Weight loss after being eggbound

[Ariella’s Mum]

Hi, my faverolle chicken ‘Ariella’ who is 3.5yrs was eggbound last Wednesday (8days ago). The egg came out very soft but intact on Wednesday evening after baths & a calcium injection from the vet. She was unable to stand afterwards, knuckling both feet. Gradually with a lot of tlc she is walking well, eating, drinking, much more active and happy. I’m feeding her layers pellets and have given her ACV and vit B. I also was feeding her quite a lot of treats (scrambled eggs, peas, mealworms) just to get her eating last week. My concern now is she has lost 465grams which is about 15% of her weight in 8 days. What can I do to help her regain the weight?

Many thanks for any advice, this is my first post, if I’ve left any important info out please ask xxx

 

[rebrascora]

It is not uncommon for them to lay or struggle to lay a soft shelled or shell less egg as they get to the end of their reproductive season and approach moult and they usually lose weight during moult, so I am wondering if you are noticing any feather loss starting to occur? You could try some slivers of raw liver to add to the other nutritious treats.

Are you seeing her eat plenty..... sometimes they will pretend to eat with the flock but often pick up and drop the same pellet or grain without ingesting it.

Have you done a crop function check? Feel it at night when she goes to roost and again in the morning before she has access to food. A slow crop can give rise to dramatic weight loss and could be as a result of being egg bound. What does her poop look like? It might be worth isolating her for a day or two to monitor intake and output.

Also, if you took her baseline weight whilst she was egg bound, she will have been backed up with waste/faecal matter and heavier than she should be. The dramatic weight loss you are seeing could possibly just be her digestive tract emptying and her body getting back to normal.
Does her breast bone feel sharp under the skin... ie is she noticeably losing muscle and starting to feel bony?

These are just some things that come to mind that could be going on. If she is looking happier and healthy and acting normal and her crop is functioning properly ie full at night and empty in the morning and her poop looks good then I would not be overly concerned at this stage.

 

[rebrascora]

Oh.... and welcome to the wonderful world of BYC

 

[Ariella’s Mum]

Hi, my faverolle chicken ‘Ariella’ who is 3.5yrs was eggbound last Wednesday (8days ago). The egg came out very soft but intact on Wednesday evening after baths & a calcium injection from the vet. She was unable to stand afterwards, knuckling both feet. Gradually with a lot of tlc she is walking well, eating, drinking, much more active and happy. I’m feeding her layers pellets and have given her ACV and vit B. I also was feeding her quite a lot of treats (scrambled eggs, peas, mealworms) just to get her eating last week. My concern now is she has lost 465grams which is about 15% of her weight in 8 days. What can I do to help her regain the weight?

Many thanks for any advice, this is my first post, if I’ve left any important info out please ask xxx

It is not uncommon for them to lay or struggle to lay a soft shelled or shell less egg as they get to the end of their reproductive season and approach moult and they usually lose weight during moult, so I am wondering if you are noticing any feather loss starting to occur? You could try some slivers of raw liver to add to the other nutritious treats.

Are you seeing her eat plenty..... sometimes they will pretend to eat with the flock but often pick up and drop the same pellet or grain without ingesting it.

Have you done a crop function check? Feel it at night when she goes to roost and again in the morning before she has access to food. A slow crop can give rise to dramatic weight loss and could be as a result of being egg bound. What does her poop look like? It might be worth isolating her for a day or two to monitor intake and output.

Also, if you took her baseline weight whilst she was egg bound, she will have been backed up with waste/faecal matter and heavier than she should be. The dramatic weight loss you are seeing could possibly just be her digestive tract emptying and her body getting back to normal.
Does her breast bone feel sharp under the skin... ie is she noticeably losing muscle and starting to feel bony?

These are just some things that come to mind that could be going on. If she is looking happier and healthy and acting normal and her crop is functioning properly ie full at night and empty in the morning and her poop looks good then I would not be overly concerned at this stage.[/QUOTE

It is not uncommon for them to lay or struggle to lay a soft shelled or shell less egg as they get to the end of their reproductive season and approach moult and they usually lose weight during moult, so I am wondering if you are noticing any feather loss starting to occur? You could try some slivers of raw liver to add to the other nutritious treats.

Are you seeing her eat plenty..... sometimes they will pretend to eat with the flock but often pick up and drop the same pellet or grain without ingesting it.

Have you done a crop function check? Feel it at night when she goes to roost and again in the morning before she has access to food. A slow crop can give rise to dramatic weight loss and could be as a result of being egg bound. What does her poop look like? It might be worth isolating her for a day or two to monitor intake and output.

Also, if you took her baseline weight whilst she was egg bound, she will have been backed up with waste/faecal matter and heavier than she should be. The dramatic weight loss you are seeing could possibly just be her digestive tract emptying and her body getting back to normal.
Does her breast bone feel sharp under the skin... ie is she noticeably losing muscle and starting to feel bony?

These are just some things that come to mind that could be going on. If she is looking happier and healthy and acting normal and her crop is functioning properly ie full at night and empty in the morning and her poop looks good then I would not be overly concerned at this stage.

Hi thanks for the advice- I’ve checked her crop- it was full last night, soft not hard, but this morning it still feels fuller than her sisters? So I’m not sure how concerning this is? She’s happy, eating & on her feet walking, but not as active as the others. I think I’ll continue to monitor her weight- what you said about her weight being higher when she was eggbound I hadn’t considered, and I’ll check her crop again tonight.

 

[rebrascora]

Did you remove access to food overnight so that when you checked this morning she had not had the opportunity to fill it again. They will get off the roost as soon as it is light to eat, so unless you were up before the sun, or removed the food the night before, checking her crop the next morning tells you nothing. If you did remove the food and her crop had not emptied overnight, then that suggests there is a restriction of her digestive tract somewhere.