Nearly Had An Egg Bound Hen Today

[sahkoyah 0]

I recently purchased a breeding pair of greys, (and they are my only budgies) who had their first egg today. They have bred before, with their previous owner and are both between 18mo and 2yo.

 

I saw the hen today, climb the side of the cage and so I could see her underside very well, I noticed a large lump on the underside of her tail/tummy, and realised she might be egg bound. I called the vet to ask advice, and she recommended I bring her in asap. When the vet examined her, she did indeed have an egg, but luckily it was only just stuck, and with some manipulation, the egg came out whole and I got to bring my birds and egg home. I kept the egg warm but didn't return it to the nest box (I had placed the whole nest box in a cardboard box for the trip to the vet) until I got home. The female went in (with pursuasion), and I half-covered the cage with a towel to give the pair some peace.

 

I haven't looked in since (and this was about 2hrs ago) as the trip to the vet was no doubt stressful and I don't want to disturb her, but I also am curious to know what's going on.

 

Should I look to see if she is sitting on the egg? I need to read more on breeding (and will do so), but should I expect to see her sit on the egg most of the time except for poo-ing? What I mean is - should I be worried if I see her out in the cage instead of in the nest box? I will be sure to check her in 2 days time to see if she is egg bound again. With hens that become egg bound, is it usually a recurring problem, or can it happen out of the blue to a previously-successful breeder?

 

Thanks in advance,

Laura.

[**Liv** 0]

Hens normally dont incubate their eggs until their 3rd egg is laid. Eggs remain viable for a good week incubated. Well done for getting her to the vet.Increase her calcium by giving avical in the water and improve her diet with lots of fresh veggies (carrots, brocolo, corn, peas, silver beat, beetroot etc) . if she gets egg bound again she needs retirement.

Edited March 24, 2009 by **Liv**

[bird lady 0]

From my experience, my hens have always shown when they are about to lay an egg as they have the lump there. The hens don't always sit on the egg straight away, sometimes they wait until the second egg is laid before they start sitting. I would just leave them be for now. When she does lay her next egg it's usually 2 days latter, maybe then keep checking to see if she's laid it. If she hasn't by the next day then I'd probably be concerned.

[**KAZ** 0]

To me, it doesnt even sound like the hen was eggbound at all. You noticed the normal lump of an egg at the vent area as she was climbing around the cage...this is normal for a whole day or more before an egg is laid. If she was eggbound she would be on the bottom of the cage or hiding in the nestbox with one of her legs up, she would be resting on her side, she would look severely distressed and panting.

I think, with your apparent lack of full knowledge as yet, you intervened too soon and therefore it cost you a trip to the vets. Racing a bird to the vet if eggbound is a good thing, but I dont think she actually was.

As Liv has said, eggs dont need to be kept warm, unless the hen is incubating and the eggs can remain "in limbo" so to speak for a week or so with no warmth at all. Warming an egg if the hen has not begun to incubate can actually cause harm to the developing chick.

How many eggs does she have ?

Are you giving her calcium in her water ?

PS I would not be creating anxiety in the hen at this stage by over checking her, however a warm lamp ( 25 to 40 watts ) by the cage may help her get over the stress she has been under.

Edited March 24, 2009 by KAZ

[sahkoyah 0]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will keep you posted about the next egg. In regards to retiring her if she becomes eggbound again - I don't want to split up a bonded pair - is it safe to keep them together, but with no nest box? Would that stop them breeding again?

 

Perhaps I'm humanising their feelings a bit too much, but considering budgies often pair for life, would it be 'mean' to separate the pair?

[**KAZ** 0]

Budgies pairing for life is an old wives tale.

[sahkoyah 0]

Wow, I didn't know that. Every single book I've read has said the same thing - that they pair for life. Do they change partners often then?

 

quote: "To me, it doesnt even sound like the hen was eggbound at all. You noticed the normal lump of an egg at the vent area as she was climbing around the cage...this is normal for a whole day or more before an egg is laid. If she was eggbound she would be on the bottom of the cage or hiding in the nestbox with one of her legs up, she would be resting on her side, she would look severely distressed and panting. "

 

I had actually wondered this myself - whether she would have managed to get the egg out herself, but I'm still glad I took her to the vet anyway. Better safe than sorry. I had a quick peek in the cage just before I went to bed last night and she seems to have settled well. She looks bright and the pair were 'kissing' on a perch.

[bird lady 0]

I think that she will be fine, just let her be and only take action if you think she gets egg bound. I agree with Kaz, she probably wasn't egg bound but you did the right thing by taking her to the vets. If your concerned then you should act, as you said " better safe than sorry". If you did want to keep them together and not have them breed, just remove the nest box.

[sahkoyah 0]

Well today, 'Lady' (as my daughter named her) has another egg but not quite ready for laying yet - her vent seems not to be not as protuding as the one the other day.

[sahkoyah 0]

Well Lady didn't lay her egg last night. She has a poopy bum this morning, and the egg lump in her vent.

 

She is still bright and sitting on her perch. Today is day 3 after the first egg was 'extracted' by the vet. Considering she is still happy, how long should I give it before getting worried?

[**KAZ** 0]

Well Lady didn't lay her egg last night. She has a poopy bum this morning, and the egg lump in her vent.

