Was my hen egg bound?

[Bliss_chick]

Hello,
I am hoping that someone here can provide some feedback to let me know if my hen's issue has been handled, or if I should be concerned about something else. I have a small flock of hens, 2 adult hens and 2 four month old chicks. We recently lost one adult hens for unknown reasons suddenly. Tonight before putting our girls to bed my husband noticed that our favorite hen Cinnamon (a gold sex-link) was acting "off". She was hiding and did not seem to be her usual outgoing self. I went in to check on her and found her to be looking very dull and a bit puffed up in her rear and there was a small bit of mucosy loose stool on the ground under her. I also noticed an increased respiratory rate with abdominal effort. I gently palpated her abdomen and around her cloaca but did not feel any obvious egg blockage. I decided to give her a warm epsom salt bath because she has not laid in several days. As a side note, she normally lays daily but since the death of her hen friend and the addition of the new chicks, she and the other adult hen have been laying less regularly. A few minutes after her soak we returned to the coop to find she had layed an egg. This egg was clearly cracked, which I suppose could have been from me palpating (although I think I was very gently so I'm not convinced) and when I broke it open the shell felt softer than normal. She already appears to be feeling better and acting brighter. I removed the grower food from their run as I am worried the adult hens have been eating more of that than their layer food. Everyone gets home made scratch every morning which also includes coconut oil, kelp, poulty booster (multivitamin), among other things, so I think they are pretty healthy girls. I guess my question is was I just lucky in identifying and treating an egg-bound hen, or should I be worried something else is going on? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
- Jennifer Bliss

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I removed the grower food from their run as I am worried the adult hens have been eating more of that than their layer food. Everyone gets home made scratch every morning which also includes coconut oil, kelp, poulty booster (multivitamin), among other things, so I think they are pretty healthy girls.

I guess my question is was I just lucky in identifying and treating an egg-bound hen, or should I be worried something else is going on?

Sounds like she was having trouble laying the egg, if softer than normal, those can be hard to expel.
The grower feed shouldn't really hurt them if you are providing oyster shell free choice, but that's up to you whether to take it out or not. The 4 month old may be o.k. to eat just layer - again, up to you - do your research.

If she has troubles again, then I would try giving her 1/2 tablet of Caltrate for 3 days only, no more. See if that helps.
Sometimes production birds begin to have trouble as they get older - hopefully this is a one time glitch and she's just fine.

 

[aart]

I removed the grower food from their run as I am worried the adult hens have been eating more of that than their layer food. Everyone gets home made scratch every morning which also includes coconut oil, kelp, poulty booster (multivitamin)

I would cut out the special breakfast
(which seems unnecessary and could be causing the funky poops),
leave the grower feed(what is protein percentage?),
and put out some Oyster Shell in a separate feeder.

 

[Bliss_chick]

I would cut out the special breakfast
(which seems unnecessary and could be causing the funky poops),
leave the grower feed(what is protein percentage?),
and put out some Oyster Shell in a separate feeder.

The layer pellets are 16% protein and the intermediate for the young girls is 20% protein. The home made scratch is following a recipe that is aiming to be 16-17% protein.