Egg Bound/Infection? Future Prevention

[Reba_Chickentyre]

So unfortunately, we lost our matriarch Henrietta yesterday morning. I'm hoping I can reach out to the collective to keep our remaining two gals from suffering anything similar in the future.

A bit of Background on Hen: we have had her for just a bit less than a year, she is a rescue of unknown age and origin - long story short she literally wandered onto my in laws property and we caught her to save her from coyotes: and then searched for her owners. None were found and we assumed her care and quickly found her two buddies Dolly and Reba. They've been a happy and consistently laying flock of three until this week.

Thursday evening (06.15.23) at evening check/feeding and free roam time, I noticed an egg membrane that was partially passed and still partially in her vent. She was still talkative but slightly less energetic than normal. That night we have her one tums Tablet and flushed her vent with "chicken douche" (white vinegar and water mix) as recommended on another thread.

She seemed to pep up a bit that night but still wanted to be in the nest box and was periodically straining. I did see her poop. Friday morning she was still lethargic and less talkative: declined her favorite treat. I came home at lunch and flushed her vent again, lubed up and checked for anything stuck inside but wasn't able to find anything discernable.

I was mostly nervous about Prolapse, so I got some Calcium Carbonate and gave her a dosage of that Friday night. She was more talkative Friday evening and ate a little bit. No swelling of her vent, not firm not hot to the touch, and we made sure she was drinking water.

Saturday morning she was gone, stiff in sleeping position. We had been cautiously hopeful (with a vet apartment scheduled for Monday just in case) and so finding her was .... Not great.

We are in GA, so we weren't to worried about warmth and I didn't opt for a warm epsom soak because I was worried about overheating. We had two nights of severe storms earlier on in the week and my wife thought maybe that might've played into her decline.

We decided against Necropsy, so ultimately I know that we won't ever know /for sure/ without that but I'm now really worried that there is something we did incorrectly or should have done differently and can correct if we ever have the same situation with our two remaining girls.

On a related note: how do y'all recover. We are both absolutely heartbroken. I wish I had taken her to the emergency vet on Friday.

Here's our Henrietta, gone too soon. Thank you in advance

 

[Reba_Chickentyre]

*calcium citrate (liquid Nutri-drench)

 

[HeritageFan]

I can’t answer your question, but I did want to say
I’m so sorry for your loss,
and I look forward to seeing what others have to say

 

[Reba_Chickentyre]

Any advice would be appreciated! We had a second girl half-pass a soft shelled egg and membrane this morning.

Especially worrying since we just lost Henrietta this past weekend. Is there a care issue going on?? They have a contained coop with nest boxes, bedding is D.E and pine shavings. We just did a coop clean yesterday is it possible it's stress related??

I really don't want to see this as a second chicken we lose.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Hens older than 2, and some younger, can have reproductive problems, including salpingitis, infection, cancer, ascites, and others. In your picture, she looks to have a very full crop. That can occur from multiple possible things that may put pressure into the abdomen, slowing down crop emptying and digestion. I would not recommend flushing the vent after expelling an egg membrane or even a broken egg, since it could possibly introduce fecal bacteria from the large intestine back up into the oviduct. A necropsy may have shown her possible cause of death, and most state vets can perform a more thorough one. It is good that you gave her a good life while you had her.