Egg Bound Hen ***UPDATE POST 30***

[NoSkiveez]

My Cuckoo Marans Pullet is 5.5 months old and has not yet laid an egg. Earlier she began acting funny. Was sleeping with the younger birds. I didn't think too much about it. Hubby went out to check on the chickens and threw some goodies out to them and she didn't go after any. He stood her up and she fell over. He brought her to the porch and I looked at her and thought she looked like she'd been jumped by a rooster and was probably upset by it. So I decided she would stay on the porch. 10 minutes later she is breathing hard and laying on her side with her legs out straight. She would lay motionless then go into "fit" mode, flap around and back to the way she was. Her vent area hot and Is puckered outwards. I used a gloved finger and could feel a rather large egg and she was able to pass a large amount of waste when I did this. The egg feels as if its about 1 inch inside the opening.

I have her in a dog crate covered in blankets with a himidifier and heat lamp on her. I read keeping her temp between 90-100° and increased humidity will help but I'm not finding much else helpful info.


What can I do to help her? I really don't want to put her down.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I haven't had an eggbound hen for a while, but I usually give them a nice warm bath, massage the rear a bit and sometimes lubricate the vent with vaseline or olive oil to help ease the egg out.
You'll want to keep her in a warm quiet place afterwards and give her some electrolites and plenty of water and good food .

It usually worked for me. Hope it works for your hen.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Agreed. They like a blow dry on low to dry off with as well.

I haven't done it myself, but have read of people having good luck with placing the hen in a steamy bathroom too. It seems to be a favored treatment for birds that aren't used to being handled and won't tolerate the bath. Either way the lube is important as it not only lubes the passage it also softens the tissue around it which will also make it more likely she'll be able to pass the egg. Poor baby!

 

[NoSkiveez]

She made it thru the night. Its surprised me. She's sitting up now. So bath it is.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

I just had an eggbound 8 month old pullet episode last Sunday night. With BYC advice, I steamed up the bathroom, put her in a dog carrier with a soft towel, and in less than an hour she layed two soft, membrane covered eggs. Since then, she's layed two normal eggs. Hope it's over.

 

[NoSkiveez]

She's just come out of the bath. I kept her in as long as I could. I even changed water as she was straining and eliminated in the water and I want to keep her clean as possible. The egg can be felt. Its a soft shell. I felt it "give" when I checked her. I have a himidifier in the crate with her and a heat lamp. Our hot water doesn't get hot enough to steam the bathroom. I really hope she pulls thru this. Atleast she isn't sprawled out like she was last night.

I'm syringe feeding her very diluted "gro gel".

Should I dose her with antibiotics?

 

[Kittymomma]

I'm not a big fan of antibiotics, but they would be a good idea if it appears the egg has broken inside her since that often leads to infection. If she manages to pass the soft shelled egg without it breaking I'd just keep a close eye on her and hold off on the antibiotics.

 

[NoSkiveez]

There's nothing that would indicate to me that its broken, so I will hold off on meds.

In the event it does break, what should she be given?

I have liquid sulmet, duramycin-10, agrimycin-343 and I may have human grade vibramycin/doxycycl

 

[Kittymomma]

I haven't had to deal with this myself, but I've seen where people have used the water based antibiotics and injectable pen-g. There was a really good thread awhile back by Orpingtonmanor in re: to her hen Paris that gave the pen-g dosage and maybe the water soluable one as well.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Its been 18 hours since we noticed there was indeed a problem and she still hasnt passed the egg. Its about half an inch inside her and she pushes and her whole vent opens, her rear end protrudes outward in the shape of an egg and the egg doesn't come out and she flops all over.