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Egg bound chicken? :(

Might just be the opposite - that chicken might just start following him around.

And this is the best thread this week!
 
FWIW, your right about molting and egg laying. Our chickens are not producing much right now. Days are getting shorter (they lay more with more sunlight) and nights are getting cooler. We will normally get 1 egg per chicken every 14hr cycle. Half our chickens are not laying right now at all. But they are fine.

I read this thread to them and they cackled. Two of them turned around and bent over and asked if you would finger their cloaca.
 
I work at a bird specialty clinic.
If she is truly egg bound, she needs to see a veterinarian asap for removal or treatment to aid her in laying the egg herself. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to collapse and remove the egg yourself. This is a very delicate procedure that we do under anesthesia, and there is a lot that can go wrong. An egg cannot always be felt from the vent, if it is not fully formed it could be up higher. You also run the risk of causing a prolapse if you poke around too much or press on her abdomen, so please refrain.
She could also have an infection, such as egg yolk perintitis, if an egg has burst inside her or failed to form properly.
There's just too much to speculate, she needs medical attention. She probably needs hydration, a calcium supplement, and possibly even surgery. Although not many people are willing to go that far for a chicken, at least to humanely euthanize her would be kinder than to let her die a slow death.
 
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Just read the rest of the thread. If she's simply not laying, that in itself is not cause for too much concern. An egg bound bird will frequently be straining to lay, lethargic, sometimes unable to stand, inappetant, and will usually have labored breathing as the condition worsens. A decrease in egg production, absent any other symptoms, could be due to yearly cycles, malnutrition, stress, age, etc.
As long as chicken is hungry, happy, and active, I'd wait and watch before sexually assaulting her again :thumbup
 
Britny said:
Just read the rest of the thread. If she's simply not laying, that in itself is not cause for too much concern. An egg bound bird will frequently be straining to lay, lethargic, sometimes unable to stand, inappetant, and will usually have labored breathing as the condition worsens. A decrease in egg production, absent any other symptoms, could be due to yearly cycles, malnutrition, stress, age, etc.
As long as chicken is hungry, happy, and active, I'd wait and watch before sexually assaulting her again :thumbup
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Man this sounds awful.

Byke, sounds like you need to choke your chicken. Then find out what's wrong with the hen.
 
If there's nothing otherwise wrong with her, let her be and just observe her. We had some hens that would regularly lay double-yolk eggs. Huge things. Two became eggbound. First died within two weeks, second I had to mercy-kill after her vent prolapsed. If you're sure about it, take her to a vet.

Should it ever come to it, take my advice that a machete is NOT a sharp or heavy enough blade for chicken decapitation.
 
Daks said:
If there's nothing otherwise wrong with her, let her be and just observe her. We had some hens that would regularly lay double-yolk eggs. Huge things. Two became eggbound. First died within two weeks, second I had to mercy-kill after her vent prolapsed. If you're sure about it, take her to a vet.

Should it ever come to it, take my advice that a machete is NOT a sharp or heavy enough blade for chicken decapitation.
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I agree with the first paragraph, having lived on a farm with many chickens in Oregon in the 70's.....but, I disagree that a machete "is NOT a sharp or heavy enough blade for chicken decapitation". I have a full quiver of highly sharpened machetes and helped my good Panamainian friend wack his chickens that were ready for harvest. He held them down while I slung the blade. One wack, it's all in the wrist, just like swinging a hammer (properly).

The Indiano jardineros walk down the road with 3' machetes after working the fincas (farms, mainly coffee). That would never happen in your world.

You Norte Americanos know nothing about machetes.
 
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You don't hack a head off to cull chickens

Inefficient method

Pop it's neck by hand

I grew up on a southern farm
 
Daks said:
Should it ever come to it, take my advice that a machete is NOT a sharp or heavy enough blade for chicken decapitation.
Click to expand...

Meh gravity and physics are your friends. Cover your hand over the birds head, a quick up, over and twist. No mess, no fuss, quick and easy. Works on everything from farm fowl to Canadian Geese......
 
See, the problem had lay in the fact that we had become quite knowledgeable about keeping chickens alive, but knew little about killing them.

I broke her neck in the first swing for sure, but between my noodle arm and the machete being shit (My advice doesn't apply to people who feel the need to flaunt their various machete knowledge and know-how, but for people who DON'T know their machetes and find them in the shed, figuring it's the best blade you got for the job at the time. Bunch of dick-waving blowhards here I swear...) it just didn't go through for another dozen whacks or so.

Breaking the neck is much cleaner, I agree now that I know it.

It was a learning experience.
 
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