egg bound please help

[missred871]

So I have lost two hens in the last week (button quail) because of being egg bound. Any ideas what could be causing it? I feed them gamebird and they get fresh water and oyster shells to peck at and dust in. That is the extent of their diet. I used to give them small bird vitamins and never had a problem with them. Should I start giving them the vitamins again? Please help I only have 5 hens left

I love my wittle buttons they make delicious pickled eggs too....

HELLLLLP!

 

[Elite Silkies]

You may want to give them crushed eggshell rather than the oyster shell. Mine do not eat the oyster shell very well.

 

[JJMR794]

Its The Warmer Weather... They Get A Little Dehydrated And When You Are Dehydrated Its Hard To Make Body Fluids Needed For Lubricating Ova Canals--- No Lube / No Move Eggs. As Far As A Remedy? Try Putting The Vitamin/ Electrolyte Mix In Their Water. After A Day Of Drinking It It Should Stimulate Their Thirst And Get Them To Drink More. Hopefully That Will Correct Your Problem.

 

[Elite Silkies]

You can also put some mineral oil in their vent and fix them some scrambled eggs with lots of olive oil on them. Then massage the abdomen, be careful not to break the egg.

 

[missred871]

thanks to both of you, Elite, I could do the massaging but noone shows signs of peril until its too late. They are fine one minute and dead the next but I have checked both dead hens and they were in fact egg bound. I will add the vitamins JJ thanks, I wasnt sure if they would help or hinder at this point. It is like 92 degrees here we try to keep em cooler than that and they keep plenty of water. I sure hope the vitamins work. Thanks again guys.

 

[Elite Silkies]

You have seen no signs of distress? No panting? You should feel some swelling.

 

[missred871]

no real stress there. I have a larger flock and have only lost two hens. I think that the heat is a contributer since the last couple weeks have been somewhere in the lower 90s most of the day. They have not had any trouble before that. As far as swelling goes I cant get my hands on one without stressing them out completely so I dont try. starting with the vitamins again first thing today

 

[missred871]

found yet another poor girl dead this afternoon. how do I know she was egg bound you say? well the egg was half out. Had I known before she passed I would have attempted to help...unfortunately I came yet again too late...think I will be buying some pedialyte and adding it to their water....

my poor hens are dropping like flies..... I am so sad..... seems only to be the wild color hens.....I have a pearl and a tawny they are fine...I wonder if that has something to do with it....though I dont know how it could....weird.....

 

[silkymom]

i used to raise alot of exotics, parrots and such, with egg binding, humidity and heat were the first things we would increase, are your hens older? may want to talk to an avian vet about a liquid or injectable calcium, stress also could be a factor if their older. good luck, im thinking of ya.
juliet

 

[missred871]

oh no they get plenty of calcium their dust box is full of oysters, I am fairly sure that their water intake has been the problem. I started them on vitamin water today and I noticed that they have already incresed in water intake 3 fold. Hopefully this will keep them from dropping. They aren't stressed as they get little human or animal interaction. They live in our car port. They are other wise perfectly healthy with strong egg shells. I believe JJ was the one that mention dehydration causing a lack of lubrication in the vent, I believe that is correct. So time will tell whether this is working. As I had not had any problems until the hot and humid weather started here in GA.