Egg Bound?

[jemjdragon]

I feel I will be making a trip to the vet today once my fiance is home with the car.
First off ChaCha is an indoor/outdoor Pekin, who has a small covered pen with a "duck house" outside to sleep in because we currently don't have an area in the house where she can sleep in without her harness. When I went to check on Chacha a few minutes ago, I noticed she didn't even come to get her food when I filled up her bowl. I sat there for a bit, watching her, and I didn't see her straining or anything. So I managed to shoo her out of her duck house and pen, so I change her straw in her duck house and clean her pen. I then watched her walk around the yard. It was here that I noticed she was walking really slow, and every few moments she would stop and look like she was pushing an egg out. This by itself is weird, because she lays her egg in the early in morning and right now its 1pm. (My fiance is the one who feeds her in the morning and takes her egg, unless he is running late for work, then I feed her in the morning). So I catch her and put her in the pen, and this is when I notice some yolk and whites dripping from her vent. I feel horrible and I'm not sure what to do other than take her to the vet right when my fiance comes home which should be in an hour or 2.
Does anyone else have any advice? Should I wait a day? Is there anything I can do? If she manages to push out the shell, should I still take her to the vet? Chacha is a pet so I will do anything to make sure she will be okay.

 

[Amiga]

I prefer, if I can manage it, to have the vet check things out. If there was not a full shell on the egg, she may pass the membrane in a while no problem, but I would not leave it to chance. Can you get her carefully into a lukewarm tub deep enough for her to float in?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I agree with Amiga, this needs attention. very sorry we didn't notice till now your post. Sometimes letting them float in a tub of warm water will help them to relax enough she may pass more. Please let us know what you decide and how she is doing.

 

[jemjdragon]

So I am back from the vet.
They couldn't find the egg in her when the vet probed with her fingers, so ChaCha got an x-ray and they still didn't find an egg.The vet said it is likely that the yellow goo I saw come out of her vent was puss so they did a swab and checked it under a microscope. There was bacteria in it.
When I came home I check outside to see if maybe she passed the egg and all I saw was maybe residual yolk from passing the egg, but I couldn't find any trace of an egg outside with my flashlight. I'll check again tomorrow.
In the mean time, ChaCha is on antibiotics for 1 week twice a day. She is indoors for tonight in a very large rabbit cage with straw and a box she can go hide in. And she got a nice warm bath and lots of peas.

 

[Poultry Couture]

How she does ok

 

[Amiga]

Sounds like you did well by her, getting her to the vet. Systemic infections often are missed because the duck will not show symptoms till it's too late. Good for you, paying attention!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like you did well by her, getting her to the vet. Systemic infections often are missed because the duck will not show symptoms till it's too late. Good for you, paying attention!

X2, and if it was a soft shelled egg or maybe no shell at all you probably won't find much. So glad to hear you got her treated and hoping for full recovery...

when one of mine passes a soft shell they usually clean it up pretty quick.

 

[jemjdragon]

Well ChaCha is not extremely happy today, though I understand. I wouldn't be too happy either if I was getting medications and sleeping in a different area at night. She also did not lay an egg this morning, though I am not surprised. She is in her pen right now and I watched as she ate a little of her food and oyster shell. She is on her pillow now, with her bill tucked under her wing but it looks like she is trying to lay an egg. I am going to leave her be and I hope everything goes well because I can't afford another vet visit today. I will keep an eye on her though.

If she still looks like she is trying to lay an egg after a while, should I give her a warm bath or assume it is because she is sick? Is there any other advise on what I can do while she is sick?

Also, I found the membrane of the no shell egg from yesterday in her pen when I was getting it ready for her this morning.

 

[Amiga]

She may not be processing her calcium very well right now. I had that happen to Sieben and a couple of other ducks. The vet prescribed Neocalglucan, and I also used some calcium gluconate in their feed for a while.

That did not make as much difference as their taking time off from laying. After a couple months' rest, she was right as rain.

Another option is to swish the oyster shell in her water and get the powdery stuff to dissolve in the water. Just find ways to get calcium as well as vitamin D into her. You could also try reducing the amount of light in her environment, to slow laying.

And I would continue to give her warm baths as much as you can (not easy with our other responsibilities, but worth a try).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well ChaCha is not extremely happy today, though I understand. I wouldn't be too happy either if I was getting medications and sleeping in a different area at night. She also did not lay an egg this morning, though I am not surprised. She is in her pen right now and I watched as she ate a little of her food and oyster shell. She is on her pillow now, with her bill tucked under her wing but it looks like she is trying to lay an egg. I am going to leave her be and I hope everything goes well because I can't afford another vet visit today. I will keep an eye on her though.

If she still looks like she is trying to lay an egg after a while, should I give her a warm bath or assume it is because she is sick? Is there any other advise on what I can do while she is sick?

Also, I found the membrane of the no shell egg from yesterday in her pen when I was getting it ready for her this morning.

Letting her soak in a warm tub of water may help, she probably prefers her own spot of laying and where she is isn't it, so anything to help her relax may help. I know that Amiga advises something different than oyster shell when they are having egg laying issues but I'm sorry i can't remember what it is, hopefully she'll be on later and can give the the name. ChaCha probably isn't feeling her best either since she did test positive for bacteria. so that maybe why she isn't so perky. Hopefully in a few days you'll notice much improvement. It takes 24 hrs for them to lay one egg after just laying one. Keep us updated please. and try not to get to anxious, it takes time for the antibiotics to work. And since she is on an antibiotic you might want to buy her some kind of poultry probiotic/vitamins. to bring back the good flora in her digestive tract, since antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria.