Egg Bound (that’s not a destination)

I was on facebook last night and one of the groups to which I subscribe had a discussion going on about treating chickens that are “egg bound”. Being egg bound is a serious condition for both chickens and ducks, and probably other fowl, but I can only speak to what I know.

Beautiful Leghorn eggs

When a chicken or duck has an egg in the oviduct that they cannot pass they are egg bound. Egg binding is a fairly common, very serious and often fatal condition if not caught in time. Knowing your birds and how they behave when healthy can make all the difference in treating them for this condition quickly.

The Lovely Rachael

I’ve studied all the reasons that hens can become egg bound and found that NONE of them pertained to my duck, Rachael. She is young, only about 18 months, and appears healthy, gets plenty of calcium, a free choice diet of feed, greens and all the bugs she can find, plenty of sunshine and a good amount of active exercise as they have a HUGE fenced area to roam. None of the suspect reasons that she should become egg bound. Signs of egg binding can include, but are not limited to, straining, repeated visits to the nest box with no results, strange posturing, lack of appetite, sitting in a nest box for hours, etc. In Rachael’s case, she was arching her back, head down with her beak straight down to the ground and wings extended down by her sides.

Thankfully, my husband noticed something amiss with her last night. I knew immediately what was wrong since this is not the first time she has been egg bound. I scooped her up and took her into the garage. My daughter-in-law helped me to get her into a warm tub of water to give her bottom a good soak. This helps to relax the muscles and seemed to really calm her down. As she was relaxing, I took a gloved finger, lubed it with good old Vaseline and found the vent (the opening where the egg comes out). I gently inserted my finger and I could feel the egg. I ran my finger around the perimeter of the egg making sure to lube it up really well and being careful not to break it. A broken egg inside a hen can cause serious infection and lead to death. I’ve read you can gently massage the egg out, but I didn’t want to take that chance. She seemed to relax even more and was finally holding her head up and standing more normally.

So, she spent the night in the “Dog Crate Celebrity Suite” at the rustic “Garage Motor Inn”. Room service provided her with a big bowl of water and a salad of fresh greens and hard boiled eggs. By morning, we had delivery.

As my sister Renee would say, “Boy, that’s A LOTTA poop.” Yup. The hotel suite was pristine when she moved in and trashed by morning. She a duck. It’s what ducks do.

I gingerly snatched her from the “room” and took her back out to her family in the barn yard. They started talking to each other before I even got the barn open to release them for the day. It was a crazy duck family reunion.

Another tragedy averted. All is well on the farm once again.

P.S. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I EVER think I could (*cough, cough*) get so personal with a duck. We are life long BFF’s now. She may not think so, but I know so.