Egg Binding Cures: Making sure I tried everything

[624444]

Yesterday one of my hens had an impacted crop. I dealt with it like I usually do, and have been able to cure them every time.
That same day, around 12 pm, she began to act like herself and went into the hen house to lay...However, she did not lay. Later that evening she began to sit around. I continued to treat her for the impacted crop.

This morning, the same hen had a 90% empty crop, minus a tiny little bit of grass/feed/etc. I continued to treat her for the impacted crop, but soon realized that she was egg-bound. I came to this conclusion, due to the fact that she was sitting around, only drinking water, and had her vent feathers hanging low.

So, I started to treat her for egg binding too. I gave her nutridrench, calcium supplements, olive oil, diluted apple cigar vinegar, yogurt, and massaged her vent/felt inside her vent a few times.

Her crop is still full of the liquid I have been giving throughout the day....She was only drinking, up until now, when she was walking around (sitting down at different intervals) and I gave her a bit of banana.

Is there anything else I can do? Or is it just a waiting game now?

She has walked around for a little bit, pecked the ground and such....

 

[azygous]

Even if you aren't able to match an egg in a nest with the hen that laid it, let the behavior of the hen you are concerned about guide you.

A hen that is having egg binding issues will be behaving very unwell. If a hen that was egg bound succeeded in passing the troublesome egg, she may not bounce back to her normal behavior. It's possible, in fact common, for a stuck egg to be immediately followed by a second egg, usually one without a shell.

Shell-less eggs are more likely to get hung up and even to collapse inside the hen. This is important reason to monitor a hen closely after she may have passed one stuck egg. If you see your hen continue to act unwell, this may be the reason for it. If a second egg is expelled with membrane and yolk broken, it's absolutely imperative to get her started on an antibiotic.

 

[azygous]

Don't place too much significance on the poop appearance. Behavior will be a better guide.

Poop can give us small clues in itself, such as if it's very watery with green chunks in it, very watery, brown and very smelly, very watery and mostly clear, or very scant and small. But as long as a hen is behaving normally, even these poop signs can be nothing more than a transient phenomenon.

A chicken that has lost a lot of weight will quickly regain it once they recover. A few months ago, I thought I had a two-year old Golden sex-link that was about to die. Her comb went so pale it looked like spoiled lunch meat, and she became so emaciated, I doubt she weighed even a pound, just skin and bones. She recovered and is now back to her fighting weight of around four pounds. It didn't take her long once she got her appetite back.

I have another hen currently that is normally petite, and she's now in the process of regaining her appetite and weight. As your hen becomes stronger, her appetite will gradually improve, and the weight will come back on. But you can get her headed in the right direction with special feedings of tofu, egg, fish, and other high protein foods. Poultry Nutri-drench is an important aid in getting a hen's strength to return, as well.

 

[azygous]

Try giving her the Tums straight into her beak without diluting it. If she is eggbound, she needs a heavy infusion of calcium. I prefer calcium citrate form in cases if reproductive emergency because it's absorbed much faster than other forms, Tums being calcium carbonate and not as quickly absorbed. She needs access to plenty of plain, fresh water. Skip the ACV for now. Offer her food as she will eat it.

Give one tablet of calcium each day until this resolves. I usually continue beyond the egg(s) being expelled until I see the shells are normal quality.

If she's had eggs break inside her in the past and not had a round of antibiotic to clear any infection from the yolk, she may now have a chronic reproductive tract infection. If this is the case, she wouldn't very likely

be improving

 

[azygous]

Here is @Eggcessive 's recommendations for penicillin. She's one of our dependable sources here. She will correct this if not right, I trust.


"There are some links by Natalie Ross that state that dosage is 0.1 ml for any size chicken once a day for 4 days. Others insist on giving more, and since procaine penicillin fairly safe, it is frequently recommended to give 1/4 to 1/2 ml daily. But 1/10 or 0.1 ml will work. It should be given into a muscle 1/4 inch."

Give the injection into the breast muscle as there is less chance of hitting a vein there. But vary the injection site each time.

 

[624444]

Here is @Eggcessive 's recommendations for penicillin. She's one of our dependable sources here. She will correct this if not right, I trust.


"There are some links by Natalie Ross that state that dosage is 0.1 ml for any size chicken once a day for 4 days. Others insist on giving more, and since procaine penicillin fairly safe, it is frequently recommended to give 1/4 to 1/2 ml daily. But 1/10 or 0.1 ml will work. It should be given into a muscle 1/4 inch."

Give the injection into the breast muscle as there is less chance of hitting a vein there. But vary the injection site each time.

Thank again for everything @azygous!!

I will administer the penicillin for four days at the dose recommended by @Eggcessive

Have a great week, and thank you so much for taking the time to help me talk this problem out!!

 

[azygous]

Baytril is a good one, but you may need a prescription from a vet. There are many online sources for antibiotics, and many don't require a prescription unless you're from California or one or two other north-western states that also require prescriptions for all antibiotics purchased by residents of those states.

 

[azygous]

You don't need to keep a lot of different antibiotics on hand, a broad spectrum antibiotic will be sufficient. I go to another antibiotic from there if it appears the current one is not producing results. My go-to antibiotic is amoxicillin which is broadly available online without a prescription unless you are a California resident.

Tailoring an antibiotic to a specific bacteria can be done, but it requires knowing what bacteria you are trying to target and whether it's gram positive or gram negative. Then you would search for an antibiotic that targets either of those types of bacteria. That can sometimes be a very effective way of getting a chicken to recover that isn't responding to a broad spectrum med.

 

[azygous]

Amoxy is amoxy. I've used leftover human amoxy prescriptions as well as purchased fish amoxy. The dosage is what's important to get right, which is 250mg per day for seven to ten days.

 

[azygous]

Yes. It's in the same drug catagory as amoxy.