Egg Bound Chicken - Initiation

The original version reappeared ...so I am saving it here as I already rewrote it on the chicken site.

Thursday evening ..I noticed one of my sweet Sicilian buttercups, a smaller sized Mediterranean egg laying breed, she had a little bit of a dirty butt ...and there was some skin showing. She also was not running around for food like all the others. I checked her out and ...hm yes, there seemed to be an egg inside. I let her roost to give her a chance to lay early in the morning ...then I hit the internet - egg binding causes, treatment and  - ...... I hardly slept that night ---- worried.
Egg binding is apparently a fairly common condition in egg laying chickens. It can strike at all ages. Here are some supposedly predisposing factors:

• obesity
• malnutrition
• lack of calcium
• egg too big or malformed
• egg retention for some other reason
• infection
• overbreeding
• early laying

As with many conditions - the early bird may catch the worm: OBSERVATION is key. several days into this conditions is not as good as if you catch it within a day or 2....and it IS a death sentence unless you can treat it.
Funny walking, standing around, not eating, suddenly showing dirty butt or visible skin around vent area are all things to get you to investigate.
Calcium is supposed to help. Did I have any liquid calcium on hand? Yes, someone in the house had some liquid calcium supplements. I gave her some on scrambled eggs, later I dropper fed her some since she got smart real quick. Does giving calcium orally make a difference - no idea, but i figured it would not hurt and might possibly help once it got absorbed. The thing is - if the egg is very big and the muscles get stretched to thin - they won't be able to contract. The fibers just won't work any more.
I gave her a warm sitz-bath, gently massaging her belly, put her in a dog crate afterwards. It was warm enough so I did have to worry about blow drying her. While I was hoping the bath helped - I knew she hadn't passed this thing all day yesterday at least, but - sometimes the baths help. You are supposed to repeat ...but others say if it didn't work in an hour or 2, you need to extract it.
I was wondering, in case I would have to manually help her, what is on top, the oviduct or the intestines?...so off to the internet again, looking for chicken anatomy pics.

Location of the reproductive tract in a female chicken. Source: Public domain

Reproductive tract of a female chicken. Source: Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky

Ok, so the egg comes out on top....so when palpating into the vent ...the opening for the egg will be up....and it was.

Some folks also mention a liberal use of a lubricant - I had nothing but coconut or olive oil, I chose the coconut oil in case she didn't pass it. I was not gonna hang her upside down just yet, presumably so the lubricant would go all around the egg?. I did end up putting it right on the egg that was showing and on the vent skin.

After a couple of hours, no egg and she was standing forlorn inside the dog crate.

I went to work to

• set up another bath and extra warm and cold water on the side, 
• the coconut oil and 
• gloves, though after cleaning her, I ended up not using them because 

I have better sensitivity in my fingers without them.

I felt inside her - through the vent and could feel the egg, felt the bones on the outside, the abdomen and then - all the while sweet talking to her ...went about to gently work on pushing - periodically applying more coconut oil into the vent opening.

--->>>>> I had previously practiced on an already laid egg how much pressure I could apply and how and have the egg not break. This I found very helpful later!!!!. While I was massaging, stretching and pushing, the sweet girl even tried to push a couple of times during the process. I stretched the vent gently, pushing some more and eventually ...with a scream from her and a small tear and a little bleeding - this egg came out. I showed it to her, she relaxed in my lap and we stayed like that a few minutes. She knew exactly that I had helped her.  This is a tiny hen and the egg was large, or very large, and sort of misshapen. I will crack it at at some point to see what is inside.

The big, slightly odd shaped egg was hers

Mucus membranes got swollen during this process ....I cleaned up the blood and put some more coconut oil on the outside. I can only hope nothing of the intestinal tract or genital tract got torn inside during all that stretching. She rested, standing up drying her feathers most of the afternoon, and I gave her soft foods in the evening.

She came to the front of the brooder/hospital cage the next morning, ate some more soft foods (boiled egg yolk, kefir and starter crumbles) ...but no poop. The back still looked "odd" possibly in part because of the coconut oil.

The next morning

Later I let her out for about an hour while most of the other chickens where elsewhere...and there was a normal poo --oh good, never thought I'd love to see a chicken poop. She walked carefully. Things looked a little swollen still in the back, I didn't feel another egg, but unless she stops laying...there will be more - and with the swelling and tear, we are not out of the woods yet...

Shaking something off ...

I sat on the coop floor for a while and - as is her habit, she flew on my shoulder and then i took her into my lap, preening her ...she fell asleep for a little bit. She ate a little more soft food, but pretty much I kept her inside here box covered for the rest of the day and she settled in a "nest" in the brooder/hospital cage.

Why did she lay such a huge egg? Not sure, maybe it was the big rooster that may have mated with her? The thing about having different sized chicken breeds - it can be hard on the hens if you also have roosters in the mixed flock. I do not know however if that has anything to do the larger egg size.

If I had not been able to pass it - the next step would have been to get someone to help and use a needle and syringe to suck the inside of the egg out, gently collapse the egg hoping no shell fragment pierces anything and hopefully remove it of let it pass. I was praying we didn't have to go there and also that the egg would not break.

She  does not have much meat on her. I can feel the breastbone for sure. Most of my chickens are kind of skinny - and buttercups are considered "light" chickens. It seems I do give them enough food for the fact that they  and they free range all day long - but they are skinny - and egg binding is supposed to be, if anything, a thing of obese chickens. There is NOTHING obese in this one. Could be I need to feed them more, but if there had been any fat there at all, not sure this egg would have passed.

Layer feed should provide enough calcium plus they also get all their egg shells as part of the kitchen scraps. The thing is, when muscles are stretched beyond a certain limit...they loose the ability to contract, no matter how much calcium you have. That egg was too big for her.

I read that sometimes - or maybe often, it will be a recurring problem. If taking your chicken to a vet is an option, there are things to consider

• Calcium shots -  to help the egg shell harden, help with muscles allowing the hen to hopefully pass the egg
• Lupron shots to stop hens from ovulating
• Spaying your hen as a permanent solution

We'll see how it goes.
I did Karma Burn runs for her (the only orb I use form the urthgame site), which works like a prayer for me and also called in spirit guides to help with a chant taught to me by a shaman a long long time ago - and after that, when a vet is not an option - do your best and then it is: let go let god.
I looked into her eyes often enough, and told her I loved her. No matter what - that always stays.
So grateful the egg came out and grateful it didn't break.
I am glad she is eating, though carefully. She has pooped - YAY. I didn't see any redness around her vent - good. Hopefully she won't have to lay another egg till at least another day...

You can read of the further outcome on this page here: at chicks  and weeds - actually - she recovered and ..thought not many, is still laying.