Egg bound or something else?

[DonyaQuick]

Update 4/28/2022: this had a happy result and my hen is doing fine now.

Background: one of my year old hens has a history of laying weird eggs and after switching to an all flock feed due to layer feed availability issues I struggled a bit getting her to eat enough calcium. I thought that was resolved and so had stopped feeding occasional calcium carbonate infused mash or oatmeal. Her eggs have seemed pretty normal for a couple weeks with just access to crushed oyster shell and ground up eggshell in a separate container. I'm worried stopping the supplements may have led her to have trouble today.

Tonight she was in the nest box near bed time. Then as I was finishing up night time coop prep, she started a pattern of running out to gulp a ton of water, making a massive watery poop, and going back to the nest box for a bit before doing it all again. She did not lay an egg at the usual time today as far as I can tell. It was going dark and she still seemed desperate for alternating water and the nest box, so I brought her into the house where there is a carrier crate that she can use as a nest box so nobody can bother her (she readily goes in it; she's familiar with it from some past weather emergencies that brought my chickens indoors). She has access to food and water and she has drunk a LOT of water. I'm pretty sure there is an egg in there from a casual feel of her abdomen but don't see her straining. She's very alert and active and moves normally. Her crop is full but feels normal.

I gave her some mash with calcium citrate powder in case this is egg binding, but I'm pretty confused since it doesn't match the symptoms I've read for it (which often involve not eating or drinking rather than drinking excessively). Right now she has settled down into the makeshift nest box for a lot longer than any other time she sat in it. Since she's not exhibiting any other egg binding symptoms like straining or the penguin walk, I'm not sure what to do at this point other than let her be and wait. Is this likely to be egg binding or am I on completely the wrong track?

 

[DonyaQuick]

Looks like she's just going to be parked in the carrier nest box for the night at this point. She doesn't seem distressed, at least not as far as I can tell. I'll stay up a bit longer to watch her. Assuming she continues to stay put, I guess I'll close up the carrier when I turn out the lights and go to bed, then see how she is at dawn.

Forgot to mention in my previous post that she also ate a bit of scrambled egg. So, she got that and some calcium citrate mash.

EDIT: well she came back out again just after I posted this to do another giant watery poo and then wanted to eat more scrambled egg, a bit more calcium citrate mash, a few bites of regular feed, and some grit. She drank some more but an alarming amount like before. She's still walking normally and everything. I added more shavings into the carrier box in case she does one of those poos in there.

 

[DonyaQuick]

It's going t be a long night. I couldn't fathom putting her back in the coop or locking her in the carrier while she's having explosive watery poos like this. She would either soak the others in a cold windy night or soak herself. So I have left the door open on the carrier with a very dim night light so she can just see to go in/out of it and I guess will be doing cleanup periodically if I wake up to a loud splat as I just did. Still no egg.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you check internally to see if you can feel an egg in there? Glove up (if you have disposable gloves available) and/or slick up a finger and feel inside the vent to see if you can feel an egg in the tract.

I don't have any experience with egg binding but since she's been having problems with egg quality it could be a possibility...

 

[DonyaQuick]

Can you check internally to see if you can feel an egg in there? Glove up (if you have disposable gloves available) and/or slick up a finger and feel inside the vent to see if you can feel an egg in the tract.

I don't have any experience with egg binding but since she's been having problems with egg quality it could be a possibility...

This morning at dawn she had a series of poos that went from a bit watery back to mostly normal consistency and then was acting like nothing happened. She has also stopped chugging water and just has her usual sip now and then She's so wiggly if I hold her in a new way that I would worry I'd injure her if I tried to insert a finger. Right now she is running and jumping around like normal and just wants to dig and forage with no interest in sitting in a nest box; if I didn't know about the past night I wouldn't know anything was up with her. Her abdomen feels smaller by just a bit.

It's possible she did one of her early AM shell-less eggs while I was asleep in a nearby couch, ate it, and left no evidence for me to find. She had what looked like some yolk on her beak this morning but I did give her scrambled egg late yesterday so hard to know for sure. For the moment I've put her back out with the flock while I clean up in the house since she was just running around getting into things. If she was still egg bound or otherwise in distress, she surely wouldn't be that active?

 

[Buckingham Palace]

Its good if she’s pooping.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Found this article which I hadn't read before: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-from-vent-prolapse-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/

Now I think I have a better hypothesis for what happened.

• There probably was a soft shelled egg stuck there when she was struggling. The article says those are harder to pass and Brownie certainly has a pattern of them.
• I gather a stuck egg would have prevented her from passing cecal poop, which causes either watery poo or just liquid to dribble out - and drinking a lot to compensate for the fluid loss. Brownie had the watery poo case; I never saw fluid just dribbling out.
• The blockage must have improved or been expelled at some point because one of her poos this morning was definitely a cecal poo.

I could've sworn I heard squishy munching sounds about 3-4AM, but I didn't go over to check. Brownie was just sat on the floor and stared at me when I sat up, and I didn't want to disturb her; she'd obviously decided to sleep just outside the carrier because of the frequent poos. The pile of watery poo near I found at 6AM near where she'd been sitting was so big that I doubt I'd have been able to distinguish remnants of an egg white from the rest of the watery and gelatinous mess as I mopped it up.

It also really doesn't sound like a hen that's still egg bound and in pain/distress would be casually running and jumping about the way Brownie is now. I'll leave her with the flock for now and check on her periodically throughout the day.

EDIT: ugh...and she's back in the nest box. No straining or anything, still normal Brownie behavior so far. The article did mention that a hen can have a series of eggs backed up not just one.

 

[townchicks]

Has she layed an egg yet? My EE that gets egg bound does not always lay her egg on the carrier overnight, but is perky and eating in the am, and will make a beeline for the nestbox as soon as he's returned to the group.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Has she layed an egg yet? My EE that gets egg bound does not always lay her egg on the carrier overnight, but is perky and eating in the am, and will make a beeline for the nestbox as soon as he's returned to the group.

I have never been so happy to see an egg! She finally did it.

It's got this weird little thing. She has laid eggs with soft tails before so I assume this had one and somehow got calcified.

 

[townchicks]

I have never been so happy to see an egg!

I know the feeling.