Hen Eggbound Again

[cereall]

My favorite quail Sigourney was eggbound 2 weeks ago; I had her in my house for 3 days and I gave her epsom salt baths, put mineral oil on and in her vent, and fed her lots of oyster shell but she just couldn't pass the egg. I finally took her to the vet where 7 eggs were removed, 2 fully formed soft shells and 5 half formed shells. I can feel another egg now and once again it's a soft shell. Throughout the ordeal she has still passed completely normal looking poop and has been eating, drinking, and running around like normal. Sigourney is my only broody quail and she's like a household pet now. Is there anything I can do to help her?

 

[muscovylove]

So sorry to hear that! Did the vet think an infection might be causing laying problems? Or another reason? Can you cease laying for her, force molt or hormone treatment?
Not quail but we had dry pox with out chickens, some had serious laying issues for months as a result.
Good luck and fingers crossed for your sweet quail.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I am sorry you are having a problem with her. It sounds like you are doing everything you can to help her. Let us know how she does.

 

[cereall]

The vet just thought that the egg was soft so it just got squished around by contractions that would push a normal hard shelled egg out. It's really weird that she can't form normal eggs since she has been laying for at least 2 months and all the other quails have super thick shells because they've been fed oyster shell for 3 months. I would be fine if she never laid any eggs again and was just a pet but I don't know how to get her to stop laying, does anyone know how?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Was she able to pass the egg?

Even though she has oyster shell for calcium you may need to give her some calcium to help her with contractions to get the egg out. I don't know much about quail so hopefully others will chime in...usually for a chicken a whole crushed TUMS can be given. So for your quail, I would try to give about 1/4 or less (1x a day until the egg comes out). Crush it and sprinkle it over some chopped egg.
If you have some Poultry Nutri-Drench give her some of that as well. About 5drops.
See that she is drinking well. Dehydration makes it worse.

Some causes of soft shell eggs include not enough calcium, vitamin/nutritional deficiencies, stress, illness or defective shell gland.

Since you do have vet care, you may want to consult them again - they may have liquid calcium they can give her or they may need to extract the egg. To help her stop laying, you can try placing her in the dark for 16hours a day, but this would not be a good idea long term. The only thing I know that could possibly help long term would be a Suprelorin Implant. This can be done for chickens, but again, I don't know if it's possible with quail.

I am assuming the reproductive system is similar to chickens, the worry would be that she begins to "not" expel the eggs and infection set in or egg matter starts to drop back into the abdomen causing Egg Yolk Peritonitis.

Just some ideas. Let us know how she is doing.