Hen Struggling to Walk

[MickWithChicks]

So these are the things that I did to help her pass the bound egg. They may help someone who comes here in the future looking for advice/information:

• Separated her straight away so she wasn't attacked by the other hens.
• Epsom Salt baths. Multiple times a day for at least 20 minutes each time.
• Gentle abdomen massage during the bath, moving towards the vent.
• Gloved finger insertion into vent to feel for egg, feeling towards the uterus as per images in post #12. Identification of bound egg.
• Using a needle-less syringe, gently inserted 5mL of baby oil into vent (she poo'ed a lot of this out about 5 minutes later).
• Applied non-medicated prep H to vent to provide some relief from the swelling.
• Continued bathing and massaging.
• Added liquid vitamin mix and liquid calcium to yoghurt, water, and layer pellets. Stirred well and fed to her. She lapped this up and really enjoyed it.
• Added liquid vitamin mix and liquid calcium to strawberries and water and blended well. This was the only way I could get her drinking enough and she really enjoyed it.
• Kept her inside at night in a crate.
• Heated a towel in the dryer and used a heater in the darkened room to warm it to close to 30°C. I read that this can encourage laying.
• Checked on her this morning to find an egg and her standing and keen to get moving

To do:

• Continue with the vitamin and calcium supplements. I do give my hens ad-lib access to shell grit, but am unsure which hens are eating it.
• Continue monitoring the abdomen swelling and her walking. The pressure on her sciatic nerve is no longer evident, but she is still walking like she's quite tender and laying on her side to give some relief to her belly.
• Take her to her vet appointment at 1730 this evening. As there's still some swelling and tenderness, they may recommend some antibiotics or something to slow the laying to allow healing of her reproductive tract.

Supplements used:

• Vetsense Avi-CALCIUM
• Vetsense Avi-VITAL
• Dine-a-Chook Mega Mineral Supplement
• Chobani Greek Yoghurt

As usual, I'll keep everyone updated after the vet visit.

 

[MickWithChicks]

I took her to her appointment this evening and all is well. The abdominal swelling was caused by the egg-binding. There were no observable tears in her uterine wall. The vet said the sciatic nerve pain was common in egg-binding cases, but to be aware that pressure on the sciatica can cause strokes in hens.

She also noted that there's a bit of purpling in her comb and that's an indication that there were some blood flow issues during the past few days.

She took an X-Ray to check to see if there were any eggs backed up, and fortunately she doesn't have any developing in her shell gland right now.

She prescribed her an antibiotic - Amoxyclav 50, taken twice daily until prescription is complete.

She also performed a fecal float to check for coccidiosis and internal parasites. Thankfully, we got the all clear, so the rest of the flock should be safe too

Her vet outlined that if binding becomes a common occurrence in her, there's an option for Suprelorin implant (hormone implant to stops egg production). It's pretty exxy though, so I don't think we'll take that route. She also mentioned that if it happens again, to bring her in straight away and they can administer oxytocin to encourage contractions to move the egg.

Here's the brave girl in the vet room:

And her X-Ray with no eggs currently being produced:

 

[rebrascora]

@nancyrat
I am so sorry that you lost your girl. Even if you had noticed her condition sooner, these things are almost always terminal. I am pretty sure your hen had something very different to egg binding. Terminal reproductive problems are sadly very common in chickens, particularly the heavier production birds.

@MickWithChicks

I'm so pleased that I was wrong and it really was a straightforward egg binding. I think the sciatic nerve can take time to fully recover after it has been "nipped".

Thank you so much for posting the very interesting result of your veterinary visit. It is so refreshing to read an account of a chicken being thoroughly examined by a vet with obvious knowledge of chickens. Would you mind posting the vet's details so that other members of BYC who are in their catchment area could visit them with confidence. Could I be horribly rude and ask how much the visit cost?.... please don't feel obliged to respond if you are not comfortable doing so, but it might be helpful to others to get an idea of how much treatments can cost.

It occurs to me that it might be helpful to build up a data base of poultry vets that BYC members can recommend, as there are so many poor ones out there when it comes to chickens.

