Egg Bound?

[jcoz]

I have a 7 month old blackstar that was waddling around and sitting a lot last night. I thought she was egg bound. I checked with a lubed, gloved finger and could feel the end of an egg. Anyhow, I brought her into the house and put her in the the spare bathroom's walk in shower. I gave her a couple of warm soaks last night, gave her some calcium, but no improvement. I ended up giving her a flush of warm water, epsom salt, and a little olive oil. This morning there was quite an amount of poo (she hadn't been passing) and she is talking a little bit. Now I'm thinking it is something else. I wouldn't think she could poo if egg bound. Any ideas?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would not give Epsom salts or oil to a chicken, since it gives them diarrhea and can dehydrate them. She needs to drink water, and she needs the calcium to help her lay it. I would keep her in a warm moist room with little noise. Some place them on warm towel on a heating pad set to low. Check again inserting your finger 1-2 inches inside and slightly upward to feel if you still feel an egg. If there is no egg, it should feels like soft tissue. I hope that she lays the egg.

 

[jcoz]

Last night her tail was down and she was just laying around, not talking or anything. I flushed her vent with the warm water, epsom, and olive oil. She had a couple good bowel movements this morning and her tail is up, she's talking, and eating and drinking. I took a vacation day so I can keep an eye on her. Now I'm wondering if she had something else going on and just not enough strength to push out the egg. I'll see what she does today.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, I thought that you gave it orally. Normally, we don’t recommend flushing anything into the vent, since it can possible push fecal bacteria up into the oviduct. Can you still feel a hard egg inside? There could be a rather large egg or shell-less egg stuck, but she also could have some other sickness or reproductive disorder. Here is a good article on egg binding with a picture of the hen’s anatomy:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms/

 

[jcoz]

Well, she seems fine now. Tail is all fanned out when she is walking, her appetite is back, and very social. I let her out this afternoon because she was restless and missing the other girls. It was a nice sunny, warm day here so I didn't want her to miss it if she was not going to make it. I checked on her every hour and she was all go go go. Maybe it wasn't an egg I felt, I don't know. First time stickin my finger in a bird's butt . I have Gail Damerow's book on chicken health, but I prefer second and third opinions.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad that she is fine now. Maybe she was constipated, but who knows? Hope she continues to be okay.

 

[jcoz]

Just about 1 hour ago she squatted down and laid an egg in the driveway, right in front of me, like she was proving a point lol. Looks like she'll be OK for now. She is the runt and I've never had good luck with the runts tho. Hopefully she breaks that chain.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad that she is okay and laying. She probably just wanted to show you the egg, LOL. Did the egg look normal for her with a hard shell?

 

[jcoz]

Yes. Everything looked normal; shell felt nice and strong.