Bloody Egg

[Vesna]

Hello,

I need some help concerning a female I have. I found her this evening standing with an egg hanging from her bottom covered in a bloody mucous. There was also quite a bit of blood on the floor. I watched her behavior, it seemed normal but the egg would not detach from her bottom. I was able to catch her and tried to help her with the egg (which has a soft shell). It was very hard to remove so I used warm water and finally was able to remove it.
Poor thing seemed stressed so I let her be but noticed there is still bloody mucous dropping fom her bottom. I believe this to be her first egg, she is a feral I rescued this winter and appears young. Can someone please offer advice. Will the leaking of bloody mucous stop? Could another egg be coming?

[Birdmom4ever]

Was the egg intact, or did it break when she laid it? Does her vent area look normal, or is there tissue protruding? Sometimes hens suffer a prolapse when they lay. But that doesn't quite sound like what is happening here. It sounds as though she has a bloody discharge and I don't like the sound of that. For now it would be good if you can keep the hen warm and quiet. Ideally she should be seen by an avian vet. Can you place her in a carrier over a hot water bottle or heating pad set on low? She will probably lay another egg in about 36 hours.

A few more questions. Is your hen an "only" pigeon or does she have a mate? Do you give her pigeon grit? Do you have any medications on hand?

-Cathy

[Vesna]

She has a mate, though they have been together for only a short while.
The egg was intact but soft shelled. She was not given grit but I do offer them Vitamineral.

[Vesna]

Sorry, I forgot to mention I do have some medications. I have Baytil, Sulmet, Amoxicillan and some Canker and Worming medications

[Reti]

You need to keep her warm and quiet for now and give her some calcium asap. She will lay another egg very soon and you don't want it to break inside her. One of the most common causes for soft shelled eggs is calcium deficiency.
If you don't have any calcium you can give tums, dissolve it in the water and let her drink it, or give it to her with a syringe if she is not drinking. If that down't solve the problem then something more is going on, but first lets see what happens after you give her the calcium.

Reti

[Vesna]

I have added a calcium syrup to her drinking water. She is in a cage with a thick towel away from other birds. She is eating and drinking on her own and
picking at some grit. I checked her cage and the bleeding has almost stopped but I checked her bottom and it looks as if that area has ripped open.
I am able to see part of her protruding out her bottom. The egg she did pass was quite round and fairly large compared to eggs I have seen before. Her bottom is quite wet and messy, I believe she has had some wet poops but they are probably just stuck there because of the conditon of her bottom. Her spirits are fairly normal all things considered. I am keeping an eye on her, I believe it was her first egg as I found her very young. My goodness if I had known something like this would happen I would have kept her away from the males.

[TAWhatley]

Hi Vesna,

You should probably try to gently clean up her bottom with a warm (not hot) soft cloth. She may have prolapsed, and if that happened, it may need vet treatment to fix things.

Terry

[Maggie-NC]

Vesna, try to get her to a vet ASAP. We had a young pigeon do the same thing a few months ago, with a prolapsed cloaca. This is the link to the thread I did about Corky. This is very, very serious.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=23987

[Birdmom4ever]

Yes, it does sound like prolapse. Can you get her to an avian vet? I have a roller hen that has prolapsed several times. The vet was able to carefully push the tissue back inside and she eventually recovered. The second or third time I did this myself, wearing sterile rubber gloves. What happened with Jasmine was that the prolapse didn't resolve until after she laid the second egg. The vet or I would push the tissue back in and it would pop back out, but after the second egg it stayed in. We finally figured out that Jasmine only suffered prolapse after raising a set of chicks. She would prolapse on the next set of eggs following the chicks. We stopped allowing her to raise chicks and she hasn't prolapsed since.

Since this is the first time your hen has had this problem, though, I'd strongly recommend having her seen by an avian vet. As I understand it, prolapse can be mild or life-threatening, depending on exactly what has happened. In the meantime, keep her warm and give her extra calcium as you've been doing.

[Vesna]

Thank you for the help and advice. I just checked on her and she is still leaking and quite mucousy around her bottom. No sign yet of the second egg. I did observe her eating, drinking and picking at grit. Her bottom looks so messy, it does appear as if the inside popped out, very red and inflamed looking. I am going to call the Vet in the morning and try to get her seen asap. He is an avian Vet but I really don't know if he has dealt with this type of situation before. I sure hope he can see her tommorow as she has now been dealing with this for two days. These matters always seem to happen at the worst times.

[Trees Gray]

I'm glad you are taking her to an avian vet in the morning, please do update us.

[Birdmom4ever]

I'm very relieved to hear you have an avian vet. He should be able to help. Please keep us posted.

[Vesna]

Hello,

I am sorry I have not been able to update you sooner but I have been quite busy. I took the female bird to the Vet last week and he did say that she did prolapse. I told him that this was her first egg laying experience and that she really had no motherly instinct towards the egg(which was larger than normal and soft shelled) and really had no idea what was happening to her. I told him there was only one egg and that a second had not come, he felt her for another egg but saw no evidence of one so he popped everything back in and put a couple of stiches in each side of her bottom and told me to bring her back in a couple of days, which I did. At that time he said he felt the second egg, so he removed the stitches and said watch over her and if she prolapses with the secong egg to bring her back immediately, if not, come back in a couple days and we will recheck her. I took her back on Saturday and still no second egg layed. He examined her again and said he could no longer feel an egg and didn't know why. I asked since this was her first laying experience is it possible there was only one as it had now been over one week and no second egg had come. He said it is possible but wasn't sure. The bird seemed in fairly good spirits eating and drinking but I now notice she seems to look sick and stays puffed up. I am going to take her back to the Vet tomorrow but I am wondering if any of you have any ideas as to why she's not well or things I should ask him to check. I feel bad for what the bird has gone through and really want her to get better, her mate still looks for her but I am keeping her isolated. I would really appreciate your thoughts and advice. Thanks

[Trees Gray]

I'm so sorry she is still not feeling well. I don't understand how the vet can say one minute there is an egg and then later say there isn't.

Hens can lay only one egg the first time, but if he thought there was another, I would see if he can check her again, perhaps do an X ray. It could be egg debris also, and even an infection or something else.

[Birdmom4ever]

I'm with Treesa--it sounds like there is still something amiss. I would definitely take her back for another exam and perhaps an x-ray. I've had vets be wrong before, thinking there was an egg when there was not.