My bird is egg bound!!!

[Motherlodelofts]

Robert I use Calciam Glucante (sp) in the water also during breeding season. it's good stuff. This hen that I recently had a problem with had a broken tail bone at one time , I was a little concened about her when I paired her.

[re lee]

Was it her tail bone or vent bone. You may have more problems with her. I do not have much problems with egg binding in my birds. But every blue moon I will. Last year I had a 8 year old hen bind . But gave her some cod liver oil and she laid within a couple of hours. It does seem like on some birds in the cooler breeding season hens get more prone to having problems. I am finaly putting some birds together. Have 11 pair as of today. hopefully tomorow I can get the other 5 pair. together. It took me about 5 hours today to put 8 pair together. pick ,trim tails and vent. nest fronts . I put a hen on a cock that I may change. she does not complinment it as well as I think she should. Figure The birds should go to work by 5 of march hopefully. If im lucky I hope for 75 young birds. this year.

[Birdmom4ever]

I just want to point out that a few hens have underlying problems that prevent them from absorbing calcium.

I give my pigeons lots of supplements. They have grit available to them all the time, vitamins a couple times a week, calcium gluconate in the water a couple times a week. They also have various pickstones available to them and I add trace minerals to their water. My problem girl (Jasmine) was even on calcium glubionate--a highly-absorbable calcium syrup you put in the water. It's expensive and not practical to give the whole flock, so for a long time we kept her and her mate in a separate small aviary. But she eventually prolapsed again and also became eggbound last fall. That's when the vet administered a shot of pitocin, which helped her pass the egg.

Keeping her alone kept her from laying, but she became depressed and lost weight. The vet and I discussed her at length and he believes her problems are caused by an abnormality in her pituitary gland that prevents her from properly absorbing calcium. Since I doubt there are any avian endocrinologists, I don't think there's much else we can do. I don't know why she has this problem. We have a bunch of her sisters and none of them have ever prolapsed or had any trouble laying eggs. For that matter, none of my other hens have had problems, and we have 60+ pigeons.

We allowed Jasmine to raise a few chicks last year and she prolapsed after the second round. In retrospect, I think it was a mistake to let her have more babies. It seems to take too much out of her and predisposes her to egg-laying problems.

In January my other vet tried her on Lupron, an injectable drug that has been used with some success to prevent companion birds from laying. It didn't work. She laid again last week after a three month break. Fortunately she didn't prolapse or become eggbound this time. I pulled the eggs and gave her wooden ones and I won't allow her to raise any more chicks. She's back in the loft where she is happiest and gets the most exercise. I'm crossing my fingers that she won't have more problems, but I'm guessing she will.

This probably seems like a lot of trouble to go through for one little hen, but she's very special to us and we don't want to give up on her.

[TAWhatley]

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww22eii.htm

http://www.africangreys.com/articles...on/calcium.htm

Terry

[Motherlodelofts]

Robert it was a broken tail bone, This hen was on her way to stock before this happened after a major fly, heavy wind pushed the team down low over the house when they were full of roll and she miscalculated and made a mistake. Her tail hangs a tad low now which indicates a weak lower back, generally such problems are once in a blue moon here also. I think that up until this year it has been about 7 years since I had one but most of my stock are seasoned hens. I think that you are right though in that she will have more problems, luckily she only had that one egg and if it is fertile I'll foster it and pull her back out of breeding, But then the egg can easily have a problem due the oil blocking the pores of the shell even though I washed it real well, we'll see , of coarse she still has to come out of breeding regardless.

Birdmom I think that this hen is in the same boat, different circumstances but allowing her to breed will end up killing her, So she will go back in the team. As for your hen I would becarefull that the ones that you did get out of her aren't carrying the same genetic fault that can be passed on down the line. It may even skip generations only to show up down the road. Just something to consider here.

[Birdmom4ever]

Yes, I've wondered about that myself, the possibililty of her passing on the defect. (Though none of the rest of her family has the problem.) I only have one of her offspring left, a cock-bird. I took the others to the show last Oct. and some guy was so enamored of them that he bought them, though I hadn't intended to sell them. They were beautiful yellow baldheads like their mom. The one we kept is our last baby out of her. He was from the egg she laid at the vet's office. My husband felt sorry for her after all she went through to lay it and wouldn't let me toss it. Turns out he was the best marked of all of them.