 

[nancyrat]

Wow! This is so interesting! Thank you for sharing, I have learned a lot from both of our experiences. I'm glad yours turned out better. Your girl is quite pretty....Nancy

I took her to her appointment this evening and all is well. The abdominal swelling was caused by the egg-binding. There were no observable tears in her uterine wall. The vet said the sciatic nerve pain was common in egg-binding cases, but to be aware that pressure on the sciatica can cause strokes in hens.

She also noted that there's a bit of purpling in her comb and that's an indication that there were some blood flow issues during the past few days.

She took an X-Ray to check to see if there were any eggs backed up, and fortunately she doesn't have any developing in her shell gland right now.

She prescribed her an antibiotic - Amoxyclav 50, taken twice daily until prescription is complete.

She also performed a fecal float to check for coccidiosis and internal parasites. Thankfully, we got the all clear, so the rest of the flock should be safe too

Her vet outlined that if binding becomes a common occurrence in her, there's an option for Suprelorin implant (hormone implant to stops egg production). It's pretty exxy though, so I don't think we'll take that route. She also mentioned that if it happens again, to bring her in straight away and they can administer oxytocin to encourage contractions to move the egg.

Here's the brave girl in the vet room:

And her X-Ray with no eggs currently being produced:

 

[MickWithChicks]

I'm so pleased that I was wrong and it really was a straightforward egg binding. I think the sciatic nerve can take time to fully recover after it has been "nipped".

Haha, I'm glad you were wrong too! You were dead right about the sciatic nerve pressure and a reproductive issue though. Thankfully it was only a bound egg though and not something more nefarious. She's a bright young chook--one of the least docile I have--and I'd love for her to have many more days to come.

She's definitely recovering. The swelling is way down today, but she's still struggling to get around a bit. She's back in with the other girls and is very chipper. She's jumping over others to get to treats, so I'm very pleased with her progress!

Thank you so much for posting the very interesting result of your veterinary visit. It is so refreshing to read an account of a chicken being thoroughly examined by a vet with obvious knowledge of chickens.

No problem. The visit was as much a curiosity for me as it was to protect her. Most people on here are very DIY (which is great!), but not too many take their chooks in for clinical visits. I was curious as to what the vets could glean, whether what I had done was right, and also what else could have been done in this situation. Hence I asked a lot of questions, took photos, and got some good info about the Suprelorin implant to stop egg production for about 8 months, the Oxytocin to induce contractions to unbind an egg, and the sciatic nerve / stroke thing.

Could I be horribly rude and ask how much the visit cost?.... please don't feel obliged to respond if you are not comfortable doing so, but it might be helpful to others to get an idea of how much treatments can cost.

The visit wasn't cheap, but I had x-rays done, a fecal float test in a professional lab environment, and bought a full round of antibiotics.. It was $120AUD. I have 17 hens and 4 roosters, so I feel it was worth it for a fecal float alone. If coccidiosis or an aggressive parasite was causing the issue, I'd have known before others were affected giving me time to nip it in the bud and treat the whole flock.

The Supreloren implant was another $270 which is why I opted out. Our chooks are our pets and we don't want them in pain, but I just couldn't justify the cost. They're outside and they're prey animals, not some exotic rare talking bird that's kept for show.

A local rescue keeps a record of a lot of the reputable avian vets in the state. Their list is here and definitely worth a bookmark: http://www.henrescue.org/single-post/2015/09/13/Chicken-Vets-NSW-ACT

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Wow! This is so interesting! Thank you for sharing, I have learned a lot from both of our experiences. I'm glad yours turned out better. Your girl is quite pretty....Nancy

Absolutely no problem! So sorry that you lost your girl. Hopefully some of the information I share here will help you or others in the future. It seems I got really lucky that it affected her sciatica as I was able to identify the issue and respond really quickly. Your girl was likely acting normally until she turned for the worse. Unfortunately chickens have a habit of doing that and it's unlikely there was much you could have done. It sounds like you really cared for her, and I'm so sorry you had to lose your pet.

If you can, it might be worth reaching out to some of your local vets and enquiring about their costs to administer Oxytocin to an egg-bound hen. My vet said if it happens again, call it in as an emergency and they'll administer it straight away.