Eggbound Hen Pictures

[ggrap]

This poor girl starting acting sick about 2 days ago, I have about 50 birds and noticed she was standing off to the side with her eyes closed. I picked her up and found that she had a huge mass in her abdomen.

I thought she was egg bound and tried to find the egg to remove it. All I could feel was a mass of tissue, although I have never done this procedure before. She got worse, so today we put her down.

I wanted to see what was inside so we took a look. I was expecting to find a tumor, but found a huge bunch of yolk inside with no shells formed.

Is this a typical egg bind? I thought that I would have found shells. Did she stop forming the shells for some reason? Anyone ever have this happen?

I have kept chickens for 7 years, and never seen this before.

Here is a picture of the yolk, I tried not to make it graphic so didn't show the hen. The yolk was bigger than a softball.

 

[dave_Cash69]

poor girl.

 

[chickenlady]

This is the same 'stuff' that many members have found in their internal laying hens. Sorry about your girl.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Was it a round lump? Looks like an internal layer. Did you find that in the oviduct, or floating around elsewhere?

 

[TimeMist]

Yes ditto what Courtney asked. Where was the mass?

I have a hen that only lays shell-less eggs and I'm just waiting for teh day when she has to be culled because of something like this.

 

[ggrap]

Ok. It was a pretty round lump, yes. As far as it being in an oviduct, I am not sure. When we opened her up it was in the center and middle toward her abdomen.

Sorry I am not better at the anatomy. This girl laid green eggs for 5 years. The only thing that I can think of that was a little different about her was that she started very early. She was an Easter Egger and started laying at just 4 months. Don't know if that is relevant.

What do you mean by it looks like an internal layer?

 

[Tiempo]

Oh, your poor girl..I'm so sorry

 

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
The oviduct is a tube. So if it wasn't in a tube, than it wasn't in the oviduct. Egg binding is a traffic jam in the oviduct. lol. Internal layers are birds that deposit egg yolks internally instead of sending them through the reproductive tract and outside the body. Sometimes the yolk just "misses" the entrance to the oviduct and floats around inside the body cavity until it rots, causing infection.

 

[ggrap]

It was so huge that it is hard to say if it was in a tube. It didn't look like one, but there was tissue around the yolk, only it was extremely stretched out. And I did think of the yolk rotting and causing infection, that is probably what happened.

I am glad we put her down, I can't imagine how painful that probably was.

Thanks for all of the help.