Egg bound?

[torismith]

Came home to one of my hens standing in the rain not wanting to move to much. Picked her up and placed her in the coop and she jumped up on the roosting bars and I noticed her vent area pulsating. Figuring she’s egg bound so I gave her a 20 minute epson salt soak and put ky around her vent. I isolated her in my secondary coop by herself. She ate and drank a little. Also mixed tums in the water for her for calcium. This morning I immediately checked on her to see if she passed the eggs and she passed (see photo) and pooped a lot. She’s eating again this am, her tail is up high, and she seems back to normal for the most part. Is this something I need to worry about? I left for work and don’t know if I should take her to the vet today or not. Any advice would be great, she’s my favorite hen.

 

[azygous]

She's okay for the time being. However, she has calcium issues that could cause a repeat of this recent performance. Eggs lacking hard shells are much harder to pass and therefore, they are more likely to get stuck. You want ot avoid this, of course.

I've had wonderful success treating hens with this problem using calcium citrate 400mg with D3. One tablet per day until the eggs are coming out with consistent hard shell.

Recently, I had a hen with this issue, and it took one month on calcium citrate to correct the problem. I stopped the calcium when her eggs were beginning to show calcium deposits on the shell.

I've had hens lay a shell-less egg, and after just one dose of calcium citrate 400mg, start laying normal eggs again. The stuff really works great. I crush it and fold it into a dab of peanut butter. Chickens usually adore peanut butter, the no sugar added kind.

 

[torismith]

Thank you so much for replying! I found some of my older hens eating my chick starter feed for my 15 week old girls right before I left for work. I’m wondering if that’s what caused the problem. I’m going to completely separate them for feeding times. Going to order calcium citrate and give her that until I see a normal egg. Thank you again!

 

[azygous]

No, chick starter is really no different than an all flock feed, which can't hurt layers at all as long as they get the calcium they need in the form of calcium carbonate (oyster shell).

The problem of soft-shell or shell-less eggs can be chronic or fleeting. An individual hen may have a calcium deficiency or her shell gland simply refuses to convert the calcium she consumes into usable calcium for shell making. A heavy dose of calcium citrate (more easily absorbed than calcium carbonate) can jolt her body into getting back on track again and utilizing calcium the way she should.

You can find the calcium citrate in any pharmacy where the vitamins are. I take it everyday myself.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thank you so much for replying! I found some of my older hens eating my chick starter feed for my 15 week old girls right before I left for work. I’m wondering if that’s what caused the problem. I’m going to completely separate them for feeding times. Going to order calcium citrate and give her that until I see a normal egg. Thank you again!

Did that come from your older hen or a new layer?

New layers often have hiccups from the reproductive system starting up and working out it's kinks.

Noting that supplementing calcium during egg binding treatment is to support the muscles NOT the shell-less egg.

I wouldn't worry about separating your feeds... I WOULD make oyster shell available on the side right near the feed. The older ladies ALWAYS like the extra protein of starter verses layer.... Since most my birds are dual purpose... in addition to always having Juveniles, molting, brooding, laying, and roosters... I feed a flock raiser with 20% protein and OS on the side for layers. It works REALLY well for my flock... not perfect, but a very happy medium that is readily available at a price point I can accept and meets the nutritional needs of my ENTIRE flock... I never ever worry about feeding separately, have great hatch rates and longevity/production among my flock.

You did great taking immediate action! The fact that she wasn't in a box when like that... is one indicator that it was a soft egg. It wasn't even recognized by the hen as an egg... but more likely a poop. Usually, with hard "bound" eggs, they stay in the box, to be mistaken for broody until you pull them and see their actual behavior with the tail pumping.

Glad she is better!

 

[torismith]

I stopped and picked this up at the pharm until I am able to get some oyster shells for them full time. Hopefully this will help her. Thank you guys again. Oh and she’s a year an half. So not terribly old but she’s been laying since 16 weeks. She was my first layer and we have never had this issue until last night. This past week is when I intergrated my two flocks and everyone is living in the same coop at night. They free range all day. so I assumed it was the food but thank you for the clarification. She’s doing a lot better today so crossing my fingers she stays well!