Egg bound hen can still poop? Emergency?

[Peas_And_Choi_Farm]

Hi all,

Yesterday I checked my nesting boxes and found one of my hens mid-lay, as in the egg was just bare staring to portrude from her vent. She got out of the nest box, and squatted for several minutes while she wandered around the run. I tried to encourage her back to her nesting box with no luck; she just got more and more agitated.

I isolated her, tried warm washcloth compress with abdominal masssge and lube but we couldn’t get the egg out (it had gone further back in). My mom who was helping said it almost felt crosswise and she tried to turn it. Gave her 1/3 of a 750 mg tums, a dropper full of nutri drench and lay pellets. Started her in some leftover antibiotics (we’d had several hens of the same age and breed with salpangitis, so had some on hand)

This morning still no egg, but she had definitely pooped. She’s eating and drinking as well.

Could she be egg bound? How much of an emergency is it if she’s still pooping? Any advice on what I can do to help her? Any idea how long it would be before she’s in the danger zone?

Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Give her 1 Caltrate daily for 3-5 days.

Put her back in with the flock.
Hopefully she'll be able to expel the egg. By now it may have reversed and gone into the abdomen, but you don't report her feeling unwell.

Personally, I do not mess with hens that are in the middle of laying an egg.

 

[Peas_And_Choi_Farm]

Give her 1 Caltrate daily for 3-5 days.

Put her back in with the flock.
Hopefully she'll be able to expel the egg. By now it may have reversed and gone into the abdomen, but you don't report her feeling unwell.

Personally, I do not mess with hens that are in the middle of laying an egg.

Thank you so much! Put her back with the rest of the girls for the afternoon. She went and sat in the nesting box for a couple hours, nothing. Separated her again when I locked everyone up for the night. Gave her some calcium (tums, like you said) and soaked her bum in warm water with Epsom salts. Was drying her off when she stood up in my lap and passed her egg! I’ve attached a picture. It’s huge!

some strange things I noticed was that even just before her epsom salt bath, she pooped. I thought they didn’t do that if they were egg bound and that’s why it’s so life threatening, but I could be misunderstanding things.

Hopefully things will improve now; we dried her off, made her a comfy nest of shavings in her indoor/garage pen and warmed up the garage a bit with a space heater so she wouldn’t be chilled tonight.

Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much! Put her back with the rest of the girls for the afternoon. She went and sat in the nesting box for a couple hours, nothing. Separated her again when I locked everyone up for the night. Gave her some calcium (tums, like you said) and soaked her bum in warm water with Epsom salts. Was drying her off when she stood up in my lap and passed her egg! I’ve attached a picture. It’s huge!

some strange things I noticed was that even just before her epsom salt bath, she pooped. I thought they didn’t do that if they were egg bound and that’s why it’s so life threatening, but I could be misunderstanding things.

Hopefully things will improve now; we dried her off, made her a comfy nest of shavings in her indoor/garage pen and warmed up the garage a bit with a space heater so she wouldn’t be chilled tonight.

Thank you!

I'm glad she laid the egg!
Since she was pooping, the egg was not blocking the intestines.

You may find this video informational about the egg laying process - it's very well done.