PLEASE HELP~Eggbound, I feel an egg, hen wont leave box

[kassy68]

Hen was a year this spring:
I have a hen who was in and outta the box all day yesterday.. but no egg.. Today I noticed her in the box and would not come out since early morning.. if I pull her out, she jumps back in.. About 1pm after watching her and listening to her perkalate with small moments of grunting while she was laying. I went to take her out to give her a bath and see if there was an egg and she shot liquid watery yellow diarhea all over me and the ground and then a little more when I got her in the tub.. I did the bath.. she ate a little yogurt etc.. she's back out there.. after several attempts to feel an egg on the outside.. I got brave and went in. I can feel an egg, but its not the shell part, I feel it through a membrane lining, I must be in the wrong tube. EEEK. LOL I think I got it to mover closer as when I was done after the 3rd time I could put my finger on the far in and put gentle pressure on the egg towards the vent.. I dont' know which way to go when I get in and dont know which way to move the egg. Do you know how to get in to the egg to add some lubricant to the uterus opening??

I'm trying to catch this before she looses all energy , she's still alert, but doesnt fight me a whole lot. Thanks

OK.. rethinking.. I do feel a hard egg.. but if she was eggbound wouldnt I feel it closer to the vent as in the shell.

 

[kassy68]

Anyone? Nope?

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Oh dear. I hope someone that is online today can help you out.

 

[MistyValley]

bumping for my friend.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Oh dear, it looks like the experts all off line. I wonder if you added **Please help*** to the subject line if that would help.

 

[kassy68]

Quote:
thanks.. I'm trying it..
I think everyones eating dinner.. maybe they'll answer after dinner..
Not that I didn't put the poor thing heck today , but she's still in the box, and will not eat any food.. hopefully she is still drinking. I have food and water sitting next to her and I do take her out randomly to make her walk around.. Just thinking back to my childbirthing and pregnant dogs.. LOL. walkings sposed to move things down.. LOL.. she doenst walk though.. LOL jumps back to the box after glaring at me

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

The thing to do is to relax the hen. It REALLY GOOD that there isn't a shell yet! If you could feel the membrane, how close to the vent was it? When our hen was eggbound, I could feel the egg (outside) around the middle of her body, nowhere near the vent. Isolate her and monitor her closely.
Sometime the hen gets eggbound without the shell formed. Make sure she passes the yolk and the white, if it the egg breaks. If the egg isn't broken, then try to make sure that it doesn't break.
I don't know anything about meat hens, we raise ours as pets, but, judging from the experience that we had with our hen, she will be prone to this for as long as she keeps laying eggs. Make sure she has calcium after this, and she may get through the winter without another incident, since they naturally slow down egg production anyway.
The key now is to keep her calm, relaxed, and quiet. It helped ours to quietly walk around a little bit. Get her to relax the muscles around the egg. Warm water helps, but only if it doesn't scare her. Mainly, whatever works to calm her down, whatever she seems to want to do. Hope she comes through alright!

Edited: That's good that she's jumping! The last time ours was eggbound (she died that time), she could barely move and was clearly in pain.

 

[kassy68]

Being that the egg track is really long I don't know how close it is to the vent.. Not close enough cuz I can't see it.. (grin)

I have big hands and I can put my index finger on the back side or top or the egg , I can move my finger around and feel the whole egg. Its really hard as its shelled. Would it fill this way in the membrance also before it gets to the uterus and gets shelled? I'm getting ready to go check on her. She was in the nesting box last night when I shut the doors, I covered her with a peice of fleece and did did not try to move away from it.

 

[kassy68]

oK... brought her in for a nice warm bath, which she lost more yellow fluid and it didn't seem to smell.. which makes me think maybe she broke an egg

Anyway, I brought her into the sink and placed her in the bath water and she sat down and seemed to enjoy it. she would randomly get up and stand , then sit back down.. she did that about 4 times in the 20 minutes. then she went into convulsions and died instantly.... maybe I baked her, I don't know.. she was acting like she enjoyed it... Now to do the first time necroposy... to go research.. I am thinking I have to bleed her out first , which will be gross..

 

[Judy]

If you could put your hands in the water without discomfort, you didn't bake her. There is probably nothing more you could have done.

If you figure out anything, let us know.

On the FAQ page there are links to good threads about eggbound and similar problems.