Egg bound symptoms, can’t feel any egg

[Naisha]

Hello!
So, my barred rock girl has all the symptoms of being egg bound. Pulsating vent, droopy wings, she seems to be trying all the time. She’s one of those hens that doesn’t like to be touched and I could examine her without much problem, so she can’t move well. I touched around the vent, couldn’t feel any egg. Also, I don’t have epsom salt but I made sure to order them, I’ll get them next week (they’re not easy to find here).
So what I did is, I isolated her in a fenced area next to the others with food and water, so she can eat and drink without being bothered. She sleeps in a dog house there. I put some olive oil in her vent and gave her extra calcium (oyster shells). She’s been eating and drinking.
If she can’t pass the supposed egg because it’s soft, will the extra calcium I gave her help with the shell, or is it too late? I don’t know if the shell can harden at any stage or only in certain stages of the egg formation.
Today she’s been walking a bit, still looks odd but she’s alive and it’s been 3 days already, since I first noticed the symptoms.
I don’t know what else I can do or what I can expect.
Thank you guys.

 

[coach723]

Is she passing droppings? What do they look like? You can insert a lubed finger 1 -2 inches into the vent to see if you feel an egg. If she's pooping then it's probably not egg binding. Soft shelled eggs can be very hard to pass, so extra calcium can help with contractions. A human calcium citrate +D is the most quickly absorbed, just put one in her beak and she'll swallow it, once a day. Something like tums can also be used, one or two a day, if you have that on hand. How old is she? Do you know when she last laid normally?

 

[Naisha]

I haven’t seen her poop, today I couldn’t sit there and observe for a good time, but (if she’s still with us) I’ll try to take a look tomorrow. I tried to feel the egg inside with my finger using olive oil too but I didn’t feel anything (she wasn’t pleased). Agh, I don’t have any calcium citrate or tums at home. Actually I had to look those things up because I didn’t know what they were. We only have sodium bicarbonate but tums is based on calcium instead T_T It’s good to know what to look for, though. Thank you!

 

[Kiki]

It is highly unlikely she has a stuck egg at this point she'd be dead...3 days later.

She is most likely suffering from one of these:
It's anyone's guess as to which one.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...eproductive-system/egg-peritonitis-in-poultry


https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...reproductive-system/internal-layer-in-poultry

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/salpingitis-in-poultry


What exactly do you feed your flock?

 

[Naisha]

Wow that’s good information. I was confused because everywhere I read that egg bound hens don’t live more than 48h if they can’t pass the egg and she’s still there.
If it’s any of those things, I can’t really do anything, can I? I don’t have any vet nearby that visits chickens, and I haven’t read about any meds to cure any of those problems, at least in the links.

Their food is a mix of corn, wheat and pellets. They also have oyster shell. They sell it in an agricultural co-operative but I don’t know the brand, they say it’s suitsble for layers.

 

[Naisha]

Ah I forgot to add I don’t know her age because I got her when she was already adult but I think she must be more than 2 years old because she’s never laid one egg a day, more like one every 2/3 days.

 

[Naisha]

Update: 4th day and she’s alive. So now I have no doubt she must be some other problem, but not egg bound. Now my question is, can I give her painkillers so her life is better? I see she’s still struggling and moves slowly. I’ve read aspirin is just for a one time thing because more than 3 days is a no no. So if you know of any painkiller that is safe and I can give her when I see her struggling that would be very helpful.

Also, would you mix her with the flock again? If she’ll stay like that from now on, I feel bad for isolating her. I’ve seen her sitting next to the fence and the others sitting right next to her in the other side of the fence (so cute!).

 

[coach723]

Does her abdomen, between the legs, below the vent feel bloated, either water balloon like or very firm? How her droppings look could also be a clue. If she has a reproductive problem then treatments are very limited. Not sure that pain meds would really help. Their discomfort is often from pressure in the abdomen on all their organs. Generally I leave mine with the flock until they are no longer doing normal chicken things, stop eating or drinking, isolate themselves, or get attacked by flockmates (this is normal for birds to try to drive a weak bird from the flock) and then I euthanize. The definite cause with reproductive problems is often not known for sure until they pass and a necropsy is done, the symptoms can be very similar between them. Very sorry.

 

[Naisha]

Her abdomen didn’t feel hard, but more in the soft side. She’s a big girl so I don’t know if that was normal or not. Today Ive approached her and she could run away from me, started eating and drinking and I saw her pooping (very normal) so I have no idea what happened but she looks fine! I’m confused xD but anyway I’ll keep an eye on her. Who knows, maybe she laid that supposed soft egg and ate it! Because I couldn’t find any.

 

[coach723]

Glad shes' looking better today, hope that continues. I would keep an eye on her, see if she lays again, watch droppings for any changes, etc. You might consider just giving the pellets and skip the other stuff, especially the corn. Corn in particular can lead to fat birds and fat birds are more likely to develop health problems. Being too fat can cause all sorts of problems. All treats (which is ANYTHING other than balanced feed) should not exceed more than 10% of their diet.