How do you "feel" if a pullet is egg bound?

[augustmomx2]

My 5mo WR hen was not feeling well at all this morning. She didn't run out of the coop like a crazed lunatic like she usually does and is just standing in the run with her eyes closed and her tail pointed down. She is currently laying and gets the layer feed with some treats (grass & watermelon yesterday).

I picked her up attempting to see if she's egg-bound, then I realized I had no idea what the heck I'm doing! What am I feeling for and where? Her stomach, her butt? I'm just worried for her

& realized how much of a newbie I am at this chicken-stuff. TIA!

 

[Riven]

I don't know how to feel is a chicken is egg bound, and have no desire to do so.

If she has been laying and hasn't acted like this I'd watch her, if she's still like this later today or tomorrow with no egg, then I would be concerned, but if she's not feeling good poking on her probably won't help much of anything.

Eggs take appx a day to develop inside the chicken, so give her a day.

 

[stephys_fluffybutts]

to me it sounds like pneumonia rather then egg bound.
Is she sneezing or breathing hard? I have had birds that had pneumonia and didn't start breathing hard or wheezing till the last day. I would administer Penicillin G .07mml (needle)
But that was for a bantam silkie.

You need to make sure she is eating and drinking. It comes to the point you will have to force feed and water the bird. because they will be to weak. But its best to start ahead of time before they lose to much body mass.

Does the bird have really runny poop? what color is it? Try feeding her some oatmeal and give her some higher concentrated vitamins and mineral food. The best is the medicated chick food

Some people say to give them cultured yogurt. Do NOT do this. This actually inhibits the runny poop. actually after they eat the food it just runs through them and they don't get any of the nutrients that they need. That is only to use when they have an upset stomach or extra calcium to help them lay eggs properly

I have had birds be just fine after a few days giving them PenG. and others that didn't

If you can you need to have her separated from the other birds. If it is pneumonia its contagious and will pass threw the flock quickly.

Even if its egg bound
Keep her in a nice lit, clean, dry and warm place. Give her a heat lamp to keep warm. Plenty of dry clean food and fresh water. Add Real Apple cider vinegar to the water. It kills any germs that are in the water. And helps with the digestive system plus calcium absorption.

If she is egg bound the abdomen near her vent will be kind up puffy. And when you touch it its warmer then normal and kind of hard.
If she is egg bound there is not much you can do except make her comfortable and hope that it passes. Unless you are able to take her to the vet.

I really don't have any idea what to do with an egg bound bird. Sadly any of my birds that have had this have all died
So hopefully someone can help you

 

[hinkjc]

You can feel the lower abdomen (externally) by reaching in between her legs from the rear and gently massaging the belly area. It will feel really hard (like a rock) if an egg is in there. If it is really round and squishy, could be internal laying or accumulation of fluid due to infection. I do not recommend any type of internal exam, as this can cause an egg to break if not done correctly and will cause bigger problems.

Any other symptoms? How are her stools? Have you seen her eating/drinking? Does her crop have food? You mentioned giving her grass - was it mowed? If grass clipping are not chopped small enough they can cause impaction - something else to consider.

Heavy and labored breathing can mean a lot of things. Anything from "waiting on the next open nest box to drop her egg" to "very serious respiratory issues and heart failure". Just want to point out that heavy breathing is not a good symptom to try to diagnose.

 

[augustmomx2]

Thanks for all the advice

Some additional info, she is not eating or drinking. I came home during my lunch hour to check on her and she is just sitting on the roost outside with her eyes closed

I fed her a little plain yogurt out of my hand and eventually she just turned her head away.

I checked her vent and her abdomen and felt nothing. I do not see any evidence of runny poo or odd lookng poo around the coop or run. She is not breathing heavy or having any probs breathing...just very lethargic

I'm thinking it may be an impacted crop. I gave them all large weeds/grass from my garden last night and she's a pig! But how can I tell if its impacted? I do feel a large mass near her throat so I'm going home soon, feeding her evoo and massaging her crop...poor girl!

Any other info would be greatly appreciated...thanks again you guys

 

[stephys_fluffybutts]

Is she loseing any weight?

If is most likely the crop. It can bulg out of the body. Its normal.

I know its sounds horrible to force feed and water your bird but it really isnt. I have saved quite a few birds doing this. I usually give them water oraly through a syringe(without needle), . I gently open their beek and slowly drip the water at the back of the tounge. That way they can still swallow it themselves. Do it slow because it could get into the lunges and even make the pnmonia even worse. They kind of struggle a few times when you open the beak. Just don't be overly forceful that you could hurt them but eventually they get use to it. The food (baby chick medicated food) I wet and roll up into small moist balls so it is very easy for them to swallow. make sure it isnt to big or they could choke on it. Not to wet or it just passes through them and won't do any good. If it rolls into a nice ball then its perfect. But you can do it the same way as you do the water, pushing it to the very back of the tounge so they have to swallow.

And it sounds like this is what your going to have to do.

It is not something you can wait with especially if its pnemonia. You are better off going to Tractor supply and buying needles, syringes, and Pen G.

If it isnt that like I said it is good to keep around if somebody does.

