Eggbound Hen - Update on pg 2

[jettgirl24]

My lovely Marans hen appears to be eggbound. She has been laying fine but yesterday I went to bring her in from their pen and she was walking funny. I figured I caught her mid-laying so I put her in her nest box and let her be. I came out this morning to find that she was still in the nest box. Her belly is quite swollen, her tail is droopy, and she is squeezing like she's trying to lay. I jumped on here to find out what to do and brought her inside and soaked her bum in warm water, then put vaseline in and around her vent. I made her up a box with a bed of shavings and some hay on top of that and shut her in my bedroom where it's dark and quiet. I gave her water but no food, thinking that food will just pass through and make things worse. Was this the correct course of action? Anything else I can do to help the poor girl out? She looks pretty miserable

 

[chicky chickk]

yes a warm bath and Vaseline will help, place the hen on a wire mesh container with some boiling water in a pan under her (so the steam goes on her bottom) keep her agood enough distance to aviod burning her! moist heat is thebest treatment for egg bound hens , provide some overhead heat from a heat lamp, and enclose the whole cage with a blanket or plastic to keep the moist heat in make sure it doesnt get to hot, use a thermometre to keep it between 90 and 102 degrees fahrenhiet water should be provided at all times. she should then pass the egg within a few hours after this treatment If you see an egg, she should have perked up and will be ready to be removed from the cage. If no egg has passed but she seems more active and will eat, you probably misdiagnosed her. Something else is wrong. If she continues to act droopy and ill, give her a few more hours of treatment. A vet can give a hen an injection of calcium gluconate, which will often cause her to pass the egg.
A hen that’s truly egg bound will die if she doesn’t pass the egg, usually within 48 hours. Don’t stick things like syringes full of oil up her vent you’re likely to hurt her and cause infection. Trying to break the egg inside her and extract the pieces isn’t usually effective either; it’s likely to result in infection and death. hope this helps! good luck

 

[jettgirl24]

Ok now I'm not so sure if she's eggbound... Her belly is still very swollen but she's passed a couple of green poops. I'm worried now that she might be an internal layer. I'm going to go to the feed store in the morning and see if I can get some penicillin but at this point I'm trying to just make her comfortable. She's enjoying some scrambled eggs and mashed banana. She's being so incredibly tolerant of everything, it just makes me feel worse

If there's anything I can do for her at this point let me know, I'm kind of at a loss right now and my BYC searching has turned up little as far as actions I can take now.

 

[chicky chickk]

I'm really not sure what to do i know last year i had a ex battery hen with this problem she was very weak and sadly had to be put down she will need antibiotics of some sort as this can easily become infected, i really hope she pulls through good luck! if i find any more info i will let you know!

 

[lindsay297]

I am not sure about the weakness but have you looked into ascitis?? I am sorry if I spelled this wrong. I cant tell you if she is not egg bound or not, I don't have enough experience but, I have a hen that has ascitis and she sometimes will act tired. Hope this will help maybe. Give it a look and see about the other symptoms.

Might help but if not I am sorry you are going through this.

 

[terryg]

When a hen looks like she is carrying a water balloon in her abdomen, it is cause for concern. I've had hens survive this and hens that haven't. It's rarely a truly egg bound case (in which the egg is stuck) but relaxing the hen and helping to move things along can help. Use my "spa treatment". http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/ If the situation isn't dire, this usually cures it.
I wouldn't keep her in your house. Stinky for you and not helpful for her. If the other hens aren't bullying her she can stay with the flock. If not, she can stay in a dog crate outside.
Sadly, most of these cases are terminal. Older hens get ovarian cancer, become internal layers, and/or have intestinal and repro impactions. Keep a close eye on her to make sure that she is actually eating (and not going through the motions) as a hen can starve to death right under your watchful care. I've written about this recently on my blog, (www.HenCam.com) as I have a flock of retired hens (and do necropsies on the ones who die.) It is very rare that a hen dies of old age, instead they die of diseases and we have to make some hard choices. Sorry to be pessimistic! But this is the nature of things now that we keep hens past two years of age (which rarely happened in the past on farms.)

