Egg bound??? HELP!

[rooaroo]

Ok so here is my messed up hen story...My rooster was wounding two of my hens from mating so I separated them, cared for the wounds, and they are now scabbing. Since that day (4 days ago) one of the hens has not laid an egg. She seemed sleepy and lethargic the second day and had bile looking poop. Third day she was better and acting more like herself and normal poop but kept going in and out of the nesting box with no egg laid. She keeps her tail down. She stands and falls asleep. Her bum seems to pulsate and when I checked her vent her bum was a healthy looking peach skin tone and the vent was clean but also kept pulsating. I didn't know if it was because I was kinda touching around it but when I pushed up into her belly a bit it felt soft and squishy. Today she was back to the sleepy, slow walking hen on day two. I want to know if this means egg bound or if it is stress from the healing of the wound. She is eating, she could be drinking but I haven't caught her. I need to know exactly what to do for an egg bound hen. I don't want to lose her and as I understand she could die from this. Please help. Thank you.

I read warm bath, some say with stuff in it some don't say at all. I read putting oil on the finger and putting it in there but then I read that that was bad and you do not want break the egg and it could hurt the hen. I am freaking out a bit.....

 

[Judy]

A warm bath, like 15-30 minutes, then rest in a darker, quiet spot are pretty universally recommended. I'd probably put a few drops of Dawn in the water, but I think the point is the warmth, to try to get her to relax. It can be hard for them to push out a soft shelled egg, too-- nothing to push against. I've never dealt with this, but I know I would start with the warm bath and quiet, darkened nest type place, probably in my bathtub. If she just kept getting worse I'd probably go with the lubricated finger, just to try to find out what's going on. If you break a hard shelled egg the shell can of course cut them as it passes, but if I were quite sure it wasn't going to pass....

Here are a couple of threads linked on the FAQ page, if you haven't already read them:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=32648&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22308

 

[rooaroo]

Flockwatcher, thank you for always replying. I almost get frustrated asking questions on here because hardly anyone ever has an opinion but I can see many other threads where plenty had to say. I just appreciate you always helping me. I had chicken dreams all night, literally, and that she passed it right in front of me. I wish it were that easy. Do you know how long they can be backed up for before I really need to worry about her? I mean I am but is there a time frame where she could die? The poor girl. I will kick the chicks out of the coop house and lock her in there so it is dark and quiet but I also have the lamps in there so I might leave one on just to give her added warmth and comfort. It's not too hot here yet. Well, wish me luck on giving my CHICKEN a BATH! Who knew, when I first got into chickens I thought this was going to be easy!

 

[MaKettle]

I hope your chicken bath went well!

We had an egg bound hen last year, who died of peritonitis because the egg broke inside of her and her belly got infected. The vet told us that eggs can break inside of hens & sometimes they will get absorbed back in to the hen without a problem. We didn't even know that our hen was sick until unfortunately, she was too far gone.

Her symptoms were vague at first. Not as quick to the front of the run for treats. A little bit standoffish, hanging by herself at the back of the run, tail down. Then, I noticed that she was staying in the coop. By the time we were really clued in to what was happening, she was in obvious distress. We gave her antibiotics and even drained the fluid off of her bum with a needle but she unfortunately passed anyway.

I personally, would not stick my finger in her vent, even though some people will advise it. Just keep an eye on her--she may not be egg bound at all..could just be recovering from her injury. The bath definitely won't hurt her....

 

[Judy]

Flockwatcher, thank you for always replying. I almost get frustrated asking questions on here because hardly anyone ever has an opinion but I can see many other threads where plenty had to say. I just appreciate you always helping me.

You're welcome, but I'm afraid I'm not nearly that good about replying -- and really, most of what I "know" comes from reading here for hours on end. Ma Kettle obviously knows more about this than I, as many, many others on here do. I've collected a bunch of links to answers to a bunch of questions, besides making use of the FAQ page and the stickies.

The thing about this forum is, it's so huge that it's about impossible to ask a question that hasn't already been answered. If you type "advanced search" in the search bar above, you will get a link to a tutorial with lots of hints about searching here, as well as links to some threads on the subject. Maybe this will help.

 

[rooaroo]

I gave her a bath. She took it well. Her bum looks red today. She looks saggy now between her legs. Her belly is still squishy but it feels full and she did not like it when I was massaging. So I just kept her in the warm water for about 30 minutes and then another 15 sitting on my lap on a heating pad and wrapped in the towel. I would have done more today but I had to leave. I am here all day tomorrow. I am going to keep doing rounds of this. I kept her in the coop with the nesting boxes all day and even put a fake egg in just...because...ya know. She bounced from box to box, so she is trying. I feel so bad for her. I am really, really worried. I can't have her die, it is so hard on me and she was from my first set of fuzz balls. She has also become nicer towards me from all of this. I am happy that she is eating and drinking normally and her poo is normal. I just want something egg...anything come out!!!!!

Flockwatcher, you are helpful! I didn't even ever pay attention to the advanced search because I always search and then I just feel like I have things that could be this or that or that because she is doing more than enough things that it could be a number of ailments. I am just hoping someone else has a story just like mine!