Please Help! Eggbound & Possible Prolapsed Vent

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

I'm very relieved to hear your hen is doing better! I had a hen pass from being egg bound a few months ago – and ever since I've been worried about the same thing happening to my other hens. A good nights rest should do her well after this stressful day. You're doing great!

I am so sorry to hear that your hen passed away. I was definitely afraid my little Leeli would die. I'm still worried about what might happen in the next couple days, but I am glad to see improvement right now.
I truly hope that all of your hens remain happy and healthy! Thank you for your kind words.

 

[azygous]

Since she had a shell-less egg, she should have a calcium citrate once a day for the next several days until she's laying eggs with a normal shell. She may not lay another egg for a while. In that case, do the calcium for five days and then stop.

If you ever see a hen standing still, not moving around much, acting like she's got something on her mind and not knowing what to do, her tail may be low, and her shoulders hunched, give a calcium citrate immediately. I keep a bottle in my run at all times so I can treat a hen that may be egg bound right away. Often, the calcium works in about one hour. Sometimes, it takes two days and more calcium.

 

[Starrponies]

SHE LAYED AN EGG!!!!!!!!
Thank the Lord!!

I'm so happy right now for you both!

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

Since she had a shell-less egg, she should have a calcium citrate once a day for the next several days until she's laying eggs with a normal shell. She may not lay another egg for a while. In that case, do the calcium for five days and then stop.

If you ever see a hen standing still, not moving around much, acting like she's got something on her mind and not knowing what to do, her tail may be low, and her shoulders hunched, give a calcium citrate immediately. I keep a bottle in my run at all times so I can treat a hen that may be egg bound right away. Often, the calcium works in about one hour. Sometimes, it takes two days and more calcium.

Oh this is incredibly helpful! I will definitely follow your directions and also keep a bottle of calcium out there. These are very helpful signs to look for. You have been incredibly informative and wonderful at giving advice. Thank you for your time and help! Leeli is still sleeping peacefully right now. She had a little sugar water about half an hour to and hour ago.

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

Unfortunately Leeli passed away a couple minutes ago. She was fast asleep and suddenly woke up and began to throw up a lot. I think she may have choked on something when she threw up. I'm not exactly sure what happened or why. We tried everything we could.
She was such a sweet chicken and I'm going to miss her so much.
Thank you all for the help! Hopefully now we are prepared for the next time. Thankfully she was very comfortable.
Thank you all again for being there for the help and comfort.

 

[azygous]

We are sad, too. She may have been exhausted beyond her endurance.

 

[Starrponies]

A wonderful chicken loved by wonderful owners who cared for her deeply. My heart hurts for you all.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Oh no, this is terrible news! I’m so very sorry for your baby As Azygous said, she may have just been too exhausted from all of this.

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

Thank you all for your comfort.

I agree, I think she was so exhausted that she was even to the point she wouldn't even stand up to throw up. Then instead began to choke because she had no energy left to expell it from her mouth. Even after she layed the egg she didn't really change and perk up. Instead she just didn't move.


I cried myself to sleep last night and I really want to know my best to prevent this again. Does anyone know the best thing to do when a chicken is choking?


Why might she have thrown up? Was it possibly because I gave her too much calcium because of the Tums and the citrate pills? Or is the calcium citrate I gave her not good for chickens? I tried to compare it to the bottle on the article and it had two extra ingredients (Ours was the one from Walgreens. I gave her one and a half pills. She probably only ate 1/2 - 3/4 of a Tums too.) Could that have been an issue?


Or could it be we improperly feed her with the syringe? When she choked it was a while after anything with the syringe, so I'm not sure why it would be related. I'm just not sure though. Once when we did it she sneezed a couple times and then seemed fine for a while.


We tried everything we could to get her to stop choking but we were at a loss as to what to do as she stopped breathing. I'm going to try to delve into what I should do when the emergency comes next time for another precious chickie.

Thank you all again for your help! I'm glad to have learned from such encouraging people. I want to be as prepared as possible so I can do everything I can.

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

I had also given her one drop of this in her Tums.

I have one more question. We had gotten a huge 76 gram double yoke egg the other day. I wasn't sure which hen it was. It's possible it was hers. Do you think that this could have triggered an issue? Like maybe if it was her huge egg she used up all her resources to make it and it set her back? If another huge egg comes should I give all my hens a bunch of extra calcium just in case?