Egg bound

[Karenhenlady]

are you in nc? acquaintance down the road from me had same issue and her name is Karen.

No it must be another Karen

 

[Karenhenlady]

Can you take your hen out of the nest box and observe her behavior? What you're looking for is either normal behavior or a tendency toward being lethargic, signs of being in pain - tail held low and flat, the lower and flatter, the more pain a chicken is in. Is her appetite okay?

Next, examine her belly under her tail behind her legs. Is it normal or is it swollen? Any discharge from the vent of yellow mucous? Has she excreted any chunks of waxy material with her poop?

Then there is always the possibility that your hen is ovulating again and is ready to lay her next egg and she's back to normal. It's also a possibility she's still experiencing contractions from her double egg episode and that's what's making her feel the need to sit in the nest.

No, she will eventually get back to normal. This isn't going to be what her life will be.

Thanks for your help I had to lift her out again this morning no egg so far but she had some corn and was a bit fluffed up but behaving normally I'm going to give her some more calcium and hopefully she will come right

 

[SurferchickinSB]

A lot of egg binding occurs due to two eggs in the works. The first time I saw this was with an EE hen years ago. I treated her with a warm soak just as you did. She produced an egg. I wanted to give her time to recover from that and to rest, so I left her in the crate. An hour or two later, I came back to find she had passed another egg, this one without any shell.

Since then, I've had more hens suffer egg binding due to ovulating twice within a 25 hour cycle. Almost always one of the eggs lacks a shell, causing difficulty passing it. I've learned that the minute I suspect egg binding to give the hen a calcium tablet, 400-600mg, preferably with vitamin D3 plus minerals. This helps them pass the eggs more easily.

For stubborn cases that drag on, I use a heating pad on the lowest setting with a damp towel laid on top of it. The hen is placed on top of the damp warm towel so the moist heat can further aid in passing the egg. Lubricating the vent inside and out with a little vegetable oil or coconut oil helps, too.

Yup, first thing I do is give Tums and a warm bath.

 

[AmyJane725]

If you have an egg bound hen is it good to keep them in the dark for a day or so (there's a certain number of hours, 18 maybe?) after the egg has passed to give her body a chance to rest?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

If you have an egg bound hen is it good to keep them in the dark for a day or so (there's a certain number of hours, 18 maybe?) after the egg has passed to give her body a chance to rest?

I never do that, I like to keep mine with the flock. I would only separate if she is very very ill.