Haaaalp!!!!Egg bound after laying 3 eggs?

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:22 pm

I found my female society at the bottom of the cage a few hours ago looking like she's in so much pain. She was fine this morning. I suspect that she is egg bound (dropped wings, difficulty flying, etc). I was expecting her to lay eggs since I saw them mating before but have never seen eggs in the nest. I put the nest down low since she fell a few times from the nest. I was surprised to see 3 little eggs in there!
I covered the cage with a towel, attached an infrared heat lamp,and put a dish of water at the floor to increase humidity. I also rubbed a little veg oil on her vent and removed her mate from the cage.
I put more crushed oyster shell and grit and she is now devouring it (I read that this can help her muscles in delivering the egg). Should I remove the nest and dispose of the eggs? What else should I do? I hope she doesn't die!!!

FINCHIE · Post by **FINCHIE** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:04 am

Try putting a soaking wet warm towel over the cage as well. I found this works really well. She should pass the egg, just make it as "stress free" as you can.

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:32 am

Thanks, Finchie! I just did that now and put the thick blanket over it as well. She went inside the nest already, hopefully to lay that egg!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:05 am

oh please keep us informed!

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:05 am

How is she this morning?

Have you given her 1 drop of liquid calicum directly into her beak? If she hasn't laid the egg yet, you should try that. You might have to tap very lightly on the side to ger her to open it for you. Glad to hear you put a VERY warm wet towel over the cage for humidity (replace it when it gets cold).

I don't think you need to dispose of the nest and eggs (unless this happens again any time soon). Good luck!

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:30 pm

I tried looking for the Calcium Plus in different petstores here but no luck. She slept in the nest last night and this morning she is able to fly and seems more active but still no 4th egg. I'm going to buy a higher watt heat almp since the one I have is just 50w and doesn't emit much heat.

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:22 pm

http://www.finchniche.com/s-product-calcium.mgi

http://www.fabulousfinch.com/CALCIUM-PL ... _7-12.html

http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/produc ... umplus.mgi

You can order it and maybe overnight it. Its an option. Keep us posted and good luck!

lyderbug · Post by **lyderbug** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:46 pm

Suber: Don't go crazy with lamps. She should be able to keep the eggs warm enough. Keep in mind if the eggs get too warm the will not hatch.

We just had baby societies as well. The all fledged and are doing very well. We let the mom's take care of them and they did wonderful.

We do not keep our heat very high (about 63deg) and the eggs had no issues hatching. Try not to bother her too much.

They make great parents

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:04 pm

She seems to be more active this afternoon. I found a really weird thing in the nest, something that looks like a half-egg! I couldn't really see it well since they really packed that nest tight. There are 3 normal eggs in there as well. Another weird thing is I found another egg in the floor of my large flight cage, don't know who it belongs to. I just put in the male yesterday. There are 2 female societies and 4 oc waxbills in there.

The female still sits on the eggs in the nest and I see her eating and drinking well. I don't know if that half-egg is the thing that caused the trouble. I don't really know if it is an egg!

btw, thanks for the links!

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:14 pm

Some questions:
1) Is it okay to put the male back in to help her incubate the eggs? Or should I leave her alone to do it?
2) When is it okay to turn off the heat in the hen's cage? When she passes the egg/s?
3) If something happens to the hen, will other societies take over incubating and rearing chicks if I place the nest in their cage?

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:31 pm

It sounds like the 1/2 egg thing may well have been a soft-shelled egg and that is dangerous for the hen to pass. It's lucky she did. She needs calcium - more calcium. If you have cuttlebone in the cage for her - make sure you shave some onto the seeds for her and possibly even onto the hardboiled egg with the shell. If she does not have enough calcium, she will not be able to make the shell properly to expel it from her body. I lost a hen that way a year ago.

If it was a soft-shell egg, I would leave the heat lamp there for a couple of days but make sure she can move closer or further away from it as she desires.

I think it should be okay to leave the male in there to help incubate the eggs.

The other Societies may take over incubating if she is unable but it's really hard to say.

Good luck.

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:42 pm

Chances are that you won't find Calcium Plus at most pet store, but more mom and pop places are starting to carry it. Morning Bird Products are a bit more specialized than most chains can handle given that the staff needs to be knowledgeable about the products to ensure your getting the proper products for your needs.

We carry Calcium Plus on our web site, but I can save you a few bucks by offering a simple solution in an emergency situation. Give her her sterilized egg shell. She should start eating right away. If you are offering fresh egg food you can offer her the eggshell from the hard boiled eggs. If not just crack an egg and nuke the shell in the microwave for thirty seconds or so. Let it cool and give it to her.

You also need to look at preventing egg binding. Birds need vitamin d3 to properly absorb calcium. You may want to offer her some Palm Oil Meal. It has vitamin d3 as well as essential fatty acids. We have not had a hen get egg bound since we started using it several years ago when we worked with the manufacturer of another product to develop it. Right now we are the only place you can get it right now. I've been working with my manufacturer to get packaging and pricing affordable enough to get it to market on a larger scale so that someday you can pick it up from local pet stores. Here is the link to the clacium plus and palm oil meal. Read the palm oil meal page to get the full description.

http://www.fairestfinches.com/catalog/i ... 568994.htm
http://www.fairestfinches.com/catalog/i ... 362951.htm

Good luck!
Sean

subersibo · Post by **subersibo** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:54 pm

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I only use Paypal to purchase online so Calcium plus is out of the question. Only Ebay and a few others accept it.

I did however give her the boiled egg with shell yesterday and she did eat it. I also sprinkled powdered cuttlebone on her food. She seems to be back to her normal self today flying about the cage. I checked the nest and saw no new eggs. I DID find out what the half-egg thingy was: it was actually a broken egg, the yolk was out and only a small amount of shell could be seen, don't know what happened to the rest of it, though. She also doesn't look bloated anymore so that egg might have been the cause, hope that was the last egg.