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Swollen abdomen - egg bound?

We discovered one of our hens had an egg -shaped swelling on her abdomen yesterday. Today we gave her a warm bath with Epsom salts and gently massaged the lump...it's soft, so maybe a soft shelled egg?? But other than the lump, she seems fine. Appetite, walking around, etc. Any idea what this may be if she isn't showing any other symptoms? She hasn't laid in a few days, but all our birds are molting and egg production is way down so we didn't think this was too unusual at first.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duncan Martin on September 23, 2013 at 11:52pm

She may just have a fatty build-up, but if she is egg-bound, the common practice is to soak her rump and vent in warm water for a while to relax the muscles, so I think you're on the right track. I believe that there are two similar sets of symptoms for being egg-bound, and for re-absorbing eggs. Re-absorbtion is more serious and I don't think it's treatable. I believe that is what happened to one of our hens, but she became very lethargic and would just stand alone with her rump down between her legs. Nothing seemed to bring her back. But if your hen is energetic still, I'd just continue with the epsom salt bath if anything seems wrong. I remember one "internet chicken expert" recommended a 200 mg Motrin pill to reduce swelling and possibly encourage the vent sphincter to open and release any bound egg. Take that advice for what it is, but it seemed to work for the person's sample size of 1. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Alyssa K on September 24, 2013 at 10:07am

200mg seems like a LOT for a chicken. Plus, ibuprofen is really toxic to cats and dogs - Personally, I wouldn't go there.

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