Eggbound White Pekin question

[prettypoppet]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to thank pollysmum for the information provided.

I have a 3 year old silkie who stopped laying after some new birds were introduced to the coop. Today my husband found her laying in the yard and not responding to her favorite foods (or pecking the young'uns). I work for an animal hospital so I came and took her in. Upon exam, she is egg bound. We gave her some butorphanol for pain and an induction drug called oxytocin. Still no egg. She has eaten and drank a small amount, but is most certainly not her spunky self. I plan to try the warm water soaks this evening.

My question is this, how long do I wait before I attempt to remove the egg manually? Her "sick" behavior just started this morning.

Thanks so much for any help!

 

[thomshap]

When I went through this with my hen, I found her in the morning, as you did. Being somewhat obsessive and new to chicken raising at the time, I waited till about 4 in the afternoon when I couldn't take her discomfort and listlessness anymore. Since you gave her the medication and nothing happened, I would say that by now, you might try going in, as I'm pretty sure chickens don't last that long not eating and especially drinking. Good luck.

 

[prettypoppet]

Thanks for your response.
'Bean' did not pass anything overnight, though she did drink some water. This morning we gave her some more pain medication and another warm soak. We sedated her and tried to manually remove the egg, which crumbled like paper when we touched it. We removed the inside of the egg with a syringe and flushed with saline. She is awake now and, with much objection, swallowed her medicine. The current plan is to monitor and treat for infection and pain. I am at my wits end about this, I feel like the worst chicken owner that I didn't catch this sooner.

Any words of wisdom? Does this sound like a wise course of action?

Thank you so much!

 

[thomshap]

Well, don't beat yourself up about it - it comes on without warning. You can't really tell it's happening until you are already at the point where your hen is in the position you found yours in. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. The biggest concern is infection if any of the shards of egg cut her up, but if you are giving her antibiotics, she should be okay. If the shell was that soft, it probably didn't cut her up, however. I might lay off the pain meds to see if she starts eating and drinking. If she still seems uncomfortable, you can always start up again.

 

[ladybuglives]

What I want to know is why this happens. Apart from obesity, is their an infectious disease that can cause chronic egg binding????