Hen in distress seems egg-bound, but no egg

[Heidis Happy Hens]

One of my 14 month old Buff Orpington hens has been puffing up and hanging out in a nesting box since yesterday afternoon. She is panting a lot because its hot in the hen house. I physically checked her vent for an egg and there is none. Her poop seems a little runny, but like I said it has been hot the last couple of days. I saw her drinking water yesterday evening but haven't noticed her eating or drinking much today. Now she is in the nesting box in a position to lay an egg and seems to be struggling. And I checked her just half an hour ago so I don't think there is an egg to lay. I'd like to help her; should I treat her as if she were egg-bound? Or what else do you think it could be?

Thanks for your help!

 

[i_only_listen_to_dgd]

I had an experience with this happening to a hen during one summer. It was like you said -- all the signs pointed to being egg bound but we couldn't feel an egg and she never even laid one till way after she was "cured"... cured of what, I don't know, but we treated her like she was egg bound. Brought her inside out of the heat, epsom salt baths, mineral oil or vaseline on vent, gave her a Tums tablet, fed her a cooked egg. Just watched her. She got better within a few days. It can't hurt, I don't think, to treat as being egg bound. What I would do personally right now is just keep her separate so you can watch her, feed her an egg, put vaseline on vent. Maybe wait on the bath for a bit in case it is something else and you don't stress her out without good reason. But most importantly I would get her out of the heat. I live where the summers get quite hot so I've definitely seen the heat cause panting, runny poop, and lethargy. It really could be the heat alone. The warm weather can also trigger broodiness but either way take her somewhere cool for sure.

 

[Heidis Happy Hens]

I had an experience with this happening to a hen during one summer. It was like you said -- all the signs pointed to being egg bound but we couldn't feel an egg and she never even laid one till way after she was "cured"... cured of what, I don't know, but we treated her like she was egg bound. Brought her inside out of the heat, epsom salt baths, mineral oil or vaseline on vent, gave her a Tums tablet, fed her a cooked egg. Just watched her. She got better within a few days. It can't hurt, I don't think, to treat as being egg bound. What I would do personally right now is just keep her separate so you can watch her, feed her an egg, put vaseline on vent. Maybe wait on the bath for a bit in case it is something else and you don't stress her out without good reason. But most importantly I would get her out of the heat. I live where the summers get quite hot so I've definitely seen the heat cause panting, runny poop, and lethargy. It really could be the heat alone. The warm weather can also trigger broodiness but either way take her somewhere cool for sure.

Thank you so much for your reply. I read it last night and prepared to move her to cooler shelter today when it warmed back up, but it turned out to be a cooler day. Maybe she is just being very dramatically broody? She again wants to spend all her time in nesting boxes. She is walking fine and drinking water. I haven't caught her eating anything yet. And she isn't really panting much more than the other hens. Her underside does feel much warmer than usual, but maybe because she's laying around so much?