 

She is still bright and sitting on her perch. Today is day 3 after the first egg was 'extracted' by the vet. Considering she is still happy, how long should I give it before getting worried?

She should be fine....you will know eggbound when you see it ( rememeber the eggbound topic I bumped up for you ? ) she would look distressed and very very ill. If she has warmth and she has calcium she should be fine.

[sahkoyah 0]

That's great. Thanks for the support. I haven't got water-additive calcium, but I do have a calcium & mineral bell and also a cuttlefish in the cage.

 

Egg still not laid 5:45pm tonight, but Lady still hopping around cage & in and out of the nest box and doesn't look ill.

[**KAZ** 0]

She sounds fine. There may be a delay due to the excitement of vet event previously

[sahkoyah 0]

Just curious - for how long before an egg is laid, can you see there is an egg in the vent?

 

Can you usually tell a couple of days prior to the egg being laid? Or is it usually only visible there shortly before laying?

 

She is on a perch at the moment, but her tail is twitching. She is not fluffed up though.

[**KAZ** 0]

Two days usually

[Pearce 0]

I usually look at the droppings. A hen about to lay will have HUGE droppings compared to one not about to lay.

[sahkoyah 0]

Thanks. She had huge droppings before the first egg. I'll go and have a look now then and see. Sorry for the frequent questions, and thanks for the frequent answers!

[Pearce 0]

I ask millions of questions weekly, their will always be someone to answer. Good luck.

[**KAZ** 0]

Please dont apologise for asking questions............questions here are welcome

[sahkoyah 0]

Great to know there's such friendly help at hand. I'm a horse-person myself and frequent the horsey forums and answer all kinds of questions, so now the shoe is on the other foot and I'm the one doing all the asking.

 

okay, well - Lady is still up on the perch, tail twitching (is this a sign of anything?) quite rhythmically, but her body doesn't appear to be doing anything out of the ordinary. There is one large poo on the floor of the cage, but not huge like the other day.

 

Maybe something will happen tomorrow? I hope all goes smoothly, as I wont be home much tomorrow unfortunately.

Edited March 27, 2009 by sahkoyah

[**KAZ** 0]

Could you possibly show us a photo of your breeding cage setup and nestbox ?

[sahkoyah 0]

You know, I am one of those people referred to in some of the pinned topics of people who should not be breeding budgies, but unfortunately am. I am embarrassed to share this information, as I'm sure many of you will be rolling your eyes and branding me more than just a bit silly but......

 

We had a pet budgie whom we had since he was about 8 weeks old. We recently moved house (4 hours) and although I took what I believed were due precautions (removing any movable items from the cage and covering the cage with towels while in transit in our car) 'Cheeky Boy' did not travel well, and died 3 days after the move. He was about 3yo. When I started to tell my 4yo daughter that Cheeky Boy had gotten very sick, there were lots of tears and so instead of saying he died, I told her I let him go back to his family to get better and that he would fly to a pet shop once he was feeling better.

 

So a week later, whilst I was at work, my mum took my two girls to a pet shop and told the lady our story. Mum found a bird she thought looked a lot like our Cheeky Boy and pointed him out to the lady, who played along and sold my mum the budgie. So anyway, mum tells me that night, that the new 'Cheeky Boy' had a girlfriend at the pet shop, whom he was kissing. She was hinting that we should purchase her too. So the next day, we went back to the shop and the shop keeper indeed told me that Cheeky Boy II was part of a breeding pair that they had gotten from the man who sells them their baby budgies. Mum, being the soppy sack she is, (and me, giving in) buy the female, and the pet shop lady arms us with a breeding box, nesting material, a budgie book, and more food (with shell grit, some kind of powder made for hand raising? and minerals etc) and sends us away.

 

So not knowing what I'm in for, I get home, add the female to the cage (instant reunion & lots of kissing), read the book cover to cover, add the nesting box and nesting material. Had I known then that a breeding pair wont mate if there's no nesting box, I would not have put it in. So I notice all the signs that the pair are broody - Cheeky Boy II is feeding Lady, Lady is in and out of the nesting box, using the nesting material etc.

 

And then we had the egg incident on Tuesday, and now here we are. I am a familiar bird handler and my husband has had ring necks, sun conures & a galah, so he is quite good with birds, but neither of us has bred one before. I am frantically trying to increase my knowledge without appearing to be a complete idiot who has dived in the deep end.

 

SO! To answer your question, my birds are in a standard square cage about (I'm not going to measure it right now, as I'm trying not to disturb them) 50cm square, with natural branches for perches, and the nesting box is outside the cage, with the opening poking through one of the doors. They live in my dining room - we don't eat in there, it's an open room, open to the lounge room, so the birds can see the family activity, but not be overly disturbed by it. They can see the TV. I cover the cage at night with 2 towels to keep them warm.

 

I'll take a picture tomorrow if I get a chance and will post it for you.

[**KAZ** 0]

A lot of us learn along the way....it how most of us start out in our love for budgies

[sahkoyah 0]

Still no egg laid. And the pair managed to break the first egg. I peeked in the nest box this morning and found the broken egg.

 

Is there any way to stop the male going into the nest box? Lady lets him in.

[Pearce 0]

Usually the male goes in with the hen to feed her or incubate eggs. I know with my birds the males usually are always the first to go in the nest box. I dont know of any way to stop him going in, he feeds the chicks and the mum and shares duties.