I am looking after my parents chickens while they are away for a few days and noticed that one of them seemed very lethargic and had a pale comb.
When I inspected her she had a very dirty arse and very obviously has an egg bound in her Cloaca. I've given her a bath and cleaned around her vent as best I can then filled another bath with clean warm water and some epsom salts and she's sitting in that now. She occasionally strains to try and push the egg out but without any success. The egg seems to be oriented sideways, I have tried massaging it very gently to encourage it out and when I do she starts pushing too but there is some sort of pink membrane always blocking it from coming out and although the egg seems to be right there I can never see the shell. I've tried delicately probing the cloaca with my finger to see if there was any sort of obvious blockage stopping the egg from releasing but there isn't as far as I can tell just pink skin/membrane preventing the egg from coming out.
I can't get this bird to a vet until my parents return as they live in a remote location and I don't have access to transport. The earliest I could potentially get it to a vet would be Friday but even then my parents regard these chickens as livestock rather than pets and are unlikely to incur the expense.
I'm really hoping someone can give me some advice on what course of action to take here. It feels as though I could break the egg and that might help it to pass but then from what I've read infection is a major concern, is this as much of a problem when the egg is so close to the vent rather than deeper internally? If I was able to break the egg and get it out would the chicken potentially be ok until Friday?
Please, I would be incredibly grateful for any help. I don't like to see animals suffering.
Here is a picture of what the cloaca looks like right now. The swelling IS the egg, although obviously the tissue around the cloaca does also look quite inflamed.
This is the only way I have of sharing the picture right now, you DON'T have to download it from the link. If you click it should show you a preview of the image.
https://public.opacity.io/FpmRjuJng
When I inspected her she had a very dirty arse and very obviously has an egg bound in her Cloaca. I've given her a bath and cleaned around her vent as best I can then filled another bath with clean warm water and some epsom salts and she's sitting in that now. She occasionally strains to try and push the egg out but without any success. The egg seems to be oriented sideways, I have tried massaging it very gently to encourage it out and when I do she starts pushing too but there is some sort of pink membrane always blocking it from coming out and although the egg seems to be right there I can never see the shell. I've tried delicately probing the cloaca with my finger to see if there was any sort of obvious blockage stopping the egg from releasing but there isn't as far as I can tell just pink skin/membrane preventing the egg from coming out.
I can't get this bird to a vet until my parents return as they live in a remote location and I don't have access to transport. The earliest I could potentially get it to a vet would be Friday but even then my parents regard these chickens as livestock rather than pets and are unlikely to incur the expense.
I'm really hoping someone can give me some advice on what course of action to take here. It feels as though I could break the egg and that might help it to pass but then from what I've read infection is a major concern, is this as much of a problem when the egg is so close to the vent rather than deeper internally? If I was able to break the egg and get it out would the chicken potentially be ok until Friday?
Please, I would be incredibly grateful for any help. I don't like to see animals suffering.
Here is a picture of what the cloaca looks like right now. The swelling IS the egg, although obviously the tissue around the cloaca does also look quite inflamed.
This is the only way I have of sharing the picture right now, you DON'T have to download it from the link. If you click it should show you a preview of the image.
https://public.opacity.io/FpmRjuJng