 

[hinkjc]

To know if she is having crop issues, you have to check it first thing in the morning. It will be flat in the morning before they start eating. If it isn't and you still feel a ball for a crop, she could be impacted.

Some other thoughts..How long since she laid her last egg? Is her comb red or getting pale?

Did you check her over well for lice/mites? The best time to check is in the dark - take a flashlight, set her on your lap and lift the tail to check at the vent area. Bugs like it there and are easily drawn there at night to feed on them while they sleep.

Have you ever wormed? If not, inspect some stools from under the roost in the morning. Fresh is better to find visible worm problems. Even if it's not visible, they could still have them.

 

[threehorses]

Which post are you going to keep? This one or the other, so I can keep all information in one place.

I feel the issues are related.

On your other post ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2713171#p2713171 ), I replied:

First, if her crop hasn't emptied, she is impacted. Has she ever had access to grit? If not, she and all the other birds should always have that before ever having access to anything like grass, etc. And the pebbles in the environment aren't necessarily sufficient as they have different hardnesses and dissolvabilities. They can have plenty of pebbles, but that doesn't mean that the pebbles will stay whole long enough in the gizzard to digest foods. Because of the great deal of improvement in food digestion and weight gain and health when propert granite (hard) type grit is given, it's worth the 5 dollars to buy some. You'll get your money back within 3 months in feed utilization and prevention of issues like this.

IN the mean time, she will need the crop emptied out if it doesn't empty today. Feed sitting in there is rotting. That means that whatever dribbles through will be filled with bacteria and fungus. That's likely why she has the diarrhea - her good bacteria are now compromised, she's getting no nutrition, and the bad bacteria are taking over.

She will also need to have nothing to eat but easily dissolved feeds for the next week. To test, if you can put it in a glass of water for 10 minutes and come back to find it collapsed you can feed it. If not don't feed it. These include: pellets made into "crumbles" in the blender, yogurt, boiled (not scrambled) egg yolk (not whites), a little applesauce (baby food type is best and cheapest) to help cleanse the crop, perhaps some crustless bread if you need it to carry something like oil. Cooked oatmeal, too, IF you put the dry uncooked oatmeal in the food processor and break it down into tiny particles before cooking.

The yogurt's living bacteria help replace the ones that the toxic sludge seeping from her crop into her digestive tract are killing. They also help act against yeast/fungi blooms which are almost the rule in backed up crops.

The applesauce gently cleanses while providing pectin to keep the GOOD bacteria happy. Its pH is conducive to good bacteria thriving, bad bacteria and yeast not thriving. It's easily dissolved and chickens like it.

Boiled egg yolks: filled with nutrition yet easily dissolved, unlike whites or scrambled eggs. Will absorb easily so that she doesn't starve.

Oatmeal: soothing to the gut; birds love it, so it helps hide healthy stuff.

Vitamins: polyvisol non-iron fortified baby vitamins; found in the vitamin section (not baby section) of Walmart, CVS, etc. Because they're not in the water, they are more readily available and direct when given by mouth. You KNOW she's getting them. B vitamins in it will encourage her appetite, E will help inflammation and against some bacteria, A will heal her mucus lining of her crop and digestive tract.

Whether or not you empty her crop, you also would be well served by adding organic apple cider vinegar to her water for a week to help cleanse the sludge, prevent too much yeast from forming (which will just make the crop more slow), and provide living bacteria to help the digestive system not be too poisoned.

I'm also with dawn on not giving too much oil. They will only emulsify with whatever is in there and cause issues.

She will need vitamins as she's not getting nourished as the food is stuck and rotting.

So a treatment (provided her crop empties mostly) would be something like this for a week:

Oil only once a day on a tiny piece of bread.
A daily damp mash of crumbles, yogurt, boiled egg yolk, (and apple sauce every other day). Possibly some cooked oatmeal powder
3 drops of polyvisol vitamins in her beak once daily. NOT in the water or food.
OACV in the water (1 teaspoon per gallon of water)
Free choice crumbles.

Re-evaluate after four days, possibly allowing some gentle solid foods to be introduced slowly and grit at that time. NO grass, NO free range as they will only compound your problems.

Incidentally, no - sand is not big enough. Test: get sand, try to grind up grass or corn with it. it doesn't work. Offer a little more grit - free choice. I'd also highly recommend oyster shell because even Layena is only designed for a scientifically average hen, while "real life" hens can sometimes need as much as double the calcium offered in the average laying product. The manufacturers can't put double calcium in because it would poison the hens that are average or need below average. So we offer oyster shells (not egg shells) because they're an easily dissolvable form of calcium that is very easily absorbed and the chickens are drawn to it. The feed takes care of the phosphorus and vitamin D required to dissolve the oyster shell. If you do this, your new layers (like this pullet will be) will not having near the sort of laying issues they would with no oyster shell provided. It's been the standard for decades, even centuries at this point - despite all new scientific options - it's still the one of choice even by professionals. And it's cheap. smile Much less expensive than antibiotics for peritonitis caused by soft eggs. I just put mine with the grit, or in a two-hole cat feeder. (I bought mine at the dollar store - they don't tip, they're the right size, etc etc. ) Hope this helps!

 

[augustmomx2]

Quote:
They all provide info about my chicken, I don't know why I would need to "keep" one?