What about her continued laying? She first prolapsed in 2003, when she was a year old. For the rest of the year I didn't let her have any young and she continued to lay, but didn't prolapse. Last year we let her raise two sets of chicks and she prolapsed again and the next month became eggbound as well. I'm afraid of her having the problem again if she continues to lay, especially as she ages.

The last resort would be permanently separating her from the flock. I'd have to bring her in the house and though I love pigeons dearly I don't like having them inside. We already have 7 cage birds (other species). Besides, there is no place in our house where I can keep her out of earshot of the other pigeons. And no guarantee that if I bring her in, she'll stop laying forever. She got pretty chummy with my husband when we kept her alone for awhile last fall and I wouldn't be surprised if she started laying eggs for him, were I to make her a house pet.

We did discuss surgery with our vet, but as I understand it, it is risky and difficult, not to mention expensive.

[re lee]

what other then egg binding does she do. does she go down can not fly or walk well. or does she just have problems when she lays. by binding.

[pigeonraiser]

hi,i had an old dutch capuchine hen a couple of years ago that got eggbound.through help on this website i was able to save her by soaking her in real warm water.she not only laid both times but hatched the eggs.i fed that hen crushed egg shells after that and it never happend again.PIGEONRAISER

[pigeonraiser]

HI,I Had a capuchine hen that got eggbound twice and thanks to help of this website I was able to save her.I dipped her in hot water both times and she passed the egg easily.I fed that hen crushed egg shells after that and it never happened again.PIGEONRAISER

[Birdmom4ever]

She just has problems when she lays, no temporary paralysis or anything like that. The prolapsing has happened 3 or 4 times. Other than that she's perfectly fine. Last time we did blood work on her (about a year ago), her calcium levels were normal.

[TAWhatley]

But, it's not just the calcium .. but the ratios of calcium to phosphorus and other vitamins and minerals ..

Terry

[re lee]

poeple used to give brewers yeast tablets to birds that wnet down when laying or egg bound. This worked well to. Then years later oyster shell tabs started being used at the begining of breeding season. And alot of problems reduced. I can safely say. I have had only 3 times I can ever remember since 1958 That I had a bird go egg bound. And two times a hen went down after laying. I would compare pigeons more to poultry and doves then hook bill needs. As most hook bills are far removed from there habitat. when caged and bred. While pigeons and such are still left near there pirimary food type. And are supplemented well. BUT alot has been leaned thru the years about what helps or not in the keeping of pigeons. I have heard mostly of egg binding during the cooler seasons of breeding. But a healthy diet and such can reduce some problems. But we all have a problem of such every once and awhile. And I think perhaps some breeds get more prone to certion problems. And some families wind up carrying problems that have to be bred away from.

[The pigeon man]

If this ever happens again for you to know and ever one else who has or had simular problems the best thing to do is wrap it in wollen cloth or give it a luke warm bath

[jerseygeorge]

Originally Posted by TAWhatley

Hi Brooke,



You want to be very careful to handle the bird gently and not break the egg inside. If that happens then egg yolk peritonitis will result, and this can be deadly.





Terry

This is how I lost Mama bird. I found glops of Egg yoke but no shell on the floor and around the nest box . One morning several days later I found her dead.

[Trees Gray]

Thank you all for your great contributions.

This is a great thread on egg bound hens.

I just have three more things to add:

1. You can also give some olive oil down the throat to lubricate the inside, especially if the egg is further back not near the vent. That has worked for my hens.

2. Calcium not only provides necessary material for strong egg shells, and allow the hen to grip and push the egg out-as it strengthens the muscles, but it also allows the muscles to relax so she can expel the egg and not be stuck in her.

3. Keep bird excercised,& not overfed, so she is in tip top shape, not overweight.

Also, I have a hen who lays nothing but soft shell eggs, I tried everything and figured she was not absorbing calcium, I put a tiny bit of organic hormone cream on her foot for several weeks, and then she layed a normal egg.