Well Edie continued to do okay yesterday. Although she didn’t lay her egg, she was walking slowly, eating and making some clucking noises. Towards the end of the day I decided to feel inside her cloaca to see if I felt the egg yet. I didn’t feel an egg, but almost instantly the grossest thing popped out.
This thing was about 3″ long and rubbery. I suspected it was a malformed egg and when I cut it open I saw some yellow yolk. I’m really hoping that this is what has been causing the blockage. I can still feel an egg inside of her.
I spoke with the vet who agreed that as long as she’s eating, drinking and walking about we can wait and see if she can pass the egg herself. If she shows signs of straining or stress like she did the other day, I need to bring her in immediately. I feel like Edie’s labor coach.
Good luck with your egg bound hen. I had a pullet that we had to cull because she developed a severely infected crop. It is truly heart wrenching and so few vets know much about chickens. I hope she recovers soon.
I know this is a possibility, but I’m hoping to get the egg out. I’m going to try today and see if I can feel it. She’s walking around, eating and looking (for the most part) normal.
Whoa, Not looking forward to this aspect of chicken-rearing.
Thanks so much for posting that picture! I have seen soft eggs and malformed eggs, and I think that youre lucky that this thing came out! Looks just like a soft shell egg that got stuck in the canal!
I dont know what the vet said and I havent had any egg binding problems with my chickens…yet…but I have been through it with parrots and what we do is to put a few drops of mineral oil up the vent and keep them quiet and warm. Usually that works.
i think that Chickens need to move around to lay, where parrots have to have a quiet box so that part is different…but some mineral oil massaged up there a little bit might help it pass.
I get an egg with a smear of blood on it once in a while, and I wonder at the design of an animal that lays an egg per day. I could see a breeding season and a clutch, but every day?
I dont think that parrots would lay every day if their eggs were taken. I just don’t think they are made like that.
Let us know how she is…did she lay?