Eggbound hen with lice

[PioneerChicks]

My flock currently has an extreme lice infesattion, and it has caused several of my hens to become egg bound. Three of my hens who got egg bound didn't make it, but Penny got her egg out after a few days, and it was huge--no wonder she was egg bound! There is a picture below of her huge rubbery, non-shelled egg compared to a normal egg (it had the texture and looks of a boiled egg, but I didn't eat it).

But now, two weeks later, Penny is egg bound again, and I am looking for advice. I plan on giving her a warm, epsom salt bath in the morning, then treating her with diatomaceous earth again. Penny is separated from all of my flock except one young silkie rooster who has a hurt leg, who I don't think will cause her any stress. Other than baths, I'm not doing anything, though I feel like I could do more.

As for the lice, I am cleaning my coop once a week by dusting everything with diatomaceous earth, letting it sit for an hour, then covering it with sawdust and opening it back up to the chickens. Once a week I treat all my chickens with a pinch of diatomaceous earth under each wing and around the vent, and they have access to dust baths all day.

I don't know what else to do but my egg bound hens keep dying anyway, what do I do? And how do I stop a major lice infestation that won't go away?

 

[azygous]

You can't stop a major or even a minor infestation of lice with DE. A pinch under the wings will do about as much good as a dash of black pepper or a sprinkling of salt.

You need to buy permethrin poultry dusting powder and dust every square centimeter of skin on every chicken. Permethrin is a natural product and harmless to chickens.

The egg binding may or may not be coincidental and nothing more. It can be caused by inadequate calcium absorption, so giving a calcium supplement, calcium citrate 400mg or more, often helps. You can get it where you find people vitamins. Find one that also contains vitamin D3.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There is a picture below of her huge rubbery, non-shelled egg compared to a normal egg (it had the texture and looks of a boiled egg, but I didn't eat it).

But now, two weeks later, Penny is egg bound again, and I am looking for advice. I plan on giving her a warm, epsom salt bath in the morning, then treating her with diatomaceous earth again. Penny is separated from all of my flock except one young silkie rooster who has a hurt leg, who I don't think will cause her any stress. Other than baths, I'm not doing anything, though I feel like I could do more.

I'm sorry for your losses and that Penny is not doing well

I agree, use a Permethrin based poultry spray/dust or Spinosad to treat your flock and housing for the lice.

That odd "egg" she laid a couple of weeks ago - rubbery and textured. Do you still have it? If you do, can you cut that open for us?
To me, that looks like a Lash Egg or Salpingitis which is an inflammation of the oviduct.
Has your flock ever had any symptoms of respiratory illness - sneezing, coughing, water eyes, mucous, etc.?
Sometimes if caught very early and antibiotic can be used to help with infection, but it's not cure. Do keep in mind that most antibiotics are not approved for use in meat/egg layers, so that is something you want to look into and consider before treatment.

I hope soaking her will give her some relief and she will be able to pass the egg. What comes out, if you can please take photos. If it's another rubbery type egg and "solid" if you don't mind, please cut it open.

Here's some reading about Salpingitis.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/
https://the-chicken-chick.com/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by/