Egg Bound Warren?

[Libbynugget]

My 2-year-old Warren is showing some of the symptoms of being egg bound.

• Walking like a penguin for about two days
• Just sitting in her nest box looking really miserable (she's top of the pecking order and usually out bossing the others about all day!)
• I can feel a large mass inside her slightly more on her left side.
• She's only just finished molting and hasn't been laying for a few weeks. This would be her first egg since then.

I tried putting her in warm water for 30 minutes - she loved it! Also loved being dried with the electric heater! She seemed brighter after the bath and ate/drank fine before resting in a cardboard box inside the house in the warmth. No sign of an egg though.

How long should I leave it before getting the vet in?

 

[GoldenChicks16]

Try giving her two tums crushed up in a glass of water. This will give her a good dose of calcium for her to ingest and should help pass the egg. Here's a great link to some information that should really help you with the problem If its only been two days she should be fine.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms.html
Hope it helps and keep us updated!

 

[Libbynugget]

Thanks That's really helpful!

 

[GoldenChicks16]

No problem! Hope she releases her egg!

 

[casportpony]

I just give mine one or two human calcium pills, no crushing necessary and that usually does the trick. The egg shouldn't be on the left, it should be in the center of her back right below her kidneys. The gizzard is on the left, I think, are you sure it's not the gizzard that you're feeling?











-Kathy

 

[Libbynugget]

Thanks for the pics! I brought one of my other Warrens inside for comparison (pooped all over the living room, as is their way

) and the poorly hen is definitely more swollen. She seems a lot more active and bright today though. I gave her two Tums (she loved them!) and have kept an eye on her all day. She's moving about a lot more, eating and chastising the other chickens as normal. Tail is up again but she's still waddling a bit too much, I think.

Thanks for the help! This is my first foray into understanding the inner workings of a potentially sick hen

 

[Libbynugget]

Thanks for the advice. Sadly the poor old girl had to be put to sleep

Took her to the only avian vet within 20 miles. Just a couple of minutes in there and the vet said she could feel the "egg" was actually one of three large tumors. It would cost £400 for exploratory surgery, the other option being to put her to sleep. The vet wouldn't hazard a guess at what the problem was, e.g. what caused the tumors.

I decided it had to be the end for poor old Megan. But when I said I'd take her home and do it myself, the vet launched into a long speech about humane treatment and how the EU had brought in a new law that will soon designate chickens as farm livestock, meaning you can't dispose of them on your own land! Anyone else heard about this? I have no idea how this could be policed. Will all chickens have to be registered with passports like cows are?

Anyway, I was in a bit of a state so I said fine. Said goodbye, signed the form and headed out to the reception. Turns out it cost £80!!! Feeling like a bit of a mug now for falling for the vet's sales pitch.

The most helpful people have been other chicken owners. I checked all my other birds for Mereks - nothing doing. I've been advised the other option could be avian leukosis. All the birds have been weighed and are at or above the right weight (when Megan was put to sleep she was well under but had been fluffing up her feathers to look bigger, the sneaky madam!) Are there any ways to check for avian leukosis? I'm a bit scared of the fact I've been eating their eggs quite happily and possibly ingesting a retrovirus!

Of course, it could have just been bad genetic luck for poor old Megan, but I'd rather be a bit paranoid than let something spread through the flock!

 

[casportpony]

So sorry for your loss.

-Kathy

 

[Libbynugget]

Thanks, Kathy. She was such a lovely hen!

 

[Henerz101]

I heard that u can't burry ur own animals because we have cattle but we have a man that just disposes them I'm very sorry for ur loss tho