Not Egg-Bound - Just broody!

[TheIvoryKitty]

Well, my little silkie, Choco is egg bound (I think). She has been broody recently, sitting on clusters of the other chickens' eggs all day for the last week.

I thought she was being her regular broody self when I went out yesterday to steal the eggs from under her, but I noticed that she wasn't sitting on one of her own. Later in the day she was still sitting there with no eggs beneath her, and her vent was flexing a lot. I thought maybe having a difficult time laying an egg.

I left her alone all the rest of the day and night. This morning I went out and she was in the very same spot, and none of the eggs under her were hers. I went to work, came home, and she's still in the same spot with no egg. She was still acting like she was trying to push.

I decided to try to help her. I put her in a warm sink-bath and she hated it! I read that egg-bound hens LIKE warm baths and that it calms them, but this was doing the exact opposite so I stopped trying. Then I got some vegetable oil and gently lubed the inside of her vent. I set her outside after she was dry, and she passed a huge, solid, egg-shaped poo. Then she seemed much happier, and ran around with the other chickens.

I thought - this is great! She's obviously feeling much better!

Now, two hours later she's back in her same spot, pushing and acting like she cant get an egg out...

I thought an egg-bound chicken could not poop (that being one of the reasons they die), so wouldn't her pooping imply that she was not egg-bound?

PS: I don't feel anything hard like an egg around there either.

 

[KFaye]

I had a similary situation but she enjoyed the bath and eventually dropped a yoke a day then a soft egg. Now nothing for a week but she is eating, drinking and active , gaining weight too So I haven't been concerned over the lack of eggs.

Sad that she is still suffering. Maybe since she pooped would she be interested in another warm bath?

 

[TheIvoryKitty]

I might try that again. I just thought that since the point was to relax their muscles enough to pass the egg, that making her upset probably did the opposite.

 

[TheIvoryKitty]

Okay - she was still acting like she couldn't pass an egg yesterday and today, so I brought her in and gave her another bath (like you suggested). She seemed a little more okay with it today (it was a bit warmer) and she stayed in for about 3 minutes before she couldn't take it anymore. I had to do the vegetable oil thing (again) - who guess having chickens meant doing gynecological procedures? - and immediately she passed another big, egg-sized, solid poop.

I put her outside and she's happy-go-lucky again, running around and eating like she's never eaten before...



But this happened last time too, and she was right back in with the same problem again a few hours later.

I've never dealt with this type of thing before - could it be she's not getting enough water, so she's enormously constipated all the time? She has as much water available as the other girls. Could it be a problem with her diet? They have lay-feed in their run and they go out and eat whatever they want all day in the yard (lots of mulberries - but I thought that gives them the runs, not constipation). Could it be that this has something to do with soft eggs mixing with poop? I have no idea if that happens.

I still haven't seen an actual egg come out of her for three days now... which made me think she was egg-bound. She was a one-a-day layer.

 

[TheIvoryKitty]

She's right back to huddling inside, acting egg-bound. I wish someone knew what was going on with her....

 

[TheIvoryKitty]

Okay well I'm thinking I've found out the answer for anyone that has this problem one day, happens along this thread through a search and wishes the answer was posted...

I think this is a combination problem. I think that because she is broody she has stopped laying - which is what made me think she was egg bound - not so. She has not been going out to drink or eat because she's so broody, and so she's been having 'broody poos', and the lack of water is what I think is making them so solid and hard to pass. She's been straining to get them out, so the steps used to help a hen pass an egg-bound egg also helped her with her constipation. I think the problem is persisting because she just wants to run right back in the henhouse to be broody again.

So the answer, I guess, is to help her with her broody poo constipation and then force her to stop being broody.


Now, how to make her not be broody, and drink more water?... we're on a whole different playing field now! (But I feel a little better that maybe I've figured it out).

 

[TheIvoryKitty]

Choco. Reminding us that if you remove a broody hen from her nestbox, you are no longer friends.

 

[gallopingfrog]

So question: How is Choco?

I have a White Leghorn that is acting the exact same way, but after several exams (over the last five days) she doesn't have an egg stuck in her. I noticed around the last time she laid an egg (about 4 days ago) that she remained on the nest after laying (something I haven't seen her do). She still strains like she's pushing out an egg, and she stays almost all day in the nesting box, but she'll pop out every now and then (usually close to dusk) and act completely normal. If she was egg bound I'd assume that she'd have bit the dust by now.

 

[jbs]

I realize this is an older thread, but gallopingfrog you posted fairly recently and i'm wondering how your hen is doing? I have a Cuckoo Maran that I thought was egg bound, but it's been more than 5 days now and I'm assumng she would have died if she was really egg bound. She's not snappy like a broody hen, but I'm treating her like she's broody now. I have her locked out of the coop because she keeps sitting in the nest box, she slept in the nest box last night.

I've spent the last 3 days soaking her in warm water and doing unimaginable things to her vent. When i kick her out of the nest box she seems fine, she free ranges, eats, dust bathes, etc. She's not puffed up or acting sick at all, but this is a hen that lays a lot of soft shelled eggs that tend to crack, so she seems like a hen that might have a calcium/egg bound issue. I hope there's nothing serious wrong with her. I've been dreading checking the coop in the mornings because i'm afraid i'm going to find her dead, but she's still very perky. I'm starting to think she enjoys the warm baths.

 

[Keokea]

Aloha All! I know this is a very old thread, but I have a Buff Orpington doing all of the things you all mentioned. She’s keeping my other girls from laying because she is a nesting area hog. JBS and Galloping Frog, what became of your girls?

Pecky has normal poops, and she eats when I kick her out of the box. She just spends all night in there and flexes her vent. She runs fine, seems healthy other than the fact that she spends all day and night in that box. We’d love to hear what happened with your girls please. Thank you in advance!