Egg Bound or Water Belly? Please help

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think that giving the calcium after 2 weeks is very good for her. I will let azygous be the judge of that, but she may have salpingitis (inflammation of the oviduct) or something wrong with her shell gland in the oviduct. An enlarged lower belly below the vent may be ascites fluid, but it could also be salpingitis and internally laid eggs that have formed lash material. It is hard to know a lot of what is going on. I usually do a necropsy after I lose one to find out. It is up to you whether or not to drain her. You can introduce infection, and it can cause shock or death is some cases. It can confirm ascites (water belly.) Ascites is usually caused by a reproductive infection, egg yolk peritonitis, cancer, fatty liver disease and heart failure. Some people ask their vets to use a hormone implant to stop laying, but that costs a lot of money, and many vets will not do it due to FDA regulations.

 

[azygous]

I don't give calcium therapy longer than two weeks. That's usually long enough to do the job. If you can find an antibiotic, I would give it a try. But these reproductive infections are very difficult to treat.

 

[JLS84780]

@Eggcessive @azygous I was trying to think of some people who really know their stuff when it comes to chickens, I know there is one more member who has really helped me in the past but I can’t remember their user name.
My hen is not getting better and I’m hoping y’all can help point me in the right direction. She’s been on the calcium citrate tabs for almost 2 weeks, I found some other older posts that said they could be on them up to a few months… so I kept her on them past a week. She is still only laying soft eggshells, or nothing. She laid that one egg that was weirdly shaped and huge but otherwise it’s been soft shells if anything, but mostly nothing. Yesterday I noticed she was standing around a lot and just looking kinda out of it, so we gave her another epsom salt bath and moved her back inside into the crate. After her bath last night I lubed up her “hole” to help her and overnight she did lay one soft shelled egg, but hardly pooped at all. Today she has hardly pooped and her vent area is still constantly “puckering” if that makes sense? Like she needs to go to the bathroom or has an egg stuck. I don’t know what else to do. We have food and water in there for her, grit and oyster shell and I put vitamins in her water. I’ve been giving her one or two epsom salt baths a day (which she hates and I wonder if they are helping or just stressing her out more) and I started using the organic virgin olive oil again yesterday to lube her vent area as well as giving her the calcium tabs every morning. Is there anything else I can do? She’s been like this for weeks now and she seems worse the last few days. Thank you for your help! I really, really appreciate it!

I'm so sorry that you, too, are going thru the unknowns of an unwell hen. From what I've read recently, stop the baths as they are stressful. I probably need to do one more for my non-laying 1 1/2-year-old because her butt is so drippy goopy, but I'm not concentrating on that for now. My question to you is if her abdomen is swollen and feels like a water balloon when you pick her up? Is she walking funny and not able to bend over to eat from the ground like the others? That would be water belly, that comes with many underlying conditions and it will eventually take her life. The hens who have exhibited that seemed to still enjoy life up until a week or so before they die. One hen we reduced the liquid by YouTube video demo and she survived another two weeks. If her underlying issue is infection from internally laying eggs that are rotting then the only fix is a hysterectomy and a difficult recovery. We have no vets nearby to perform that and probably wouldn't spend the money for it anyway. Each one gets to decide how to proceed.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you are considering an antibiotic, your vet could start one right away. Amoxicillin and enrofloxacin are available here:
https://birdpalproducts.com/product...6Bg2k_ucfHkT-9MlJO-w-7lsd7imkUYGn5oHUKmwLdf_5

https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?variant=40215712661693
Dosage is 10 mg per every 2.2 pounds twice a day for 5 days.