Egg Bound Easter Egger

[ckuehn]

I think I have an egg bound Easter Egger hen. In the last month, she started laying (I now assume it was her) huge blue eggs that were kind of thick and grainy with strong shells. These were almost the size of goose eggs and double yolkers and there were about three. Then I thought she went back to normal. Of the free offering oyster shells, she would go over and gobble them up. In the past three days, she has been hunched over. I don't believe she is laying or even pooping. I gave her warm baths the last three days for 20-25 minutes. He crop is hard. I massaged it tonight. Her abdomen is hard and I rubbed that too. I tried to get coconut oil in to her through food, as well as crushed calcium tablets. I had her quarantined a while, but when she got out tonight, she went to her favorite waterer and drank for quite a while. I don't know where it is all going....She has always had access to grit, oyster shells, probiotics in the water, layer feed. I'm not sure what else can be done with her. Any ideas? Please don't say "vet". My vets here are NOT poultry savvy and I use them sparingly (only for stuff I am too queasy to do myself). AND, I have searched through this site looking for other ideas or recommendations. Is there anything else? Ursula is 2.5 years old.

 

[picklestheduck]

Can you post some pictures of the bird? If you put in some rubber gloves and put your finger just inside her vent can you feel the egg? How is she faring this morning?

 

[ckuehn]

Can you post some pictures of the bird? If you put in some rubber gloves and put your finger just inside her vent can you feel the egg? How is she faring this morning?

She just stands kind of hunched over. Her crop is big and round and on the right side of her chest. It is fairly hard. I think her crop is very hard. She is starting to pick at it. I put her oin a heating pad in the nest today.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I am tagging @azygous , who wrote an excellent article about crop disorders. She has instructed byc members how to perform a molasses flush on crops that don't respond to to the procedures you have mentioned doing.

 

[azygous]

Double yolkers often spell trouble for the hen that lays them. Yes, it's almost inevitable, one of these monsters will get stuck eventually.

What kind of calcium is the supplement and what strength? It should be at least 600mg, and it all needs to get into her. This calcium, more than anything, has the potential to help your hen by stimulating strong contractions.

It's crucial that she drink a lot of water as egg binding is dehydrating when it blocks the ceca, which distribute fluids to her body. Is she having a watery white mucous discharge from her vent? If so, it confirms egg binding is her problem.

If she is egg bound , she's in a very bad way with her crop so acutely backed up. It's not going to be possible to help it empty as long as she's blocked by the egg. Have you looked at her vent to see if the egg is pushing its way into the cloaca? Lightly feel around there for something round and hard. No need to stick a finger inside. If it's close enough to feel from inside, it can be felt from the outside. Actually, it's probably better for the hen if you can't feel the egg since she still has a chance to lay it normally if her contractions are strong enough to push it out.

I prefer to give the calcium as a whole tablet. That way I know it has all gotten inside the hen. It's not a problem for the hen to swallow a whole calcium tablet regardless of your doubts. It will quickly dissolve as soon as it hits the crop.

The big problem this hen has is that the crop is not emptying. This means the calcium may not be able to move down through the long digestive tract and then into the intestines where its absorbed into the blood stream. For this reason, an avian vet will inject the calcium into the hen so it gets into the bloodstream quicker. I don't know how you would do this.

Therefore, you will just have to wait and hope for the best. This is a class A medical crisis you have on your hands. If the hen shows signs of shock, nodding off and acting weak, put sugar in her water.

 

[azygous]

I'm thinking that if you can give the hen more calcium, a whole tablet so as not to overfill the crop, then massage the crop and try to get it to empty into the proventriculus, there is a chance that enough of the calcium will be absorbed into the bloodstream to help the hen.

I would try this ASAP.

 

[ckuehn]

Double yolkers often spell trouble for the hen that lays them. Yes, it's almost inevitable, one of these monsters will get stuck eventually.

What kind of calcium is the supplement and what strength? It should be at least 600mg, and it all needs to get into her. This calcium, more than anything, has the potential to help your hen by stimulating strong contractions.

It's crucial that she drink a lot of water as egg binding is dehydrating when it blocks the ceca, which distribute fluids to her body. Is she having a watery white mucous discharge from her vent? If so, it confirms egg binding is her problem.

If she is egg bound , she's in a very bad way with her crop so acutely backed up. It's not going to be possible to help it empty as long as she's blocked by the egg. Have you looked at her vent to see if the egg is pushing its way into the cloaca? Lightly feel around there for something round and hard. No need to stick a finger inside. If it's close enough to feel from inside, it can be felt from the outside. Actually, it's probably better for the hen if you can't feel the egg since she still has a chance to lay it normally if her contractions are strong enough to push it out.

I prefer to give the calcium as a whole tablet. That way I know it has all gotten inside the hen. It's not a problem for the hen to swallow a whole calcium tablet regardless of your doubts. It will quickly dissolve as soon as it hits the crop.

The big problem this hen has is that the crop is not emptying. This means the calcium may not be able to move down through the long digestive tract and then into the intestines where its absorbed into the blood stream. For this reason, an avian vet will inject the calcium into the hen so it gets into the bloodstream quicker. I don't know how you would do this.

Therefore, you will just have to wait and hope for the best. This is a class A medical crisis you have on your hands. If the hen shows signs of shock, nodding off and acting weak, put sugar in her water.

There is nothing coming from her vent. I can feel no egg and she is not a big chicken. I put a tsp of coconut oil and massaged her crop. I don't feel I got enough calcium into her. SHe doesn't act any worse than she did yesterday or the day before. I can;t know when she had her last egg. She drinks water and will eat. I will find more calcium. I doubt that she got enough yesterday. This chicken has laid an egg everyday for the past 2 years. She doesn't molt and she never takes a break, even when the daylight is shorter. She used to be #2 in the 24 chicken pecking order of my group. She is not anymore. There is no avian vet for 250 miles or more (I would guess Minneapolis would be closest to me).

 

[azygous]

What you just reported is a big relief. It means you and the hen have time. Things aren't as critical as I thought.

Get some calcium citrate. It works quickest since it's an easy form of calcium to digest. If you give her one tablet each day for about a week, it might reset her ovulation cycle to release just a single yolk. Calcium can work to reset other functions of the reproductive system, so it's worth a try to see if it will work on double yolks.

This is the calcium I use.

 

[ckuehn]

Thanks. I will get some tomorrow. I live 20 miles from the nearest town. She eats a lot of oyster shells. I also give them the eggshells back and they eat those. I gave her a 3/4 tablet of tums tonight I (all I have here right now). I think it is about 700 mg calcium because a whole is 1000 mg. She did actually poop a little (probably due to the tsp of coconut oil). She is very sick of me. LOL. Everyone else loves that I come out to the coop every hour. Big party.

 

[ckuehn]

Ursula is still alive. Her crop feels hard and I put another tsp of coconut oil down her and massaged it gently upward. It goes away. My husband said he saw her in the nest today (although he gets Marilyn and Ursula confused). I don't think she laid anything. One of my Australorps is laying eggs so paper thin they get broken everyday (although they have oystershells at all times to supplement their calcium). Winters are hell here. They haven't been outside for 4 or five days and everyone gets on each other's nerves and I do have a lot more medical issues when they are not happy.