Worried sick about egg bound hen!

[BeccaSmith]

Hi Everyone! This is such a wonderful forum for information! About 2 weeks ago I started noticing a hen we adopted kind of sitting funny, but she looked as though she just finished getting those wide hips for egg laying so I figured maybe it was just a characteristic part of her bread, after all she is walking, eating, drinking, seemed in good spirits! One time I noticed she couldn't fly to a near by roost from the perch in front of the nesting boxes, I thought it was odd but figured she just didn't have her timing right or something. Back in mid December we also found a rubber egg in one of the nest boxes, I figured maybe it was her or the other adopted hen starting to lay and was maybe a first time egg or something.

Anyways, so newbie takes 2 weeks to really figure out something just isn't right....hubby started telling me just a day or so ago that her abdomen was really big and tight feeling so I started looking up info on swollen abdomens and stumbled across info on egg bound hens.....I believe this is what the problem is although I haven't been able to feel an actually egg. Her abdomen is so big and tight feeling it feels as though it could split open at any minute. We brought her inside last night and gave her a warm bath for 20 minutes and then dried her with a hair drier. I didn't have the heart to put our back outside in the cold coop so we let her stay the night in the bathtub with a towel to sit on (and of course the bathtub was empty and dried after her bath). She is eating, drinking water, and pooping a lot, but we noticed a big change in her when we went to collect eggs last night and that is why we gave her a bath at 8 PM last night instead of today as originally planned. She still hasn't passed the egg and is still standing with her tail down, I don't think she wants to sit down as it must be painful on her abdomen. I rubbed her vent with a little vasoline but didn't do any probing as I didn't have any sterile gloves, are the sterile gloves really needed for this? I plan on getting some today and plan on giving her another bath today. Should I be giving her more then one bath? Also I am not sure what to do with her during the day today....she is in the bath tub and I need to take a shower in their this morning before heading out to a function I have to attend. I don't want to just leave her to roam on the bathroom floor to poop everywhere and I don't have an animal crate....well I have a cat carrier but even the largest of one of those is pretty small.

So..... any additional recommendations would be great if I should be doing anything else. I'm worried sick and feel so bad it went for so long before it occurred to me that something was really wrong. There needs to be a chicken class on what to look for for diseases. The books I have read just give basic 101 info on raising chicks such as bedding, feed, and so forth. TIA!

 

[CMV]

Something as simple as a cardboard box should suffice to keep her contained. She is obviously not feeling frisky enough to hop out of the box should it occur to her to do so.

Keep up with the warm baths. You can use just normal latex gloves to check her vent. Sterility is not necessary. You don't want to use dirty gloves, but since a chicken's vent already has its own flora and fauna growing in it, clean gloves should suffice. Keep her vent well-oiled to help ease the passage of any stuck eggs. Unfortunately, the egg will either pass on its own with a little outside help (baths and oiling), or it won't. There is little you can do to aid her. It is mostly up to her to do the work.

Reproductive issues are common in layers, and can sometimes be fatal. You are doing what you can to help, but there is no quick fix for this. Swelling in the abdomen is not a great sign. That is usually indicative of a greater problem, such as infection. If this bird has some value (sentimental or monetary) you might consider getting her into a vet.

Sorry for your situation. Good luck with her.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Thanks for the quick response! She doesn't have an sentimental or monetary value to me, she is just the sweetest little thing I have ever seen! Due to monetary reason and lack of aviary vets I won't be opting for that option. I'll just keep up what I am doing. I do have a local hatchery that sells antibiotics, it there something you would recommend? Here is a link to what they have, not much....but better then nothing? http://www.dunlaphatchery.net/Medications.aspx

Also called another local feed store/pet store and they carry Duramycin, would this be of any use to help fight an infection in her abdomen if she has one?

Also wanted to mention I did some probing and went up, assuming I had the right area, and I felt no egg clear up to my second knuckle on my index finger what so ever.....so I am really puzzled now.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Bump bump!