Egg bound!

[Newtochicks59]

I need some advice please! I have a small flock of 5 production red hens that I’ve had for the past year. Everything has been going really well until this week. Two of them have been egg bound but were able to pass the eggs in a warm epsom salt bath. My question is why is this happening? They free range during the day and eat a good chicken feed. They have been spending lots of time scratching in the garden and eating worms. My vet doesn’t treat poultry. Should I deworm? What should I use? Thanks for any advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Some causes of egg binding are dehydration, too little calcium, not enough nest boxes, laying too large of eggs, being overweight, and past vent damage from laying problems or vent pecking. Do you feed them layer feed and provide crushed oyster shell free choice? Limit treats or scraps. When a hen becomes egg bound give her a human calcium tablet with vitamin D to help with muscle contraction. It doesn’t hurt to deworm them 10 days apart with Valbazen or SafeGuard in warm weather. Read the emergency and other forums here for a lot of information. Good luck.