Egg bound

[ErinCarrasco]

I think my girl is egg bound. Started acting different yesterday. She was sitting in her nesting box at dusk. And today she still hasn't laid and is puffing up her back and looks to be trying to lay. I've put her in our tub and am trying to steam her. No luck yet

 

[countrygoddess]

Did you feel her abdomen down near her vent? If there's an egg stuck in there, you'll definitely be able to feel it. Give her some calcium right off the bat. Oftentimes, egg binding is a result of a calcium deficiency and calcium is important to the functioning of muscles. If you're like me, you're thinking, "I have no calcium!" I mean, who keeps calcium liquid on hand? (actually, this is reminding me to get some for my chicken first aid kit). If you can get some vitamin/electrolyte powder at the feed store first thing in the morning, give that to her in her water.

The bath was a great idea. You can also apply K-Y jelly to her vent to help ease passage of the egg. Try some gentle massage of her abdomen towards her vent, but be careful not to break the egg.

I've heard the calcium can work within a half-hour. But if nothing seems to be working, you can try to manually remove the egg. It's risky, but I've done it. In the end, I had to cull the hen because she had a massive, alien-like string of eggs all attached to each other and they were all hardened (like, hard-boiled). Very weird. Very sad.

Best of luck to you and your girly!

 

[lilchick]

When one of my hens is egg bound I have used this method with good results. Fill the sink or a bucket with warm soapy water. Hold her back half in the water for approx. 15 minutes. Hint.. Hold the wings close to body so she doesn't flap them and soak you!
Then dry her off and apply olive oil around her vent area and just along the inner edges. Give a baby aspirin for swelling and pain. Then place her in a warm, darkened area or cage to rest. Usually the egg will be laid within hours....
This has worked well for both my banties and standard sized layers. good luck..

 

[Eggsoteric]

You mentioned that she's puffing up her back. Did she protest when you took her off the nest? Could she instead be broody?

 

[lilchick]

You are right Eggsoteric about the puffing up of feathers could be broody behavior. My mind went with the egg bound notion....
Hope she is just going broody. One thing I do notice about my hens is they change their clucking sounds as well as the defensive fluffing up when going broody.

 

[teach1rusl]

I would have guessed broody as well, simply because none of my girls who've had egg issues sat in a nest...they've walked around rather hunched over and maybe a little puffed up - you could tell they were in discomfort. So she didn't growl at you and
puff up a little more when you removed her from the nest???

 

[ErinCarrasco]

I'm not sure what it is. She kept going back to her nest but there were no eggs. She isn't aggressive or growling at me. I've seen my other chicken do this. Her poop is also watery and looks to maybe have blood it in. So not even sure if this is egg bound or maybe just a very sick chicken. She seems to just stand in place like she doesn't want to move. As for her back feathers, I've never seen her do this before. The lift up and I can see a bone. Almost maybe her tailbone. I can see her vent and there isn't any bulging down there. I tried a little EVOO (olive oil) on her vent and nothing so far!!! It's very frustrating.