger for months. Thanks for posting!

-Kathy

 

[Kristineg40]

How many eggs in total did she have in her?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Well, she does have an egg stuck, but she isn't really what you would call eggbound, because the egg hasn't left the egg chamber so it isn't blocking any passageways. When peas are eggbound they die because they can't poop, right?

I'm not sure how many eggs there are, but they aren't separate eggs - it's the one original egg with other eggs layered around it, like an onion. I looked at the x-ray, it was really interesting!

 

[casportpony]

From what I understand they can die because they have one or more of the following:

• Ascites - Fluid builds up and puts pressure on heart and lungs.
• Inability to poop due to blockage from egg and/or fluid.
• Infection from the egg or from the bowels

Click on this to see what can happen if an egg gets stuck. I think this egg weighed 1 pound!

 

[new 2 pfowl]

I wonder if anyone has an opinion about this?
This is the second morning I've found this under her perch.
(I am waiting for a callback from her vet)



*By the way, Kathy, how do you do that "Warning Graphic Pictures" thing????

 

[casportpony]

I wonder if anyone has an opinion about this?
This is the second morning I've found this under her perch.
(I am waiting for a callback from her vet)



*By the way, Kathy, how do you do that "Warning Graphic Pictures" thing????

Wow, that doesn't look good... I'm no expert, but that looks like blood, which could be from a bacterial infection of the intestines or reproductive tract. Is she still on antibiotics for the egg? When you talk to the vet, ask them if treating for blackhead and/or coccidiosis is something to consider.

I've seen poop like this a couple of times and I'll try to explain it the best I can, so be patient with me, lol. Birds have two types of poop, regular poop, which they do lots of small piles of, just like the one in the lower right-hand part of your picture, and cecal poop, those are the much larger, smellier, darker piles, but they only do those a few times a day... So, is that bloody poop a regular or cecal poop? If it's cecal poop, I would be highly suspicious of blackhead, or maybe even cecal coccidiosis, since that's the part of the intestines that is affected.

To make your pictures hidden you click on the spoiler icon in the too bar that's three to the right of the smiley icon.

-Kathy

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Thank you, Kathy. It definitely looks a bit bloody in person, but it isn't the cecal poop.
She's now on day 5 of 7 of the amoxicilllin.
The vet did tap fluid from her abdomen, which involved putting a needle into her abdomen through both sides of her body, so I wonder if this could be related?
She's really not eating much now, either.

I guess it's kind of a wait and see situation...