Eggbound hen - am I crazy to pay a vet $150?

[klf73]

my question would be what are the odds of this happening again?. Next would be how old is she? If I could get a guarantee that this was going to fix it and it wouldn't happen again then I would probably try if I could afford it. I spent $150 18 years ago for an eggbound iguana, she died a week later anyway

.
Since you can't feel it how do you know she is eggbound? Could something else be affecting her? Did the vet look at her?(ours won't look at anything without it costing over $50 just to go in the door

)
good luck with whatever you decide

 

[Elite Silkies]

I've got an eggbound hen that I am trying to save right now. She is my daughters and she is really upset. But, a vet visit would mean taking my mortgage payment or bill money. Our vets will not deal with chickens either.

We have one about 40 minutes from here, but it's almost $200.00 to walk to through the door.

Right now, I am giving her tums for calcium and Sonew told me to scramble her some eggs with lots of Olive Oil of them. Mineral oil in the vent and massages. Warm bathes.

Mine is showing no signs of illness, I just realized that she hadn't laid. I did check inside her vent and I do feel the egg. She does have some swelling also.

I really don't know what else to do.

If you can afford the vet visit, then I would say go for it.

 

[Elite Silkies]

How is your hen doing? I hope she is better.


I got mine to expel her egg. It took me about 2 hours in a warm bath, massaging and mineral oil, but she did it! If you watch how to AI a Rooster, and do the same thing to the hen, she'll start pushing and it will help move the egg down. Massage her abdomen at the same time in upward strokes. I put plenty of mineral oil in her vent also.

I think she has gone broody now, she is covering herself with shavings and cooing. But, I guess that will give her body a break.

 

[katharinad]

I would be careful with tums, because that lowers the ph in the gut making it harder for them to breakdown food.
Another tip is adding chamomile tea to the warm bath. Not for the smell, but for the anti inflammatory properties in is. It will reduce the swelling and help with the egg. Just buy it as tea and brew it when needed. This is an old remedy around for hundreds of years. I even grow chamomile for my own use. It tastes very good and I love drinking it. BTW is also being used with honey helping toddlers when they teeth.
Katharina

 

[ace6175]

Glad to hear you were able to get your hen to expel the egg. Sounds like a lot of work, but good to know if I have to go through this again. I like the suggestion of chamomile - I may grow some this year (make some chamomile echinacea tea).
I think I have another post of this, so here the story:
Avril laid another egg this morning! I put her in the cage again, and it worked!
I'm wondering now if she doesn't want to lay in the nest box? She has always been the low ranking hen, and very flighty - maybe one of the other hens bullied her out of the nest box?
I'm going to test my theory tomorrow morning - it feels like she has another egg that needs to come out, so I'll put her in the dog cage again & see if she lays that egg. Also feeding her oatmeal with a crushed calcium supplement.
Thanks for everyone's interest - maybe I needed a chicken behaviorist instead of a veterinarian.