My hen Onyx struggles mightily every time she needs to lay. She lays one egg a week. For 12 hours before she lays she is in obviously terrible pain. Hunched over, wings on the ground, eyes closed, laboring to breathe, not flocking, barely moving for 12 hours.
It really feels quite terrible to watch her suffer like this, every week, for the last 3 years of her life. I'm wondering if it is a safe option to secure a vet that would perform surgery to remove her egg organs, so that she may live out the rest of her life without this pain.
I know that anesthesia and surgery is never 100% safe and that on the whole, it is best to avoid it if possible. So, I have a dilemma. On top of this, she is a very tiny chicken, 550 grams in size, and I'm unsure if her smallness would increase mortality for surgical procedure.
What should I do?
It really feels quite terrible to watch her suffer like this, every week, for the last 3 years of her life. I'm wondering if it is a safe option to secure a vet that would perform surgery to remove her egg organs, so that she may live out the rest of her life without this pain.
I know that anesthesia and surgery is never 100% safe and that on the whole, it is best to avoid it if possible. So, I have a dilemma. On top of this, she is a very tiny chicken, 550 grams in size, and I'm unsure if her smallness would increase mortality for surgical procedure.
What should I do?
