If you keep backyard chickens, you already know how rewarding it can be. A steady supply of nutritious, fresh eggs, fewer pests in the garden, and the relaxing sound of chickens bock-bocking their way through a sunny afternoon all make for a happier life for you and your flock.
But sometimes things can go wrong, and you need to know how to care for your poorly chicken fast.
What Does Egg-Bound Mean?
Even if you’ve heard the term ‘egg-bound,’ you may not know exactly what it means. But as a responsible chicken owner, you need to be able to diagnose and treat an egg-bound chicken before the condition becomes life-threatening.
Egg binding or egg blocking is a severe health condition for your chicken. It means an egg is stuck somewhere inside her oviduct, typically between the uterus and the vent or cloaca. If an egg is truly stuck, your chicken can’t lay it no matter how hard she tries. She helps the right help, and she needs it fast.
What Are the Symptoms of Being Egg-Bound?
Luckily egg-binding is easy to spot once you know what to look for. You should be keeping an eye on your flock anyway, so you know what’s normal for your chickens. If you spot any problem early, it’s much easier to fix!
An egg-bound chicken looks sick. She will stop eating. As well as losing her appetite, she won’t be drinking much. She might keep going in and out of the nesting box and noticeably strain trying to lay the egg. She may also squawk in discomfort when she tries to lay.
Egg-bound chickens may have trouble walking or may walk in an unusual way, waddling like a penguin. Your egg-bound chicken may pump her tail in an effort to push the egg out. If the stuck egg is pressing on the nerves in her pelvis, she may limp or not be able to walk comfortably.
She may seem agitated or conversely lethargic. Her comb and wattles may look pale or droopy. Her wings might be shaky—everything about your egg-bound chicken signals that she is unwell and needing help.
How Can You Treat Your Egg-Bound Chicken?
If you notice any of the symptoms of being egg-bound, you should get your chicken to a veterinarian as soon as possible. Preferably you already have a health practitioner who is experienced with poultry.
But sometimes the early symptoms can be overlooked, and you suddenly have a chicken in crisis. What can you do?
- Give her calcium immediately. You can give calcium as an injection, oral supplement, or an electrolyte solution. The crucial thing is to get some calcium into her fast.
- Try to get her to take some water. A chicken in distress will become dehydrated quickly, which will make the situation worse. You might need to use an eyedropper or a syringe if she can’t or won’t drink.
If these first steps don’t work within a half-hour, you need to take a more interventionist approach.
- Give your hen a warm bath. Stand her in a tub of warm for water for approximately twenty minutes to help her to relax, rehydrate her vent and make it easier to release the egg. Add in some epsom salts.
- Take her out of the bath and gently dry her. Lubricate around the vent with a little KY jelly to make it more slippery. You can massage around the vent gently, but be careful not to break the egg as this risks cutting the vent and leaving bits of shell and egg contents inside her, which can cause an infection.
- Gently place your hen in a dark nesting space so she can relax and lay the egg.
- If no egg has appeared after a time (not more than an hour), try some more gentle massage of her abdomen.
You can repeat these actions as long as your chicken remains bright-eyed and alert. If she’s not looking so chipper and starts to look listless, and you still can’t get to a veterinarian, you’re going to have to remove the egg yourself.
Breaking the egg is the absolute last resort for an egg-bound chicken as it can cause internal damage and infection unless you’re extremely careful. You’ll probably need an extra pair of hands to hold the chicken and comfort her while you work.
Breaking the egg should only be done if you can see part of the egg at her vent. Get a darning needle and gently make a hole at the tip of the egg. Use a syringe to remove the contents of the egg and discard it.
Gently collapse the eggshells inwards and reapply some lubricant so you can remove as much of the shell as you can. If the egg has broken inside the chicken, you can use a turkey baster to flush out the oviduct with a warm saline solution.
Once you’ve finished, dry the chicken and place her back in the warm dark place to recover.
What Causes Egg-Binding?
Egg-binding has a number of causes and can happen to any healthy chicken.
- Lack of calcium. Your chicken’s uterus needs calcium for the muscles to be able to contract enough to push the egg through the oviduct. A lack of calcium will also result in a soft shell, making the egg much harder to pass through the viaduct. Add oyster shell to their feed to keep calcium in their diet.
- Obesity. Fat chickens have reduced muscle tone, making it much harder for their bodies to lay.
- Malnutrition. A malnourished chicken will not have the right amounts of Vitamin D3, magnesium, and phosphorus. These deficiencies make it much harder for her to absorb and use calcium.
- Dehydration. Chickens need to keep well hydrated to keep their reproductive systems healthy.
- Excessively large or misshapen egg
- An infection in the oviduct
- Disturbance during laying or insufficient nesting places available
- Inadequate protein in the diet
- Premature laying. Maybe your young chicken isn’t old enough to be laying: her system just may not be developed enough to lay eggs.
- Age. Elderly chickens lose muscle tone and may find it progressively more difficult to lay.
Happily, most egg-bound chickens recover and go on to live happy, productive lives if they get the right treatment in time. You can reduce your chicken’s chances of becoming egg-bound if you make sure they have a balanced diet rich in calcium, get plenty of exercise, and are not forced to lay before they’re old enough.
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References:
- https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/egg-bound-chicken
- https://www.backyardchickencoops.com.au/blogs/learning-centre/egg-binding-what-is-it-and-how-to-treat-it
- https://thisnzlife.co.nz/hands-help-egg-bound-hen
- https://www.chickenwhisperermagazine.com/nutrition/egg-bound-chickens-how-to-identify-and-prevent-this-emergency-condition
- https://sorrychicken.com/egg-bound-chicken
- https://www.dummies.com/home-garden/hobby-farming/raising-chickens/how-to-treat-egg-binding-in-chickens
- https://www.thechickentractor.com.au/how-to-help-an-egg-bound-chicken
- https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms