Possible eggbound hen? Help!

[sarehptar]

I'm a brand new owner and although I did reading ahead of time and knew that egg binding could happen, I didn't exactly expect to come across some symptoms of it less than a month after getting finches!

But right now I have a hen swollen up (particularly her belly and vent), wings drooping, tail bobbing a bit, and with very large droppings. Although she appears to be eating and can move around (she is moving between the floor of the cage and the nest), she is definitely less active than normal.

Should I be worried, or is this normal for any hen who might be about to lay?

When I first noticed her I panicked and went around to like ten different drug stores looking for liquid calcium, but none of them had anything but calcium liqui-gels. If my bird gets worse, can I open one of these and water down the contents a bit to give her a drop on the beak, or is there something in the capsule that would be harmful?

I don't have a portable lamp yet (this was on the to-buy list!!) but I do have a room heater that can heat my room up a bit to the right range, so she has heat.

Any advice (or reassurance, if I'm just being silly!) would be enormously appreciated.

[Sally]

An eggbound hen will look miserable. She'll sit on the floor of the cage, with wings drooping down to her sides, squinty eyes, and she won't be eating. Since your hen is still eating and moving around, she may just be getting ready to lay an egg, but not eggbound. Keep an eye on her.

You don't have to have a specialty heat lamp in an emergency--any small desk or table lamp with a 60w bulb placed by one end of the cage will do. A damp towel laid over the top of the cage can provide humidity.

Nothing beats liquid calcium, so that is something I recommend that all owners of hens keep on hand. I don't know if you could use the calcium from those gelcaps. I found liquid calcium at a pharmacy, it was packaged for children. I could not find plain, I think mine was cherry-flavored.

[debbie276]

I totally agree with Sally. Every bird owner should have liquid calcium in their cabinet. Most online bird supply places have avian liquid calcium that you can order and have on hand.
Be sure to have available at all times a mineral dish with egg shells, oyster shells, cuttle bone pieces etc so your hens can get calcium when needed. Also supplement with hard boiled eggs so that they get their Vitamin D so that their bodies can absorb the calcium.
best of luck, keep us posted

[sarehptar]

She successfully laid the egg last night, although I am 90% sure based on its size and shape that it could not possibly be fertile.



As you can see, it's very small and narrow and there is a slight nick in the egg. I suspect that happened after the fact, though, given that my birds have a bad habit of trying to cram themselves into the one favored nest at night...

Can this egg tell me anything about her? Such as her health or her age? My misguided
parents bought the finches as a gift and didn't get them from a very reputable place, so I'm quite worried as to whether or not laying is safe for her.

In that vein, does anyone have advice on how to proceed? Should I assume she is going to lay more? I'm not ready for more finches yet, so in any case, I'll have to remove any eggs if they do show up fertile, but would it better to let her sit on the infertile ones to discourage more laying?

I really did not think I would be dealing with this sort of issue within three weeks of getting them!



Also, does anyone have any recommendations on the best liquid calcium to purchase from an online avian seller? I read in another forum that one type is thick and harder to use, so I think I'd like to avoid that...

Likewise, suggestions on diet for nonbreeding times? I keep reading conflicting ideas on leafy greens like spinach and things like carrots. On top of daily seed, millet, and a few very small pieces of whole grain pasta once a week, a little bit of spinach and carrot every three or so days was all I was feeding my birds prior to this adventure.

Finches are so surprisingly complicated!

[debbie276]

First, yay for laying the egg
It would be helpful for us if you tell us what kind of finches you have.

It would not be all that unusual for the very first egg a hen lays to be slightly smaller and mis-shaped but I'm not sure if your hen is young.
There is no way of telling for sure if an egg is fertile or not until it is sat on. After about 5 days you will be able to see veining in fertile eggs as the chick starts to form. If you don't want chicks remove all eggs laid.

A basic diet should consist of fresh seed and occasional hard boiled eggs. Other things can be added depending on the individual bird and whether it's breeding or not. Spinach should only be given sparsely because the oxalic acid will inhibit calcium intake and may cause egg binding. They should have a mineral cup/dish with oyster shells, egg shells and/or cuttle bone pieces for a calcium supply.

You can find liquid calcium such as CalciBoost doing a web search.
Here's a link to one vendor, it probably would be best to find one close to you to save on shipping costs. https://www.justbirdstuff.com/~tsanti14 ... 16147.html
CalciBoost is the one I have and it's not thick. There are others like Calcium Plus and Calcivet though I'm not sure which is the thick one.

[sarehptar]

Okay, I'll definitely switch the spinach out for some other leafy green then. Thanks for telling me!

They currently have a cuttlebone and small dish of ground up oyster shell, both of which they eat from. I was veryyyy occasionally giving egg food; I heard feeding it regularly also encouraged breeding so I was pretty sparing on that.

My finches are shaft-tails, definitely should have said that.

I'll order that liquid calcium ASAP; thanks for the recommendation.