Egg Bound?

[Wolfe11022]

I have an Easter egger that is coming into her laying age. This will be her first egg. I have 9 hens in the clock, all born around June 1st. One rooster. None have laid eggs yet. About two days ago, she started acting quiet and don’t come off the roost while the others were free ranging in the yard. I was able to lift her down and get her outside, but she was still pretty quiet, not moving as much and often looking like she wanted to sleep standing up. I thought she was getting ready to lay her first egg, but when there was still no egg the next day and instead was really loose green stool in the nesting box, we got her outside again, and then decided to try an epsom salt soak. I dried her good after that and then put Vaseline around and into her vent. She slept most of the afternoon and all night in one of the nesting boxes with her head tucked under her wing. She doesn’t act like she is in pain, but I haven’t seen her eat or drink. I would feel better if I at least knew she was doing that.

 

[RIR chicks]

I’m sorry to hear that a chicken might not be feeling well. have you ever had chickens before? If so, have you ever had this problem? Sometimes as a new chicken/chick owner we are worried about some stuff that is natural chicken things. (I just got my first ever chicks on Thursday). If you find out whats wrong tell me.

 

[Wolfe11022]

I’m sorry to hear that a chicken might not be feeling well. have you ever had chickens before? If so, have you ever had this problem? Sometimes as a new chicken/chick owner we are worried about some stuff that is natural chicken things. (I just got my first ever chicks on Thursday). If you find out whats wrong tell me.

This is my first set of chickens, but I have had animals for many years and can tell something isn’t right. Hoping it is mild. She had a complete behavior change, and her stool is bright green and very soft. She goes off by herself and definitely isn’t eating or drinking as much as she used to.

 

[CHlCKEN]

A chicken who is eggbound as long as yours has, will certainly not be able to survive another might (probably, my bird beat the odds) they will still want to roost, as your seeing, but will have trouble getting down. I kept my eggbound hen in a recovery Dog Crate (for large dogs) where I have her a roost that was barley 6 inches from the ground, but she still was always clearly unsure about getting down. She roosted all day a lot. I recommend bringing her inside, in maybe a situation like mine, a dog crate or maybe a small dark room set up for her (maybe a bath tub, or a shower, with towels on the bottom to catch her droppings) and if you can add some sort of roost, very low to the ground. Do the epsom Salt baths for 15 minutes, and put her in a dark room (no windows, NO light) to let her try and lay. Then, keep doing the baths. If at all possible bring her to an Avian Vet IMMEDIATELY. I had a hen who was CLEARLY egg bound, but it turned out she wasn’t at all! All of the treatments we were doing where pointless, and some made it worse so bringing her to the vet was the only way we could realize that.

I’m sos sorry this happend, I know your trying to treat her

 

[Aapomp831]

An inactive chicken with its head tucked in its wings is never normal. Chickens should eat, forage, drink, poop, dust bathe and take random short naps all day long. An egg bound hen will stand straight up like a penguin and pulsate its tail up and down (they kind of look constipated). It sounds like there is something else going on with your chicken. Have you checked her crop? I would bring her in or just separate her. Check her crop in the am and make sure it’s flat - chickens empty their crops overnight. But if you say she hasn’t been eating, it should be flat now. If not, she could have an impacted crop.
Also, do you have any Corid? It wouldn’t hurt to treat the whole flock for coccidiosis just in case (it won’t hurt them if they’re not afflicted by it). That’s just where I would start.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm so sorry your pullet is unwell. There are several things that could be going on here. Have you tried feeling for an egg inside her vent? Any chance you can share some pictures of her poop?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

An inactive chicken with its head tucked in its wings is never normal. Chickens should eat, forage, drink, poop, dust bathe and take random short naps all day long. An egg bound hen will stand straight up like a penguin and pulsate its tail up and down (they kind of look constipated). It sounds like there is something else going on with your chicken. Have you checked her crop? I would bring her in or just separate her. Check her crop in the am and make sure it’s flat - chickens empty their crops overnight. But if you say she hasn’t been eating, it should be flat now. If not, she could have an impacted crop.
Also, do you have any Corid? It wouldn’t hurt to treat the whole flock for coccidiosis just in case (it won’t hurt them if they’re not afflicted by it). That’s just where I would start.

 

[CHlCKEN]

An inactive chicken with its head tucked in its wings is never normal. Chickens should eat, forage, drink, poop, dust bathe and take random short naps all day long. An egg bound hen will stand straight up like a penguin and pulsate its tail up and down (they kind of look constipated). It sounds like there is something else going on with your chicken. Have you checked her crop? I would bring her in or just separate her. Check her crop in the am and make sure it’s flat - chickens empty their crops overnight. But if you say she hasn’t been eating, it should be flat now. If not, she could have an impacted crop.
Also, do you have any Corid? It wouldn’t hurt to treat the whole flock for coccidiosis just in case (it won’t hurt them if they’re not afflicted by it). That’s just where I would start.

My experience was with a chicken was egg bound with broken eggs, with egg yolk and contents hardened inside, plus egg shells. Many of the signs of an eggbound hen didn’t apply to her, she was staying on a roost, and didn’t do the penguin walk/standing thing and she looked normal just lethargic and stayed on the roost a lot. She didn’t LOOK bad at all, in the sense of standing or walking weird, nothing clearly sick, other than the lethargy- which outdoor have made it hard to evaluate what was wrong if she hadn’t had the egg shells hanging from her vent.

EDIT- she had EYP, treatments are very different and is not a very similar situation, but I’m trying to compare symptoms of the different things.

 

[Aapomp831]

My experience was with a chicken was egg bound with broken eggs, with egg yolk and contents hardened inside, plus egg shells. Many of the signs of an eggbound hen didn’t apply to her, she was staying on a roost, and didn’t do the penguin walk/standing thing and she looked normal just lethargic and stayed on the roost a lot. She didn’t LOOK bad at all, in the sense of standing or walking weird, nothing clearly sick, other than the lethargy- which outdoor have made it hard to evaluate what was wrong if she hadn’t had the egg shells hanging from her vent.

That was egg yolk peritonitis, which is different than being egg bound and will display similar symptoms but not always the same

http://www.adelaidechickensittingservice.com/1/post/2017/11/egg-peritonitis-or-egg-bound.html

 

[melissamc]

This is my first set of chickens, but I have had animals for many years and can tell something isn’t right. Hoping it is mild. She had a complete behavior change, and her stool is bright green and very soft. She goes off by herself and definitely isn’t eating or drinking as much as she used to.

I learned on here a few days ago that brught green poop can be a sign that your chicken has only bile in its system (from not eating), and it is very serious. My favorite hen had this last week, and I tube fed her and thought she was on the mend then a couple days later she was lethargic again and we ended up having to put her down yesterday. If you can post pics of her poop that might help someone with more knowledge than me help you. I'll see if I can find the link I read last week.