Egg bound ? (48+ hours) but able to poop?

[desertsunshine]

Newbie here, freaking out and need some help / advice please. Sorry if this is long just want to cover everything.

I’m a little over a year into raising chickens, so this is my first encounter with what I think is a hen being egg bound.

The day before yesterday (Friday, May 2nd) I noticed one hen was just sitting under the stairs of the coop, but didn’t think much of it. When I went to tuck them all in for the night I realized she was still there and seemed lethargic and seemed to have just been laying there and pooping (diarrhea) onto her lower feathers. My first thought was egg bound maybe, but wasn’t sure so I brought her in (she didn’t put up a fuss at all, definitely lethargic). Gave her an Epsom salt soak and a blow dry and took her back out and into the coop because I thought it might be better for her.

The next morning while everyone else was out and about starting to eat at sunrise, she stayed in the coop. I kept an eye on her and she later came out and drank a little water, but was still very lethargic, not moving beyond that, not eating, closing her eyes most of the time, hunched with her tail down, and still had diarrhea.

Again, thinking egg bound, I brought her back inside and set up an open container for her to stay in between soaks, which she seems to enjoy while she’s in there. She wasn’t eating, drinking, or pooping anymore. I offered water with electrolytes, water with a little molasses, regular feed, and a scrambled egg with the shell (I live half an hour outside the nearest town and no Tums or I would have tried that.) She wasn’t going for any of it.

She seems puffy and swollen below vent, I tried massaging gently downwards towards vent and she seems uncomfortable with the added pressure.

Not sure if I could or could not feel an egg externally, I finally used a syringe to insert some olive oil into her vent and then decided to glove up because I was starting to get really worried if she was egg bound and it didn’t come out soon she wouldn’t make it.

When I did I could definitely feel a hard egg above my finger, but covered in thick membrane. Like I could wrap my pointer finger around the end of the egg (with my finger up in a cone here kind of motion) and pull it towards the vent a bit, but it’s like it wasn’t directly in the vent, I could move my finger around it, but only touching it through thick membrane. But moving it around a little seemed to allow for some poop to come out, which seemed to relieve her a bit.

But I really wasn’t very hopeful that she’d make it through the night at this point.

This morning I was surprised. She seemed more alert and awake when I came in at sunrise and she was eating the scrambled egg with the shell that I had made her the day before. She finished that and started eating some of the regular feed so I went to make her another scrambled egg. She still wasn’t drinking. But her comb was looking more red and she just seemed better. She pooped a few times right after eating. The first was one kind of thin long pellet with a lot of liquid that came out, the next two were little piles of multiple pellets. I was so glad to see her eating and able to poop on her own I thought for sure she’d pass the egg this morning after that, but didn’t. She seemed to get very sleepy again after eating and went back to hunched sleeping, no more pooping and has stayed like that through today.

Decided to give her another soak right now and as soon as I got her out she had a big liquidy but chunky poop (sorry), and then one more about 20 minutes later.

So I’m so confused. Is she egg bound if she can still poop right now? Why was she able to only dribble liquid poop before, but can now do the little tuck squat and have a normal looking poop? She’s been inside so I know she hasn’t passed the egg I felt. It’s been almost 48 hour since I gave her the first Epsom salt soak, but I don’t know maybe 56 hours since I first noticed her isolation and lethargic.

Any insight or advice? Egg bound or something else? Thanks in advance

Her tail feathers right before I first brought her in (she’s on her side so I could keep her from flapping to get a picture and being her in)

 

[desertsunshine]

Update: she doesn’t seem interested in eating today and has started doing a lot of repeated “gaping.” At this point, I’m assuming I’m just making her as comfortable as possible until it’s time for her to pass or euthanizing if that seems better.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

I'm really sorry.

 

[desertsunshine]

I'm really sorry.

Thanks for the help and the care

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update: she doesn’t seem interested in eating today and has started doing a lot of repeated “gaping.” At this point, I’m assuming I’m just making her as comfortable as possible until it’s time for her to pass or euthanizing if that seems better.

If she can eat/drink on her own and she's not getting picked at by her flock, I'd put her with them.

Treat her symptoms by just pulling her aside a few times a day if necessary.

Gaping can be from a lot of things. If she has fluid in the belly this can cause some respiratory distress.
If the crop is not emptying or full, this can cause some gurgling or gaping, especially if handled and the crop is pressed.
Hens with fluid in the abdomen, take care when lifting and holding them, it causes quite a bit of stress and they can struggle breathing for a period of time afterward. Hold them with a hand giving good support to the abdomen below the vent between the legs and move them quickly to a table or whatever area you are planning on examining. They do best to be able to stand on their own during an examination. I prefer to have may table (outside) already set up and just quickly move the hen to the table if needed.

Hopefully she's stopped gaping by now. If she hasn't then she may benefit from being drained. This can be risky and sometimes a hen may get an infection from the needle stick, sometimes they can go into shock or cardiac arrest, sometimes the draining causes more stress and sometimes it's very helpful giving them relief for a period of time. It's something to read up on, watch some videos and determine if it's what you want to do. Like everything there's pros/cons. While draining is not a cure, it can sometimes help with quality of life.