Is this also considered egg binding?

[leighks]

I have a 3 year old red sex link hen named Rosie. A few times a spring/summer she goes through a little egg glitch, and she’s doing it again right now. She lays almost every day in the warm weather but she didn’t lay yesterday or today. She is hunched up a bit but not straining or tail bobbing. She will eat and move but slowly. When this has happened before, she has layed a soft shelled or shell-less egg overnight while roosting and I find it in the morning. She was acting fine until early this evening.

My questions are:
1. Is this egg binding?
2. Should I do anything? Because in the past the egg that she lays overnight after being sick like this has always been soft, I am very reluctant to feel or press on her abdomen for fear of rupturing it inside her.
3. Is there something I can do to prevent this? It happens maybe 3-4 times per spring/ summer. The last time it happened was in April (which was also the first time it happened this year).

If she doesn’t pass the egg overnight I will call the vet tomorrow, but in the past she has always passed it the night she starts acting sick. I know her breed is prone to reproductive issues. Other then this occasional glitch she has nice hard shells. She eats later feed and has access to oyster shells at all times. I feel so bad because I know she’s uncomfortable but not sure if a warm bath would help or stress her out even more.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

As a 3 year old sexlink, yes, she will be prone to reproductive issues as she is a hybrid (not a breed) made for high laying. So, troubles develop about now, and the industry culls them at about 2 to 3 years of age. They weren't selected for long term, just high lay. I find my RSL's play out at about 3 years almost without fail.

What you can do to help her is give her more calcium. RSL produce so many eggs that they often become depleted from calcium. Making sure she has both oyster shell and good quality layer feed may help some.

Soft shelled eggs are harder to pass, so you will get symptoms of egg binding, though not truly egg bound. Likely she will always pass the egg sometime in the night with a bit of straining. Soft shell eggs can cause vent prolapse if they have to strain too much, but usually not unless the hen is prone.

Even if you broke the egg in her, it would simply pass, but again, she likely will pass it without your help. There isn't much a vet can do that you can't unless infection sets in and you need antibiotics.

The last thing to keep in mind is that her shell gland may be beginning to fail, so you may see this happening more, or you may simply see her stop laying. Check her carefully if she stops laying as then she may be internally laying soft shells. You will recognize the penguin walk and unthriftiness.

So try more calcium supplements for Ginger and hope for the best. But again, I personally have had my RSLs succumb to something by 3.5 years.

My thoughts.
LofMc

 

[leighks]

As a 3 year old sexlink, yes, she will be prone to reproductive issues as she is a hybrid (not a breed) made for high laying. So, troubles develop about now, and the industry culls them at about 2 to 3 years of age. They weren't selected for long term, just high lay. I find my RSL's play out at about 3 years almost without fail.

What you can do to help her is give her more calcium. RSL produce so many eggs that they often become depleted from calcium. Making sure she has both oyster shell and good quality layer feed may help some.

Soft shelled eggs are harder to pass, so you will get symptoms of egg binding, though not truly egg bound. Likely she will always pass the egg sometime in the night with a bit of straining. Soft shell eggs can cause vent prolapse if they have to strain too much, but usually not unless the hen is prone.

Even if you broke the egg in her, it would simply pass, but again, she likely will pass it without your help. There isn't much a vet can do that you can't unless infection sets in and you need antibiotics.

The last thing to keep in mind is that her shell gland may be beginning to fail, so you may see this happening more, or you may simply see her stop laying. Check her carefully if she stops laying as then she may be internally laying soft shells. You will recognize the penguin walk and unthriftiness.

So try more calcium supplements for Ginger and hope for the best. But again, I personally have had my RSLs succumb to something by 3.5 years.

My thoughts.
LofMc

Thank you. Yes it makes sense to get her more calcium, I crushed up a Tums in yogurt and she ate it. I wonder if it would be beneficial to give her a Tums regularly, like weekly, in addition to the layer feed and oyster shells. I will have to research into that.
She is such a sweet hen, the smartest in my mixed flock. I would hate to lose her at this young age. I will update the post tomorrow (it’s almost 9pm where I am now) and hopefully she has passed it.

 

[leighks]

I just checked on her (it’s after 10 pm here) and she had laid a very thin shelled egg while roosting tonight. I’m glad she got it out and hopefully she should be back to normal by morning.

 

[leighks]

Final update- Rosie was back to her normal, active self this morning. She is a morning layer, and this morning she laid a very thin shelled egg in the nest box (which was broken) so in the last 12 hours yes she laid 2 thin shelled eggs. Her laying seems to be back on schedule and in the past she had gone back to normal egg shells after having this little glitch.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I would continue to supplement her calcium. She will likely have episodes like this from time to time getting more frequent then stop laying altogether as she ages.

I stopped getting RSLs simply because I got tired of having to change over the flock every 2 years due to these problems. I have now a sustained flock of homegrown mutts (olive eggers and utility Barnevelder) that lay less prolific but I am getting to where I have numerous hens aging to 3, 4, and even 5, and still laying decently and keeping up with the flock.

Good luck with Rosie. May she have a long life yet.
LofMc

 

[leighks]

This is my first flock and it’s a mixed group, I didn’t realize sex links could have so many issues.
Sounds like your mixed flock is doing well, that’s awesome! Mutts of any species often seem to be healthy in general.
I will keep up with Rosie’s supplements. Thanks for the kind words, hoping she has many good years ahead of her too!