Sick chicken possibly egg bound...

[Mad Chick]

My daughter works at a children's petting farm and they have a sick chicken. She thinks it's egg bound as she keeps squatting as if trying to lay.

Izzy has given her a warm bath every day but she isn't looking any better. The manager of the farm was going to despatch her today but Izzy has persuaded her to let her bring her home for the weekend to see if some TLC will help.

It's been a while since we had chickens and I don't have a coop or run anymore. But as she's so poorly it will probably be better to keep her indoors anyway.

I'll give her a long warm bath and sit her on a wrapped up hot water bottle in a dog crate. Is there anything else I can do for an egg bound hen? I never had to deal with this with my chooks...

[KarenE]

Hi Madchick

Do you know how long the hen has been like this? It sounds like it's been a few days at least. If your daughter has been giving her warm belly baths to no avail, she may have an egg stuck further up the tubes which may need a vet. Or she could be laying internally.

Is she eating? How's her breathing? How does her underneath feel?

I think your instinct about bringing her in and keeping her warm is right. Perhaps give her some sweetened water to help keep her strength up.

[wendy]

Treatment for egg bound hens.

A hen is said to be egg bound, when she fails to lay her egg. This is a common condition, and may result from inflammation of the oviduct, malformed or double yolker, or too large egg in a young pullet.
The bird seems very restless,
She will drink little and eat little,
She will tend to stand all hunched up
She visits the nest regularly in an attempt to lay her egg
Her oviduct may end up protruded due to excessive pushing by her to eject the egg and the bird may die.
She may smell badly
Her vent will look red and protrude.
She may have faecal matter that has built up behind the egg, if you see white liquid, that will be her urates trying to pass [urine in chickens]

Sit her in a tub of warm, soapy water
Make sure the vent is submerged for about 30 minutes, this may seem like a long. But you have to relax the vent area and make it supple for the egg to pass through. It really does help the hen, 85% of the time this will be all that you will need to do for her, and the egg will pass out with a little push from her.

You can rub some lubricant around the vent area if you think that will help to. KY jelly, petroleum jelly, Vaselene or olive oil all work fine.
Make sure you isolate her from the others, as they will peck at her vent causing more damage.

Put her into an isolation cage, put plenty of news paper down first and then heated towels, they will act like a heated pad for her. No draughts when she is wet or she will catch a chill.. You can heat the towels, in a microwave it works a treat.
Leave her for a while to see if she passes the egg, if not try again.

Some people just use the heated pad, this sometimes relaxes the muscles enough and allows the egg to slip out.

If this doesn’t work, you may have to resort to removing the egg yourself. Not a nice task and she will complain bitterly at what you are doing. You will need two people for this.

Using KY jelly or similar, insert your finger in the vent. With your other hand you can gently press on her abdomen moving the egg down the oviduct towards the cloaca .
Once you can see the egg, if it won’t pass. Then rupture the egg and gently remove all the shell.The shell of the egg will be very sharp when broken and could cause the hen internal injuries.
Once you have broken the egg, make sure you remove every particle of shell carefully.

The cloaca should then be washed with a weak solution of warm salt water. This is to make sure all the egg contents and shell has been removed from inside the hen. If it isn’t then it could cause bacteria to start growing inside her. That is then a bigger problem.
There may be another egg backed up in her system, especially if she lays every day.If it has ruptures inside her, you should look for small pieces of shell or evidence of cuts around her vent. Just remember while you are looking and sticking your fingers in places she would rather you didn’t, shells can be quite sharp and can cut you or her.
If you find any cuts around her cloaca rinse with hydrogen peroxide/ water solution.
Watch for listlessness, dull eyes and signs of fever, infection can come on very quick.
Keep a close eye on her as this can happen again and she will need immediate action to fix the problem.

How to help prevent the hen from laying any more eggs.
If there is a small prolapse gently push it back into the chicken with your fingers.
The chicken should then be put on a maintenance diet of wheat and water and put in a dark cage.
Leave the hen for a week.

However it is important to restrict the chickens diet to maintenance only for possibly a couple of months. This does work !! Alternative to maintenance diet is feeding chickens enough to keep alive, moving and keeping warm, plus enough extra feed to produce eggs.

You may find that by reducing feed it brings on a forced moult.

By reducing intake so the bird has enough to keep alive, moving and warm you are feeding maintenance diet only. The chicken has the best chance of recovery.

[Mad Chick]

Thanks

She's now snuggled up on some warm towels in a crate having had a warm bath and a blow dry. Sadly though, I don't think she is egg bound. I've had a good feel around up there and can't feel any sign of an egg. But she is painfully thin with a massive swollen belly which is very squishy and hot. Reading back through some old posts, my guess is that she has water belly (ascites).

The farm manager thinks she is one of the original hens so probably around 7 or 8 and she's had a fabulous life, free ranging around the farm and being fed huge amounts of treats from eager children.

[wendy]

Aww that is probably what she has

[Bluefinch]

How is she doing? Have been wondering.

[Mad Chick]

We kept her at home with us over the weekend to see if we could perk her up a little but she just seemed so sad. We couldn't get her to eat anything and despite syringing some sugar water into her to try to give her an energy boost she just sat in the crate with her head drooped.

We took her back to the farm this morning and thought she might cheer up when she was back with her friends but she just laid down and went to sleep. Izzy wasn't working today but got a text from the manager this afternoon to say she had passed away.

She really would have had such a wonderful life, she was a lucky little hen

[Bluefinch]

That is sad but as you say she had a wonderful life.

[sandy]

Thank goodness Izzy was able to give her at least a chance Lucy

[Bluefinch]

Poor little thing but at least she had a good life.