- Jul 15, 2014
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Hello. New to this site but have kept chickens as pets for about 13 years now. A few months ago I acquired an assortment of hens and a rooster from someone that needed to relocate them. One of them is the sweetest little Delaware(I call her adele) that instantly bonded with my other three hens and me. Unfortunately she has been very lethargic and sick the past 4 days or so. At first I thought it was vent gleet because she had some very foul smelling feces stuck to the feathers under her vent, but she was the only one like this and I make sure to clean out the coop on a regular basis and keep their food and water fresh daily. About 2 days ago she seemed to get much worse her tail was drooped she was all puffed up barely walks she was pale and she kept closing her eyes. When I looked at her vent she started to release a bowel movement but I noticed there was something else that was stuck...it didn't look like an egg... it almost looked like a dried up slug! Now I realized she is probably egg bound. I brought her inside to keep her isolated and gave her some calcium. She still didn't get better. So Yesterday I gave her an epsom salt soak, tried to massage around her vent, and gave her some oyster shells and yogurt She loved the yogurt drank some water w/ Save-a-chick probiotic and Electrolytes in it. I don't think she really bothered much with the oyster shells yesterday. Then I left her for the night to relax.
Today she still hadn't passed what I assumed was the egg and she didn't seem to be doing any better. At this point it has been over 48 hours and I really didn't think she would be able to pass it on her own I decided to try and do my best to intervene and help extract whatever was stuck. So I gave her another warm epsom salt bath , she seems to enjoy that, and started to gently press around her vent... that gave her some pain
but I felt soothing small and hard.
Now I have read different articles on whether or not you should stick your finger inside the chicken's vent to help her pass an egg as you risk breaking the egg and making things worse but I believe it is better to do something than nothing especially since nothing would probably lead to her death. So I put on a rubber glove and used some ky jelly to massage the vent then I stuck my finger in and could feel the thing that looked like a dried up slug 2 days ago. So I kept gently massaging her and tugging on it then I realized it was much bigger than I had thought a first there wasn't too much resistance but it was a little difficult to pull it out so I just kept rubbing the jelly and then all of a sudden I was able to gently pull it and it slipped all the way out! I have attached a picture I am assuming it was an egg at some point but to be honest I am not sure. It was horrible smelling(it's still lingering in my nose) and it almost looks like meat. I cleaned her up she seemed to perk up a bit at first but still doesn't really want to walk much and is lethargic. Her color looks much better and she doesn't seem to be puffed up but her tail is still drooping. I am really hoping she isn't septic or infected in any way I hope I did the right thing ... I didn't feel anything break was just a smelly mass of blubber! I am keeping her inside in the dog crate with chicken food and water hoping that the problem is solved... If this was even an egg?!. Maybe I am too late but If anyone has any advice on what I can do further, maybe an antibiotic of some kind in case of infection? Or if anyone has had a similar experience please let me know. I don't want to lose my sweet girl, Adele. For now I know I have given it my best and I hope it's enough.
Today she still hadn't passed what I assumed was the egg and she didn't seem to be doing any better. At this point it has been over 48 hours and I really didn't think she would be able to pass it on her own I decided to try and do my best to intervene and help extract whatever was stuck. So I gave her another warm epsom salt bath , she seems to enjoy that, and started to gently press around her vent... that gave her some pain
but I felt soothing small and hard.Now I have read different articles on whether or not you should stick your finger inside the chicken's vent to help her pass an egg as you risk breaking the egg and making things worse but I believe it is better to do something than nothing especially since nothing would probably lead to her death. So I put on a rubber glove and used some ky jelly to massage the vent then I stuck my finger in and could feel the thing that looked like a dried up slug 2 days ago. So I kept gently massaging her and tugging on it then I realized it was much bigger than I had thought a first there wasn't too much resistance but it was a little difficult to pull it out so I just kept rubbing the jelly and then all of a sudden I was able to gently pull it and it slipped all the way out! I have attached a picture I am assuming it was an egg at some point but to be honest I am not sure. It was horrible smelling(it's still lingering in my nose) and it almost looks like meat. I cleaned her up she seemed to perk up a bit at first but still doesn't really want to walk much and is lethargic. Her color looks much better and she doesn't seem to be puffed up but her tail is still drooping. I am really hoping she isn't septic or infected in any way
I hope I did the right thing ... I didn't feel anything break was just a smelly mass of blubber! I am keeping her inside in the dog crate with chicken food and water hoping that the problem is solved... If this was even an egg?!. Maybe I am too late but If anyone has any advice on what I can do further, maybe an antibiotic of some kind in case of infection? Or if anyone has had a similar experience please let me know. I don't want to lose my sweet girl, Adele. For now I know I have given it my best and I hope it's enough.
