Egg bound first time layer Black Copper Maran pls help

[Estrella]

Hi! I have a 7 mo old Black Copper Maran who has not started laying yet (but her sister has been laying for about 4 weeks), she eats normally but tends to want to lay down a lot, and her comb is more purple than red. I discovered it this morning and gave her a luke warn bath with a tiny bit of baking soda in it, and then I squeezed some sunflower seed oil inside her vent and put her with her favorite food in one of the nest boxes. I also squirted a tiny bit if luke warm water in there. No luck so far. I do not want to massage her belly as I am afraid of breaking the egg. Her sister lays huge dark brown eggs, they weigh about 70g already. I am guessing it must be very hard to push out such a huge egg when you’re a tiny litte 7 month old hen… What else can I do for her? She’s alert and eats and drinks like a man. Thank you for any help! Also, am in Sweden so + 6hrs from NY så ”this morning” was 6 hrs ago now.

 

[Yardmom]

Calcium helps them push eggs out. Sorry I don't know the details for best kind.

 

[Estrella]

Calcium helps them push eggs out. Sorry I don't know the details for best kind.

Thank you, will google! Hoping for qick fix. Or maybe just grind down eggshells and feed her. The oyster shells they get are sooo hard.

 

[Firsttimehens1234]

Hi! I have a 7 mo old Black Copper Maran who has not started laying yet (but her sister has been laying for about 4 weeks), she eats normally but tends to want to lay down a lot, and her comb is more purple than red. I discovered it this morning and gave her a luke warn bath with a tiny bit of baking soda in it, and then I squeezed some sunflower seed oil inside her vent and put her with her favorite food in one of the nest boxes. I also squirted a tiny bit if luke warm water in there. No luck so far. I do not want to massage her belly as I am afraid of breaking the egg. Her sister lays huge dark brown eggs, they weigh about 70g already. I am guessing it must be very hard to push out such a huge egg when you’re a tiny litte 7 month old hen… What else can I do for her? She’s alert and eats and drinks like a man. Thank you for any help! Also, am in Sweden so + 6hrs from NY så ”this morning” was 6 hrs ago now.

You’re doing great already, I would give her calsium pills either crushed up into food or force feed her a half a pill a time to make sure she gets a boost of calcium(I usually give mine 400mg pills)
It’s great that she’s alert, that’s a really
My bcm also gets a more purple comb when she is about to lay an egg

 

[Estrella]

You’re doing great already, I would give her calsium pills either crushed up into food or force feed her a half a pill a time to make sure she gets a boost of calcium(I usually give mine 400mg pills)
It’s great that she’s alert, that’s a really
My bcm also gets a more purple comb when she is about to lay an egg

Thank you! I feel so sorry for her, it’s as if she’s seeking me out for help. I just shredded a bunch of oyster chells + eggshells in my Blendtec to a powder and mixed with black soldier fly larva and gave her, am at the Summerhouse and have no means of getting calcium pills right now. Will give her another bath in an hour or two, and keep her in there for longer (did 10 mins this morning). Poor girl!

 

[Estrella]

Update day after; she still eats but has not passed the egg, still in the nest box, won’t leave. She’s currntly in her 3rd bath with a bowl of sunflower seed oil sprinkled water melon in fron of her as a treat… Seems happy about that, at least. Insides not hanging out/protruding, but she keeps her butt down and her vent is pumping as to try to pass someting. Her sisters first egg was huge and rough, not smooth, so thinking it’s the same for this one.

 

[Estrella]

Ok, so she is not getting any better. Have tried it all, several times. Thinking she may have peritonitis, but there are no vets anywhere near where we are with poultry competence (very rare in Sweden). She pooped yellow, walks really bad, and is somewhat lethargic, just laying in nest box. Maybe a stuck egg is pressing on her nerves. Happt to eat and drink, but not a lot. Comb is purple and much smaller than her sisters, almost looks like a 12 weeks’ old comb but she’s hatched on Oct 7 last year. What would you guys do? It’s been close to 48 hrs since I discovered her like this.

 

[WMolinaroli]

I am a new chiken mom. What is peritonitis?

 

[Estrella]

It’s when they are unable to form a shell around the egg and the eggs breaks inside her. Needs to be treated with antibiotics, which no vet around my area will give, they don’t treat poultry.

 

[Estrella]

Update, dunno if this will help anyone, but here goes. Found her dead in her nest box this morning, which, unfortunately, didn’t surprise me. She was not at all responding to all I did, stopped eating yesterday and I now suspect there may have been something wrong with her from hatch. Both she (Brigitte) and her sister (Yvette) were hatched on Oct 7th, 2023, and her sister developed a very big, nice red comb early and laid her first egg on April 25, at 29 weeks old. Brigitte never deveolped a big, red comb, but had a very small, more purplish one, and she never started laying. Although this breed tend to start laying late, Brigitte was still very different from her hatchling. Chatted with vet on JustAnswer yesterday and he suggested she may have had a heart condition as well, as the comb was under developed and more bluish than red. Will not perform an autopsy as vets here in Sweden don’t perform those, and most don’t even have poultry training.