Egg Bound and Failing

[ChickenAsylum]

My 3-year old Wyandotte has what I believe are 2 large eggs in her lower abdomen. I have had her in the house and keeping her warm for a week. I had found her crouching in a corner of the coop. She was eating and drinking fairly well until yesterday. I have tried the warm baths. I have tried manipulating one ot the eggs up toward her vent. She strained and strained, but nothing. I tried inserting a gloved, oiled finger, but I don't know what I am doing and afraid of causing damage. She has been ill off and on since I have had her, but has come out of it, sometimes with antibiotics. I suspect this has been the problem all along. I have someone who occasionally lays duck-sized eggs. I am guessing it is her. I think maybe her muscles are shot. What I want is to help her without causing unnecessary suffering or to know if I should let her continue to fail and pass.

 

[ChickenAsylum]

I gave her another warm bath and put her on a heating pad with a damp towel last night. She is still trying to pass to eggs. I swear I feel 3 in there. She is hanging in there, but very emaciated. I guess all I can do is keep her as comfortable as possible and hope she passes peacefully.

 

[bobbi-j]

Or, you could do the kindest thing for the bird and put her down so she's no longer suffering... Sometimes the hardest decisions for us are the kindest ones for our animals.

 

[AlicesSilkies]

I would take her to the vets, and have her put to sleep, I know its sooo hard!! But it is better that she isnt in pain anymore.
So sorry about this, feel awful for you.
Hope everything goes ok.

 

[semillion2]

I have recently lost my hen to being egg bound I tried for hours to save her. I tried the warm bath method soaking her behind and massage. This morning I read a brief, extremely brief comment that stated that "Liquid Calcuim for egg bound Chickens" and that was all it said. "What I would like to know is "Liquid Calcuim" a before preventive method or is it something you adminster when they are egg bound?" Also, I would like to have a First Aid kit for my Chickens, however, I do not want to have items in the kit that are not going to save a Chicken, ie from being Egg bound, impacted gullet and all the other nasties they can get......"What would people recommend?"

 

[ChickenAsylum]

I will research the most humane method of euthanizing a chicken. I have kept her warm and made her oats, yogurt and nutri-drench, but I now realize I have allowed her to suffer too much. I never expected her to live this long in her condition. I have not located a vet that will work with chickens in my area. Thank you for your encouragement to do the right thing, Bobby-J and AlicesSilkies.

Semillion2 - I saw a very comprehensive first aid kit list on here at one time. I am sure it is still there. We may need to research other specific items to add for preventions. I think I saw the liquid calcium comment as well, but I did not follow through.

I have never experienced an impacted crop, only severe widespread sour crop. The first spring I had young pullets, I allowed them to graze all day every day on the lush spring grass. I am sure that is what caused it. The grass was not clearing out from one day to the next. I know some people will flip about my remedy, but it cured them and I didn't lose any of them. I fed them a mixture of yogurt, rolled oats, olive oil, garlic powder, red wine vinegar, a few multivitamin granules. It smells horrendous, but they loooove it. I fed it daily until they were well (about a week) then I fed it weekly or every other week for good measure. I stopped doing it when I read about the yogurt controversy. (I now add pro-biotic to their feed.) I am not sure I should have stopped giving it to them. Now that I think of it, I think I had fewer health issues then.

 

[chefchick]

I am sorry you are going through this, but from what I have read, even if she passes the egg and recovers, she will most surely become eggbound again, unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars to have her "spayed"...and that is if you can find a vet that sees chickens. As hard as it is, I would put her down as quickly as possible. If you can't do it yourself, find someone who will do it for you. I had to cull one of my quail babies myself because dh wasn't home. It was awful, but I knew that it was the right thing, and part of being a responsible animal owner.

 

[ChickenAsylum]

I let Bianca go last night. I shouldn't have waited so long. I used the CO2 method explained in this website: http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/index.php. She was very weak and went quickly.

Today I found the courage to open her vent to see if I could tell why those eggs couldn't come out. What I found was a smelly egg the consistency of a hard boiled egg with no hard shell. It was never going to budge. I didn't go any further, but as I said before, I believe I felt 2 or 3 eggs total in that lower abdomen. She was able to get small poops out.

Thank you to all who took the time to respond to my thread, and those who took the time to view it as well. It's good to have each other from which to learn.

 

[sunflowerfarms]

Aww... :/ Sorry about that!!! Why don't people like yogurt for chickens?

 

[casportpony]

I let Bianca go last night.  I shouldn't have waited so long.  I used the CO2 method explained in this website:  http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/index.php.  She was very weak and went quickly.

Today I found the courage to open her vent to see if I could tell why those eggs couldn't come out.  What I found was a smelly egg the consistency of a hard boiled egg with no hard shell.  It was never going to budge.  I didn't go any further, but as I said before, I believe I felt 2 or 3 eggs total in that lower abdomen.  She was able to get small poops out.

Thank you to all who took the time to respond to my thread, and those who took the time to view it as well.  It's good to have each other from which to learn.

I'm sorry for your loss and would like to thank you for having the courage to end her suffering and for doing the necropsy. I believe it's posts like yours that people can really learn something from. Thanks again, your story will be a reference for me.