What is being egg bound? ?
That is when an egg is stuck and can’t come out through the vent the way it’s supposed to
Usually it gets stuck between the uterus and the vent somewhere
When the hen goes to lay an egg, the cloaca seals shut
That’s where the intestinal tract seals shut so that the egg doesn’t get poop on it as it’s being laid
If that shuts and the egg can’t make it all the way through and come out
That’s what being egg bound is
The problem with that is because the cloaca is shut, the hen can’t go to the bathroom
If she can’t poop, then she’s holding all of that inside and that is the health hazard
If it doesn’t rectify itself in 24 to 48 hours, then the hen can actually die from that
From all the bacteria that’s possibly in the poop
That’s why it is such a big deal
It can also cause vent prolapse if the egg doesn’t come out
What are causes of being egg bound? ?
The basic causes are malnutrition, severe internal parasites, if they have a large egg or an odd shaped egg that is not typical for the way they lay, or it could just be a malfunction of the reproductive system
What are the symptoms? ?
What do you need to look for?
Well, lethargy of course, because any time a hen is having a problem, she’ll be a little lethargic
But specific to being egg bound, you’ll see…
Shaky wings
You’ll see her walking like a penguin like she’s got something stuck
You’ll see her tail pumping like she’s trying, she’s straining, to get something to come out
Those are the typical symptoms
If you find a hen displaying those symptoms, what do you do? ?
You’ll need latex gloves, some kind of lubricant like petroleum jelly or vegetable oil
What you’ll need to do is put the glove on, lube your finger up, and put it through the vent
Go straight back about two inches, which would be about this middle joint on your finger
If she’s egg bound, you’re going to feel the egg
If you don’t feel an egg in there, then there’s something else going on
Now if she is egg bound, what do you do about it? ?
Well, you have to be really careful because you don’t want to break the egg inside her
That causes a whole other set of problems
The first thing you do is set up a warm epsom salt bath
You need it to be 3 or 4 inches deep so that when she sits down it covers her abdomen area
Between the heat and the epsom salt, the idea is to get everything relaxed
Sometimes that’s enough to help the egg come out
You want her to sit in that bath for 15 to 20 minutes
Then you can take her out and dry her off
You also want to give her some calcium pills like Tums or an actual calcium supplement pill
If it’s a human calcium pill, you’ll need to crush it up into a powder
If it’s a capsule you can pop it open and just give her what’s inside
Tums also you probably want to crush up into a powder
After you give her the epsom salt bath, dry her off
Then massage her abdomen area from front to back (chest to butt)
The idea is to get contractions going again in the oviduct to move the egg along
You might be able to feel that it’s moving back and that would be a good thing
Once you’ve massaged her for about ten minutes
Put her in a dark crate with food and water and just let her be quiet and sit there
See if she can’t pass the egg on her own
You can repeat this several times, three or four times in the next several hours
You can also lubricate her vent with oil just to help the egg come out when she finally does get it there
If that doesn’t work, my recommendation at that point would be to seek a vet ?⚕️
Even though vets are expensive, if the egg breaks inside, you would need to remove all the little pieces of shell because the shell can cause infection internally and she’ll definitely need antibiotics
How do you prevent this from happening in the first place? ?
Premature laying can be a cause so you really don’t want to do anything that forces your young hens to start laying before they’re naturally going to start
They know when it’s time to start laying, just let them start on their own
Another prevention is make sure that they get a balanced diet
That would include not being overweight
So if you’ve got an obese hen, do things that will get her some exercise
Hang a cabbage head where they have to actually jump and play tether ball with it in order to get that as a treat by pecking at it
Make sure that you’ve got enough nest boxes for the size of your flock
You need one nest box for every three or four hens
Sometimes if you don’t have enough nest boxes and she really wants to lay in the box…
She won’t go somewhere else if the box is busy
She’ll hold that egg in. That’s not good for her either.
The last thing is check to for worms
Sometimes worms can cause egg bound situations
An Egg Bound hen a super serious situation
I want to make sure you know how to check for it and know what to do about it if you find it
Remember … Be The Organic U – Feed Your Soul
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