My favourite hen that I was bragging about that had just started to lay is sick. She has laid 2 eggs, the 1st one on the 11.5. and the 2nd one on the 13th. She has left the nest and is just sitting on the perch all fluffed up and miserable. I checked her vent and it is quite swollen. I have never had a hen egg bound so I dont really know what it looks like. Please help! I have just given her some Calcivet and have put her in a nice warm hospital cage. Anything else I can do as I dont want to lose her!!!!

Get her to a Avian Vet if you think it is egg bound, I have read about putting oive oil around her vent and a dab on beak to help pass the egg ..... .....CLICK HERE GREAT INFO ON EGG BOUND

 

Symptoms:

 

Sitting on the floor a lot. She may sit on the floor lots to lay, but if she is there all the time for long periods of time, she may be having problems.

Excessive straining. You may notice her contracting in the stomach area and panting/breathing heavily. This is a sure sign that she is in trouble.

Visual clues, such as a large swollen looking area around her vent. You will see this whether or not the bird is egg bound if she has an egg, but if it is very obvious and she is not passing it and it is there for a long time, she will be having problems.

Larger droppings. The presence of the egg in the oviduct means that there is less room for the bird to pass droppings, and you will notice that your bird goes less frequently.

What can be done?

If you are unable to get your bird to a vet straight away, there are small things you can do to help your bird. Heat will help the muscles in the oviduct wall contract, and it is a good idea to keep your bird warm by placing a heat pad under the cage floor where she is sitting so that the bottom heat can help her. DO NOT put the heat mat inside the cage itself, as you don't want to burn or overheat your bird, especially if she is unable to move. The heat pad must be secured to the underside of the cage and only on one side to create a thermal gradient - a warm end and a cold end.

If she has been trying to pass the egg for over a day she may need vet help as it can truly take its toll. If not, I generally have success, just by the calcivet to the beak, and warm cage.....no oil. All my hens pass their eggs this way, with no failures and no oil used. BUT I do not put the hen back to nest. She will need recovery time to recuperate. I give them a 6 month break after egg binding at least. You will have to foster her eggs. Often times you will find the egg they have trouble with may be a softshelled egg.

Egg binding is more prevalent as you know in young hens, older hens and also happens in extremes of heat or cold weather.

I am happy to report that my hen's condition has improved, she spent the day in her hospital cage all nice and warm and she has brightened up a lot tonight. So maybe she wasnt egg bound! Hopefully what ever was wrong is gone now. I have taken the eggs and put them under another hen on eggs and will put her out in the avairy to recover once I'm sure she's okay.

Oh no, how scary! I had an egg bound hen- Ringo. I couldn't get to the vet that night, so I put her in a hospital cage and tried the calcivet. She started bleeding from the vent too. I ended up sitting her vent in a warm container of water and GENTLY massaged her. (Do not try this if you don't know what you are doing as it can end very badly). My situation was that I had to get her through the night somehow and she would have died if I didn't try something. It worked and a vet check the next morning gave her the all clear. She laid several more eggs after that now worries, but then destroyed them. I haven't let her breed since then. I hope she continues to improve

In addition, sprinkling salt on the vent will cause contraction to help an egg bound hen pass the egg within several minutes if she is actually egg bound with a hard egg (not soft shell) and not suffering from an infection of her reproductive system.

 

A few months ago I had a hen that laid one egg, then didn't lay anything else for 5 days, I felt her belly and it was hard with an egg obstruction and she was labouring, I gave her a drop of liquid calcium supplement and put a bit of salt on her vent and she passed three eggs within the following hour. I fostered her eggs out and took her away from breeding. If they get egg bound once, they are likely to get egg bound again. Hens that lay leaving traces of blood on the eggs are also at risk of becoming egg bound and/or developing reproductive infections.