Thought she was poisoned, but now think egg bound!

[Porch Chickens]

Help-- my sick hen who I thought had eaten a bad plant and was poisoned is indeed actually egg bound, I fear.
She's eating some egg and oatmeal and I cleaned off her vent really well with warm water (which had a lot of dried poop on it) and her vent looked very nice and normal. I'd felt all over her before and couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary, but now that I've brought her inside I realize she's pooping very little and so I did a cloacal exam and there's a big egg in there, just inside the vent. I can also now feel it from the outside-- it's off to one side. I gave her half a tum, and am going to have her soak in warm water, but need to know what else I can do. Did lube her a bit during the exam.
She's a little Rhode Island Red, and this feels like a really big egg pore baby. All other chickens very recently started laying again (in the last week), but no egg from her yet. She's been sick for at least a week, so I guess there could be a chance it's still something else and this is just her first egg coming, but if it is, it should c
ome out right away-- it's right there!

 

[boskelli1571]

Warm soaks, lubrication, perhaps some very gentle massage of the tummy area. Fingers crossed she passes it.....

 

[Eggcessive]

You can give her some calcium as in ground egg shell, a Tums, or a human calcium tablet given in some yogurt or other food. Has she ever had any other reproductive problems such as lash eggs, shell-less eggs, or eggs that have broken inside? Some hens with internal laying or salpingitis can have large lash eggs get stuck. I would try to get the egg out with lubrication and gentle maneuvering. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Porch Chickens]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've given her 2 tums today and soaked her for half an hour, and squirted in some olive oil, and massaging from outside. Can feel egg from outside and inside, but apparently it's still in the oviduct and not at the opening to her vent yet, even though I can feel it right there through the oviduct if I put a finger in her vent. She's warm and dry inside now and has a 9am vet appt. I will post an update later.

 

[Eggcessive]

Let us know what happens.

 

[Porch Chickens]

Sorry, I never told what happened here. Our Merida didn't make it' Took her to Avian and Exotic Vet here in San Diego. Vet said she was not egg bound, that the egg shaped thing I was feeling was not an egg, poo-poo'd all the advice I was given here, shaming me for soaking her in warm water and using olive oil (said I was "torturing her"), told me it's my fault for using organic feeds because "those people don't know what they are doing and it's just a fad". I did have her put down, because clearly she was suffering, but this guy is a pompous ***, and I will need to find a different chilcken vet. Last time I went to him before this was when I brought another one of my birds in with Trichomoniasis. He poo-poo'd me that time too for "believing everything I read on the internet" and that it was extremely unlikely she'd catch that. I insisted on a culture being taken and BINGO, I was right and we treated her for it and she came back from literally on death's door.

 

[marlene]

So what did the vet say it was then?
Sorry for your loss xx

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry for your loss

Would also be interested in the diagnosis from the vet.

 

[Porch Chickens]

Vet's diagnosis was to say it was reproductive problems "common to light bodied birds" which according to him are bread to lay like crazy and then be slaughtered after one year. He says feeding organic feed makes these problems more common. She was nearly 4 years old, so maybe that's good for a RIR if there's any truth to what he said (I don't have much faith in what he says anymore). He said that in future it's better to get the heavier birds like Buff Orphington, for example. This was my only RIR-- I have 2 Buffs, 3 Easter Eggers, 1 Silkie, 1 Moran, 1 Barred Rock, 1 fancy girl who's breed I can't remember-- looks like a roadrunner.

He said that all kinds of johnny-come-latelies have jumped on the organic band wagon and got into the chicken feed biz. He asked which brand I buy and I told her Kruse's, to which he replied, "Yep, that's the one--- just jumping on the band wagon!" Funny, because it seems to be the most common brand here in San Diego, with the feed stores stocking all different varieties of Kruse feed-- regular and organic. Says on the bag that they've been making chicken feed since the 1930's....

I'd be interested if any of you have heard anything that agrees or contradicts with my vet's advice. He just doesn't have a great bedside manner and acts like nobody but him could possibly know anything about anything.