Eggbound Canary

[Sil&Nova]

Hey everyone, I am new on here and below is my reason why I wanted join this forum:

Unfortunately my female canary has been egg bound for nearly over a week now. I have been putting calcium in her water, moved her to a smaller cage which I have been keeping constant heat to via a heat lamp and keeping a towel over it to keep the heat in. (It is winter time here)
However she does not seem to be getting any better. She eats and drinks like she always has, I gave her some brown rice the other day and she was quite happy flinging it around like usual. There is no change whatsoever in her behavior and she still enjoys a good sing and calls out to her mate quite often (I have no plans on breeding, I just bought the pair so they have company, they have never attempted to breed but get along). The only thing showing any illness is her swollen belly.
What else can I do to help her out without hurting her?
Are there any other home remedies that do not include me attempting to get the egg out myself?
I have never done it and would prefer to not accidentally kill her due to my inexperience.

Any help would be wonderfully appreciated, thank you.

(The closest bird vet is over two hours away and I don't want to stress her out by moving her around too much, although if there is no other way I will probably go for this option.)

[Sally]

I would suspect there is something else going on with your bird, though I know nothing about canaries. When finches are eggbound, it is very easy to spot. The hen will either be on a perch or more often on the ground, she will have droopy wings, she will be puffed, with squinty eyes. In short, she will look like she feels absolutely miserable. This is an emergency, and often the hen will pass away within 24 hours if she is not treated right away. You are doing all the right things for an eggbound hen (except that I would administer the liquid calcium straight to the beak, one or two drops).

I would not recommend trying to get an egg out of a hen, as the chances are that the egg would break inside the hen, which can lead to the hen dying anyway.

Welcome to the forum, though it is not under the best of circumstances. We do have a number of members with canary experience here, so hopefully someone will be able to help you. There are a lot of articles at www.finchinfo.com, though they are aimed at finches in general. Canary care often differs a bit.

[Sil&Nova]

Cool thank you for the info, I will try doing that with the calcium. ;)

I'll keep doing what I am doing and if anything changes, or gets worse I will seek more help before it gets serious.

[Atbird]

Sil&Nova

Are you sure she's egg bound? My understanding is that an egg bound bird will die in a day.

What do you mean by swollen belly? When a female comes into breeding condition, her bottom does look "swollen". Or is it her abdomen? Which could indicate liver problems or just overweight.

as Sally said, it doesn't really sound like your bird is egg bound.

[Sil&Nova]

I have had her for 4 years now. Normally when she looks like this she lays the egg and it's over with. It came up over the last two weeks and I haven't changed anything in her diet so it's not her weight. Also, she constantly looks like she is pushing (She is not panting or breathing heavy).
I have another canary that lives in the same cage and is feed the same things etc. and he is fine.

[Sil&Nova]

Okay, so I finally took her to the local vet this morning for an x-ray to see if there was an egg in there. I want to post this up for everyone's info in case they experience the same thing.

She does have an egg in there, the swelling that can be seen is actually all fluid which has built up in front of the egg itself making it impassable which may have built up due to possible stress (the male maybe harassing her) or a large multiple of factors which have nothing to do with diet, or environment. They also said that she may have grown a tumor as well. Mainly, it was just something that happens occasionally that one cannot control and all these things have unfortunately happened at once and are not connected to each other. Unfortunately due to this fluid and the way it is sitting, it means that her chances of survival by removing it at the vet, and because she is so small, are none because there is no room to pull the egg, or even shards out without harming her internally.

Her only chance (if any) is to keep the heat on her and hope it softens it enough to pass the egg. Once passed, the swelling should settle and gradually she will get better. The only reason why Sil may survive is because she is still eating and drinking 100% normally.

So in other words, I went to the vet and they told me that she was pretty much going to die regardless what I did. Hours, days, they were not sure and were surprised that she had even lasted this long. Since Sil has been with me through quite a lot, I spent what felt like an eternity to get her hand tamed and is part of the family, I'm going to be doing as much as possible to help her out. If I find anything out I keep will posted mainly now for everyone else's information as it may help you guys out....

[Sally]

Wow, I've never heard of this before, poor baby. I am so sorry you are both going through this, and prayers are sent that she pulls through. Please keep us posted.

[debbie276]

Aw, I'm so sorry
Sending prayers for a complete recovery

[Jen]

So sorry to hear this news. She has probably lived this long because of your wonderful care. Sending you prayers that she pulls through. She seems so healthy otherwise that maybe she will pass the egg and survive. Best of luck. Please keep us posted.

[Atbird]

Sending positive thoughts towards a full recovery. Never heard of this happening.

[Sil&Nova]

Update: After following up with another vet, it turns out that my canary could be a lot older than initially thought. I thought that she was possibly five, the chances are she is more like six or seven. (I did get her for free because the pet shop didn't want to keep her because she was too old for pet shop age).

Also, the swelling that can be seen, is indeed a tumor. The 'egg' that they thought they could see, is actually pretty much cancer (Which means that no matter how much care I give, she is past the point of no return). I didn't think birds could get things like that, but apparently... Which is why she didn't seem to have the symptoms of being eggbound which I thought. Instead of putting the poor bird through this (I don't want her to suffer), today I got her put to rest.
The last couple of days, she has lost feathers above her tail, and the back of her neck, is now showing signs of illness, and struggling to eat without passing out in her seed dish. She can also no longer perch on anything and remains fluffed up in a ball at the bottom of the cage. I'd rather think of her as her chirpy little self than this.

I have learnt a lot from my first canary, and although it is sad to let her go, what I have learnt will pass on to the care of my other little guy. (He is not hand trained yet, so a good project for me).
Thanks guys for your support, unfortunately, unlike an egg, there is no cure for this. She is flying up there in the sky with the best of them

[Sally]

I am so sorry to hear this, but I would have done the same. When faced with something terminal, the best course of action is to relieve them of any suffering IMO. She can now fly free of any pain.

[Atbird]

I am sorry. Thanks for sharing her story, it will help others. Fly high little canary.

You are going to hand tame your canary. I would be very interested to hear about that process.

[Sweetie Pie]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your sweet little girl. My sympathy and prayers are for you and your little guy. You worked so hard to save her but alas she's in the hands of her creator. He is happy to see her home.