RIP Hawk, EYP, Ruptured oviduct, or Egg binding?

[ahudson]

My beautiful girl Hawk an Easter egger passed away last night. She started showing symptoms of egg binding Thursday. My friend and I did everything we could, epson salt baths, lube, massaging. My friend put her finger inside her to feel where the egg was, she said she could feel the hardness of the egg but it didn’t feel like a shell, it felt like the wall of the oviduct. It was under her cloaca, but no matter how much we pushed it would not move up to be visible from her cloaca. When my friend felt the egg she said said she thinks it’s in her abdomen, it was to far down to be in the oviduct. She was still pooping all the way up to about 5 hours before she died. She hadn’t laid since late December, and all of her eggs since I got her in early November were weird, they were either misshapen, bumpy, or very soft like they had a shell but if you put any pressure they cracked, she even gave me a couple eggs with no shell at all. Like I’m talking in the 2 months I had her that she was laying I only got a few normal eggs, and she laid almost everyday. The last month her poop had been runny and green, I treated for worms but it didn’t change it. I also tried different foods in her diet. She came from a friend that a predator got in and killed the rest of the flock, she managed to escape and I took her in. I couldn’t get her to the vet, the closest appt was Tuesday. She passed as peacefully as I could possibly get for her, she died in her sleep last night at 10pm. She got so much love and affection her last few days and especially yesterday, she was such a sweet girl. I just want to try to learn from this horrible experience so I can do better for my others. I couldn’t bring myself to cut her open to see where the egg actually was. So I just want opinions, does this sound like normal binding or does it sound like something went horribly wrong with her oviduct and the shelled egg ended up in her abdomen.

 

[ahudson]

I want to add that although she was pooping the last few days it was very liquid and yellow the liquid part was clear the “poop” was yellow, it had a very strong ammonia smell and it smelled pretty awful.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Due to her almost always wonky eggs, she could have just had overall issues reproductively. It could have also been a fluid buildup in her abdomen and not an egg. Honestly without cutting her open, you can only really speculate (honestly very fair to not want to do that to a pet). But with her constant weird eggs, I do believe it had something to do with that at least.

I had a hen that had major reproductive issues as well that wasted away in a similar way. It sucks but in cases such as these, there is hardly anything you can do You gave her your best and she lived a wonderful life

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I'm sorry for your loss. It is especially hard to lose such a sweetie.

I'm not an expert here, but this reminds me of two hens I had. So I'm writing from that perspective.

With that laying history it sounds to me like she could have had one or more infections, probably due to EYP, which leaves scarring in the tract and makes further infections likely. I haven't experienced EYP exactly, but did have a hen that got some kind of infection in her gut. I tube fed her for a few weeks, she rallied, but then faded and died.

Your Hawk could have had a reproductive cancer. Both these problems could have been at work at the same time. If she was managing with the EYP, eventually the cancer will make everything impossible. Or the scarring from the EYP will. What felt like an egg may have been tumour or a hard mass of infection, or an egg trapped in tumor or scar tissue.

If she wasn't laying this way with your friend before you got her, do you think the attack could have contributed, such as breaking an egg inside her, causing the initial EYP?

In any case, both of these problems are not really preventable. Possibly with the first EYP, medication to control / limit the infection can help, but it's likely to recur because scarring is almost inevitable and antibiotics aren't likely to totally clear it.

Cancer is not preventable. Certain high production breeds are prone to reproductive cancer. We've bred chickens to be laying machines with no thought to what will happen to them after 18 - 24 months.

The best you can do is make them comfortable with pain control. Pain meds, and if she develops ascites from cancer, draining, which may be a temporary comfort measure for her, but is not a cure. I had a hen with diagnosed cancer. Draining gave her momentary relief, and for some a draining can help them for months, but after one day she was back to really hurting despite it all, and I had her euthanized.

Just want to reassure you that there was likely nothing you could do to prevent her ailments.

 

[Bawkbok]

In any case, both of these problems are not really preventable. Possibly with the first EYP, medication to control / limit the infection can help, but it's likely to recur because scarring is almost inevitable and antibiotics aren't likely to totally clear it.

@ahudson, I'm sorry you lost your girl. It's always difficult to know for sure and frustrating when we want to help and our efforts seem to fall short.
I'm copying ChicoryBlue's comment as this is what happened to our girl. We recently lost a hen to EYP - confirmed with necropsy. She seemed to rally back after a round of antibiotics, seemed normal until she wasn't for another round of down, then up again. They are stoic and resilient and can apparently deal with EYP and various related infections for a while before the body just can't take it anymore. Not much - or anything - you can do with reproductive issues.

Just offering this in case it helps to understand what happened to Hawk.

 

[AinaWGSD]

My beautiful girl Hawk an Easter egger passed away last night. She started showing symptoms of egg binding Thursday. My friend and I did everything we could, epson salt baths, lube, massaging. My friend put her finger inside her to feel where the egg was, she said she could feel the hardness of the egg but it didn’t feel like a shell, it felt like the wall of the oviduct. It was under her cloaca, but no matter how much we pushed it would not move up to be visible from her cloaca. When my friend felt the egg she said said she thinks it’s in her abdomen, it was to far down to be in the oviduct. She was still pooping all the way up to about 5 hours before she died. She hadn’t laid since late December, and all of her eggs since I got her in early November were weird, they were either misshapen, bumpy, or very soft like they had a shell but if you put any pressure they cracked, she even gave me a couple eggs with no shell at all. Like I’m talking in the 2 months I had her that she was laying I only got a few normal eggs, and she laid almost everyday. The last month her poop had been runny and green, I treated for worms but it didn’t change it. I also tried different foods in her diet. She came from a friend that a predator got in and killed the rest of the flock, she managed to escape and I took her in. I couldn’t get her to the vet, the closest appt was Tuesday. She passed as peacefully as I could possibly get for her, she died in her sleep last night at 10pm. She got so much love and affection her last few days and especially yesterday, she was such a sweet girl. I just want to try to learn from this horrible experience so I can do better for my others. I couldn’t bring myself to cut her open to see where the egg actually was. So I just want opinions, does this sound like normal binding or does it sound like something went horribly wrong with her oviduct and the shelled egg ended up in her abdomen.

I'm sorry you lost her. Unfortunately it sounds like she was delt a bad hand reproductive-wise. I lost an 8 month old pullet to something similar. In her case it was a cystic ovaduct. Could be something similar happened to your girl.