SOS egg bound! worried and confused rookie owner

[peggythechicken]

my girl popped a shell-less egg inside of her yesterday. it couldnt have been more than 4 hours from the time she began passing it to the time i found her with egg white goop on to her bum. i brought her on. epsom salt soaked her twice yesterday and pulled out what i could. at the first soak we got some membrane out and the second soak i really went int there to gently hook out the majority of the egg membrane which was squishing into a bunch at the top left of just behind her vent area. she was doing well during all of this just had boughts of pushing in a pulsating rhythm. today she was lying down a lot so i gave her another soak. I felt her tummy and arounf her vent and tail for the outside and with a lubricant quickly checked inside of her and nothing. after the soak she had some boughts pf pushing in an active pulse. now she is like this. penguine? she had calcium and vit d pill yesterday and im going to gove her more soon but im worried about poisoning her. im worried about infection and if she is penguiny does that mean the egg binding is getting worse? she is eating and drinking and by now her vent is full so tomorrow i will know if it empties. can i do anything for pain relief? their is a storm here and likely wont be able to contact a vet until tomorrow let alone actually be seen by one. what do i need to look outfor? good signs? bad signs? any advice stories tips wisdom opinions anything welcome i need to hear it all!

background on chicken. one and 1/4yr old buff orpington. best layer ever. gives huge oblong egg almost everyday. day before yesterday laid a huge one. gets two types pf oyster shell, crumbled and flaked grit and layer feed at all times. low vit d suspected because of the northeast winter. she is so friendly but not smart compared with her sisters. lays a shell-less egg every 3-5 months. she gets high calcium treats, kale collards yogurt black soldier fly larvae, egg shells. all of the rest of my girls pretty much stopped laying since the molt and winter sun but this girl wont quit

 

[peggythechicken]

 

[fldiver97]

Keep her in a warm and quiet area, see if she improves. She’s eating and drinking, right? You can put a little KY or other lubricant on her bum. Giving her another bath may just stress her now. You mentioned you gave her calcium - did you give her something like 1/2 to 1 crushed TUMS or some other form of calcium?

 

[peggythechicken]

Keep her in a warm and quiet area, see if she improves. She’s eating and drinking, right? You can put a little KY or other lubricant on her bum. Giving her another bath may just stress her now. You mentioned you gave her calcium - did you give her something like 1/2 to 1 crushed TUMS or some other form of calcium?

ok thank you! is it a bad idea to put a safe triple antibiotic jelly on her bum to prevent any infection? i just dont know what im doing and really fear an internal infection and i dont know how those happen. im going to send a pic of the pills i gave her. its a liquid gel sort of thing and i bit off a piece of the casing and squeezed out the paste inside and she loved it so i let her have like 3 figuring it wouldnt hurt but i could be wrong about that too. im not sure if i was able to squeeze out the majority of each one because the casing was so tough. i have no idea what her dose was considering the mess of all this. is there such thing as too much calcium and vitamin d for a egg bound chicken? she has pooped today (normal not diarheah) but nothing like as much as normal. if her crop does slow down will she even absorb any of the calcium sup she eats? i do have infant tylenol and motrin syringes so i could try to dose better going forward though she would still likely sloppily peck at it and i am no where skilled enough to syringe in her mouth just sort of near it and hope she is willing to peck. she seems ok but i am not going to put her put with the others for a week minimum because she is such a special girl and honestly a good roommate haha. i have had other chickens inside for treatment before and they were wayyy louder, messier, and better at escaping

 

[peggythechicken]

Keep her in a warm and quiet area, see if she improves. She’s eating and drinking, right? You can put a little KY or other lubricant on her bum. Giving her another bath may just stress her now. You mentioned you gave her calcium - did you give her something like 1/2 to 1 crushed TUMS or some other form of calcium?

she is eating and drinking

 

[Bawkbok]

Please don't bathe her anymore as this could further stress her.
Not to mention they need to be thoroughly dried in this cold weather.

Calcium Citrate with D3 is what is recommended. Pop the whole pill in her mouth - 5-7 days.

I wouldn't recommend sticking a finger in her vent anymore. You could accidentally introduce bacteria into her body or break a blood vessell.

While she is in the crate, be sure to offer grit and oyster shell along with her food. Offer some electrolytes in the water.

 

[Bawkbok]

i do have infant tylenol and motrin syringes so i could try to dose better going forward though she would still likely sloppily peck at it and i am no where skilled enough to syringe in her mouth

I would not give this to her. I believe the only pain relief ok for chickens is a baby aspirin but I wouldn't do that either unless absolutely necessary. She may not feel well but what makes you think she is in pain? Is she wailing, crying or screaming?

To give her a Calcium Citrate with D3 - which is a human vitamin, can be found anywhere vitamins are sold - have a helper hold her or you can gently wrap a towel around her wings and hold her under one arm like a football. Gently open her beak with one had and with the other hand pop the vitamin in. It is a large pill but they can swallow it no problem. Do not hold her head up to the sky when doing this, ensure her head is level when putting the pill in. If opening the beak and holding it open long enough to put the pill in doesn't work for you, you can gently pull down on the wattles and pop it in when she opens her mouth, then immediately let go of the wattles after you pop in the pill.

 

[fldiver97]

Do not give her Tylenol or ibuprofen. Don’t give her any pain medicine. Keep her comfortable, have food and water available. Try soft scrambled egg if she’s not eating well. Calcium supplement as suggested for a few days. Inserting anything IN her vent right now is not good as mentioned. Antibiotic ointment is not going to help prevent or treat internal infections. A little lube around her vent at most if she is getting a dirty bum, it will make it a little easier to gently clean if needed. Take a few deep breaths, let her settle and monitor

 

[peggythechicken]

Thank you all! @fldiver97 @Bawkbok Thank you for the tips and advice! no more baths. I figured she didnt mind them because she is so easy to handle all the time and didnt know how much she should be bathed. out of all the information out there about 15-30 minute epsom salt baths they never seem to say how often so yall are very helpful! glad to hear i dont have to check in her vent. I will order calcium citrate with vitamin D3. Should she get a dose of that for 5-7 days or once every 5-7 days?

the reason i thought she was in pain was because of the rhythmic pushing and penguin stance (if the photo i sent of her qualified as penguiny) she hasnt resumed the penguin stance since this morning so i think it could have potentially been a 'grumpy that i kept bathing her' stance. I mostly just felt like she was in pain because an egg breaking inside of you seems like such a crazy thing to happen and the thought of reproductive system pain just seems so brutal. im not sure there is evidence to back up my concern about her being in pain. she is inside nice and warm. she seems normal actually just pooping a but less than normal. she has grit and flaked oyster shell (her prefered form) layer feed and electrolite/vitamin/probiotic water.

 

[fldiver97]

Glad to hear she’s feeling better