Eggbound: can feel egg but too far inside to touch?!

[bantamraptor]

Hello from new zealand! This is not how I wanted to start posting here but ... what can you do? (i actually didn't realise i already had an account here, surprising to find I signed up in 2011 apparently)

Anyway!! I've got a young rhode island red cross who seems to be egg bound, and most of the egg bound threads I've seen have talked about the egg being close to the chook's vent. But I'm not so lucky, unfortunately.

We noticed she had her tail down yesterday which was unusual, couldn't feel anything obvious wrong with her so waited to see what would happen, but no improvement this morning and was straddling. She was laying prior to this, i put her in an A-frame in the moring and by the after noon there was no egg from her. Mum was already convinced she was egg-bound, i thought i felt an egg but wasn't sure; Took her inside and soaked her in warm water, gently massaged her from the outside, felt like i felt something but it wasn't obvious. But I lubed up with vaseline and when i felt inside her I could feel a curved hard egg shape inside the vent but it was through a wall of flesh. i (gently!) pushed my finger in as far as I reasonable could - pretty much the whole finger - and didn't reach the egg, went past the egg shape on the right side of it and downward actually. So it seems like it's a long way in the system and on the other side of a bend?!?!? or something?? I read someone mention that when they could feel but not touch an egg they thought it might still be in the oviduct??

She decided she didn't want to have a bar of the hot water any more, so she's in a box inside the house in the dark right now. She's had most of a human calcium tablet (600mg) and is pretty bright. I do have a good syringe and olive oil - not sure if it would help her to tube oil in tho if it's really far inside her?? (for the moment i just want to give her a little time to de-stress and hopefully for the calcium to work before i start trying things again).

Basically any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry you are having trouble.

It's possible she may be egg bound or what you are feeling is an egg that has dropped into the abdomen.

If you feel for the egg again, feel no more than about an inch to see if you can feel it.

Continue to give her a soak - add some epsom salts to the bath if you have them.
Make sure she is eating and drinking.

Let us know how she is doing.


http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2012/06/egg-bound-hens-how-to-recognize-treat.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms.html
http://luckyhensrescuenorthwest.weebly.com/egg-bound-henegg-peritonitis-help-sheet.html

 

[bantamraptor]

Egg dropping into the abdomen sounds pretty extreme, wow! @_@ how would that even happen, internal rupture?? Thanks for the links and tips

She laid a normal looking egg overnight, but still was holding herself in that tail-down "something not right" posture, she had another calcium tablet and we kept her enclosed, wondering if she had another backed up there. This morning she laid another egg, and she's mostly okay in herself - has been eating and drinking - its nice and sunny today so she's outside in an enclosure in the main run at the moment. So we're relieved that the egg system seems to be running again, but she still doesn't look back to normal. Is it common for chooks to have lingering effects after egg bind?? Like just .... sore?

Mum has been feeding her whatever nutritious treats she can think of and is worming everyone, trying to cover all the bases i guess.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Egg dropping into the abdomen sounds pretty extreme, wow! @_@ how would that even happen, internal rupture?? Thanks for the links and tips

She laid a normal looking egg overnight, but still was holding herself in that tail-down "something not right" posture, she had another calcium tablet and we kept her enclosed, wondering if she had another backed up there. This morning she laid another egg, and she's mostly okay in herself - has been eating and drinking - its nice and sunny today so she's outside in an enclosure in the main run at the moment. So we're relieved that the egg system seems to be running again, but she still doesn't look back to normal. Is it common for chooks to have lingering effects after egg bind?? Like just .... sore?

Mum has been feeding her whatever nutritious treats she can think of and is worming everyone, trying to cover all the bases i guess.

Glad to hear she is improving.


Dropping into the abdomen is "internal laying" or Peritonitis. This is where an egg or egg yolk/matter travels back up the oviduct and leaks or "drops" into the abdominal cavity. This can cause infection, swelling, weight loss and death. There are numerous articles/threads and info on the web about this, so if you have a chance you may want to look it up.

Provide her with some poultry vitamins if you have them. You can also give her some scrambled egg, tuna, mackerel or meat for extra protein.

I hope she continues to improve.