Egg bound? HELP!

[fyrwmn]

I just let our chickens out of the coop and found one of the hens off to the side, lying under a bush. Upon closer exam, I noticed her rear end feathers are broken off, lots of bare skin exposed. Her vent area is deep dark red and pulsating... looks like a really bad case of Hemorrhoids. I immediatly thought "egg bound". But I know virtually nothing about it. I quickly came in and started reading everything that I could here on this site and others. I tried to wash her, soak her in warm water and gloved up and did an internal. Every time I put my finger in, a gush of yellowish, clearish, greenish fluid would squirt out. I can not feel an egg. I palpated her abdomen and cannot feel anything unusual. She is obvioulsy in distress and when I left to come in here and post.. she stumbled back under the shrub.


We only have 2 chickens...(and 5 guinea hens) - one chicken we believe is too old to be a layer. This hen ( A Rhode Island red) is young and about 3 week ago was laying some really large eggs.. then she stopped laying. ( we have not seen an egg in the coop for several weeks) ..

Any thoughts? I am about to set up a heated box for her to rest in tonight.. but since I can't feel an egg- could she be bound?

 

[beakkeeper]

Since a lot of feathers are missing, maybe she received some sort of trauma to that area. I think it may be infected, too. Since you can't feel an egg, I don't think it's a blocked vent or anything.

Hope she makes it!!!!!!

 

[dlhunicorn]

Keep her separate and stabilize with electrolytes if you notice her panting or suspect she is drinking insufficienty. before you go and "do an internal" please try all the other measures first. My personal take on that is that unless you know exactly what you are doing by going in and feeling around you can complicate matters more than help.
You can also give a crushed TUM ... (it wont hurt if it does not help) ....

 

[92caddy]

The stuff coming out of her maybe from an egg that was a soft shell and broke and that maybe the yoke and all coming out. If so, you need to get that out of her. I used my bare finger when I had to do it, I could feel alot better then when I had a glove on..................Good luck............

 

[sammi]

you say "looks like a bad case of Hemorrhoids"
could she have a prolapse?
and the others have pecked her?
clean area with saline..

you say she was "lying" under a bush..do you mean sitting or laying on her side?

give her the electrolytes..give by drops on beak if necessary..asap.
keep her somewhere safe with electrolyte water and feed close by..

she may need an antibiotic..Penicillin-G procaine..

 

[Jenski]

dlhunicorn and sammi, by the description of the fluid coming out, is it possible there could be infection setting in? How do you tell when it's time to bring out the antibiotics?


Jen in TN

 

[fyrwmn]

Thank you all for your help

From all my readings I think what she had was a shell-less egg... that she couldn't expell.

Despite everything, she died this morning

I'm gonna def up the calcium in the feed from now on and keep a better eye out for trouble

thanks again for all the input and well wishes.. greatly appreciated