 

[spatulagirl]

Is she waddling like a penguin? Belly huge and swollen with fluid? If you gently palpitate her belly can you feel a mass? If so she is laying internally.

The only thing you can do for her is drain the fluid with a syringe. Just pick one up at the feed store and pop it in there a few places and drain. The fluid will be light brown discharge color. It won't cure it but it might make her more comfortable. Unfortunately, if she is laying internally there is nothing you can do. I recently had to put down a chicken that was laying internally; even the draining of fluid wasn't making her comfortable.

 

[speckledhen]

When a hen looks like she is carrying a water balloon in her abdomen, it is cause for concern. I've had hens survive this and hens that haven't. It's rarely a truly egg bound case (in which the egg is stuck) but relaxing the hen and helping to move things along can help. Use my "spa treatment". http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/ If the situation isn't dire, this usually cures it.
I wouldn't keep her in your house. Stinky for you and not helpful for her. If the other hens aren't bullying her she can stay with the flock. If not, she can stay in a dog crate outside.
Sadly, most of these cases are terminal. Older hens get ovarian cancer, become internal layers, and/or have intestinal and repro impactions. Keep a close eye on her to make sure that she is actually eating (and not going through the motions) as a hen can starve to death right under your watchful care. I've written about this recently on my blog, (www.HenCam.com) as I have a flock of retired hens (and do necropsies on the ones who die.) It is very rare that a hen dies of old age, instead they die of diseases and we have to make some hard choices. Sorry to be pessimistic! But this is the nature of things now that we keep hens past two years of age (which rarely happened in the past on farms.)

I agree with Terry. She and I have had the same experiences. It's a harsh reality, I'm afraid.

These threads may be helpful to you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=362422

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=195347

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ences-on-egg-reproduction-production-necropsy

 

[jettgirl24]

Thanks guys... I'm remaining hopeful but am also aware of the reality of the situation and we're prepared to dispatch her if her discomfort increases. I'm going to pick up some penicillin this afternoon at the feed store in case of infection. She is doing ok this morning, alert and doesn't seem overly uncomfortable. She's still looking like she's trying to lay when I look at her vent but she's doesn't seem like she's in pain. She's very alert - flapped around when I took her out to check her this morning and squawked up a storm when our indoor cat was looking too interested in her. She's also eating and drinking well. I'm feeding her scrambled eggs and mashed bananas with some TUMS sprinkled over it for calcium until I can pick up a proper calcium supplement this afternoon. The swelling hasn't gotten worse and *might* seem a tiny bit better today. I'll see if I can get a syringe to drain the fluid as well... Do I just use a regular needle? What gauge for the draining? If I've read the correct information 22g will be good for the penicillin but I'm guessing I'd need something larger for draining the fluid. I have my competition horse on Adequan (joint supplement) so I'm well accustomed to giving intramuscular injections, just not to chickens. I'm not familiar with having to drain fluid though, although it seems to me it would be the same principle, just going the other direction, correct?

 

[speckledhen]

You will see ups and downs with this and think she's getting better, but she won't be. Been through it so many times, I've almost lost count.

You can drain with a 20 gauge, but you'll have to draw the fluid/liquid infection out. I had a 12 cc syringe, left the needle in place, unscrewed the needle from the syringe, and squirted the stuff into a jar, then reattached the syringe to the needle, over and over again. You may not get a pocket of fluid the first time you stick in the needle, which seems impossible with such a huge belly. And you may get nothing at all.


The problem is that you won't just have fluid. There are cheesy solid masses in there, most likely. They won't come out with a needle. This is why draining alleviates pressure on her organs, helping her walk and breathe better, but won't fix the main issue.