Egg-bound vs Internal Laying vs Eating Large Rocks (x-ray).

[Rockin' Reds]

I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, either here or in behaviors, so if I have it wrong please mods feel free to move.

Also, this is a bit long so bear with me, I will try my best not to bore you to death.

Anyway...last Monday I noted my 1 year old RIR Queenie all by herself, tail down, goopy butt, moving slowly, etc.. Upon examination I discovered she had an enormously swollen abdomen that was soft, but not what I would call squishy. I brought her in to the chickie hospital in my laundry room and then came here and frantically searched for any information I could find as I am new to chickens (have had them for 8 months) and was clueless. I found a thread by Speckled Hen on her Olivia (thank you, thank you, thank you SH for all of the invaluable information in that thread by the way!!) and egg peritonitis. After reading thoroughly I was convinced this is what I was dealing with. I could not feel any hard shell through the abdomen and I also used a bit of lubricant to palpate the vent with nothing found, so I figured my girl was laying internally. However, her eyes were bright and she wasn't listless, which didn't match the symptoms. She also was still eating, although maybe not quite as much, but seemed to be interested in anything I put in front of her.

Well, after no improvement in 2 days I took her to the vet (yes...I'm one of those ☺) and x-ray didn't show egg binding or much fluid, but it showed what the vet concluded were rocks!!! Yes...ROCKS!! It showed the normal small grit-like pebbles but there were also very large rocks that looked identical to the rock I have in my driveway. I have no idea how she even swallowed them in the first place, or how they made it through her crop as they were so large. There were about 6 or 7. Treatment was 1/4 tsp of mineral oil mixed in something heavy like oatmeal twice a day to see if it would bind to the offending rocks and pass. She did well with this and I started to let her out in the afternoons to free range with the other girls. I never did find any rocks, even after digging through every single poo she lovingly made for me while in the house

but this could have happened while she was outside. I must confess I did follow her around the first day with my poo inspector hat on, but upon further reflection decided this was just obsessively weird.

She was really back to her old self after about 4 days. Fast forward to today...1 week later...she seems completely normal...abdomen feels normal to me again and she is squawking endlessly to be out of the hospital. I think I will let her roost with the girls in the coop tonight after free range time. I have noticed that if I put her out there while they are free ranging they don't pick on her and the pecking order seems to stay intact.

What I would like to know from more experienced folks out there is...have you ever heard of this and will she do it again? Also, I'm sure due to the stress, she has not laid any eggs. With her seemingly back to her normal self will she return to laying? I was originally going to let her stay in the coop last night but I was hoping for an egg this morning so I kept her in the hospital for one more day...nothing yet today and I will be letting her outside in a couple of hours. I should also mention that this hen also suffered a bit of frostbite on her comb from our wickedly cold temps last month, but is doing very well from that standpoint and almost all the black is gone...nothing fell off either!!

Any thoughts on the weirdness that is this situation is greatly appreciated!! Thanks for wading through this post!!!

 

[gallusdomesticus]

I'm glad to hear she's doing better. The frustrating thing about chickens is they don't have an innate sense of what it edible and what is not. I lost my favorite hen six months ago after she ate some staples I had inadvertently dropped in their yard while repairing the overhead wire cover on their run. The staples ended up being impacted in her intestines and killed her. I would keep an eye on your hen and try to limit her access to your driveway rocks. Other than that, there's not much you can do........sort of like having kids!

 

[dkosh]

Glad to hear she is feeling better. I haven't heard of that before but I've had chickens die for no reason so maybe that could have been one of the reasons. Chickens eat anything. I found a chicken eating a string from a grain bag. I caught her and tried to pull it out of her mouth and it felt stuck. I cut the remainder of the string and let the rest take the long route out. She ended up being fine. I am now a lot more careful with any strings though.

 

[Rockin' Reds]

Staples and string? They really do eat weird things. I really don't know how to keep her off of the rocks though...the driveway is right next to the coop. I guess I could try fencing it off and see how it goes. So does anyone have any input on when she might return to laying? She has been taking a dust bath nearly every afternoon, so she feels good enough to go to the spa!

 

[Rockin' Reds]

Shamefully bumping my own thread.

 

[Miss Lydia]

do you give them grit besides free ranging them? she might go for the smaller grit if she has a choice.. even though mine free range I still offer grit. glad is has recovered..

 

[Rockin' Reds]

I do give them grit. And they actually only free range for several hours a day, not all day. They have free access to layer crumbles as well as oyster shell. I also toss in a few handfuls of scratch mixed in with BOSS everyday. Last night was her first night back with the flock and it went well I think. I checked on her before I went to bed and she was on the roost, although by herself. Hopefully she will get back into the swing of things sooner. Thanks for the reply!!

 

[speckledhen]

Is he 100% sure they are large rocks? I've never known any birds of mine to eat rocks of that size. How could they swallow them without choking? And the proventriculus that leads from the crop into the stomach is pretty small, too. You'd think they'd stick at that point.

There are huge clumps of solidified infection that may be in her oviducts and/or abdomen, even up to softball size-would those read differently in an xray than rocks? I have no idea and it may be a dumb question. Below is a pic of that stuff I removed from one hen. No idea how they'd look on an xray.

 

[Rockin' Reds]

Thanks for the reply Cynthia, as well as for all the wonderful information you give!

I don't really know if there is any way to be 100% sure if they were rocks or not, but the vet seemed pretty convinced. I honestly don't know how they got all the way through either. Thanks for the pic for comparison...the "rocks" in the x-ray were much smaller than that and fit the shape of the gravel we have in the driveway. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they were rocks and they passed all the way through somehow. The only treatment was the mineral oil, and after a day or two she was better and her abdomen reduced. No antibiotics were given. I would think if it were EYP that she would not have gotten better...would that be a correct assumption?

 

[speckledhen]

Well, they do seem to get better temporarily after being drained, even when there are those awful masses inside, but if they were like your gravel, maybe that's all it was.