Poor girls. It is so hard. Eli laid her egg this morning (though there may be another to come as she skipped a few days). I haven't collected it yet but on the camera it looks large relative to Bernie's egg and the ceramic egg but not huge.
For her and for you. Like everyone I really really hope it is a young layer's glitch.
I've had two hens that were chronically egg bound, Vanille and Blanche. Unfortunately, I don't have any really useful advice.
Regarding weak legs, I had the feeling that when the egg is stuck they don't want to make big moves in fear of breaking it.
What we tried that made no noticeable difference : changing feed, giving calcium and vitamins in the water, giving warm baths with or without Epsom salt.
After a time all we did was give basic supportive care.We kept a dog crate always on hand so that when Vanille was too unwell she could stay there during the day and often sleep in it at night with a warm water bag. Blanche never agreed to stay in there.
I always made sure to leave water and crushed eggshells near to where they were trying to pass the egg out.
When the egg bound things went on for more than a few days, I gave scrambled eggs and yogurt in between for extra nutrition as they don't eat as much as usual.
As you probably remember Blanche survived this, though it went on for a few months. She is near the end now but it's not from reproductive disease. Vanille died from it at two years and nine months, and it began a month after she started to lay. Although she was very often in pain she enjoyed life to the fullest in the meantime and stayed alpha hen and our one and only favorite until the end.
I certainly hope Eli is more lucky than Vanille, or even Blanche, but I guess I'm trying to say don't give up on her if this goes on.
Vanille in the dog crate in June 2020.
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Enjoying life ten months later.
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She is looking OK but when I go out to give her a bit of beef as a reward I will check for prolapse.
