Eggbound but never an egg?

[Nerien]

Thanks. Have fish tank charcoal on hand, wonder if I can crush the pellets to powder, will have to try, and already crushed cuttlebone.

CeCe went back into her home cage today, so far, so good. MopTop immediately went into the biggest, fluffiest puffy dance I've yet seen, then jumped on top of her, so I guess she was indeed missed. Watching and hoping she stays okay.

Now I see my fawn zebra finch sitting puffed up in the bottom of the zebra cage. Going to go wash out the cage CeCe was just in, and put Fawn into it. Gave her some calcium earlier, but she still looks bad, and it's too hard to keep catching her in the big cage.

One more puffy finch, and I'm going to get very suspicious of the recent bag of finch food we got....

[Bhatta]

If you suspect something wrong with their food immediately stop it. Check the poop routinely. I pray for your feathered friends.

[debbie276]

A few things come to mind here.
You say she is egg bound but you never see an egg. Her belly is swollen and you constantly give her liquid calcium. Finally a huge poop, a day later barely a trace of poo till a "smelly, yellowish poo lump stuck on her again". More calcium no poo again. "But no egg comes out. Ever."

Next day "Hardly swollen at all. More poop in cage. But no egg."
"The little poos she's been making have a yellow wet spot around the small, thin solids"

You have been putting ground cuttle bone on their food, giving them no choice whether to eat it or not.
"I only have the thick white human calcium solution, she's had quite a bit of that over the last three days, but no egg passed." How much calcium is in human liquid calcium compared to avian?
Morning Birds label says: Calcium Borogluconate 33g/L
A generic human brand says: Calcium500mg 100%

Next day: "Today she looks great, and is pooing out a storm."

To me everything is pointing to constipation and not egg binding but I'm no vet.

Another possibility is Hypercalcaemia (too much calcium), one of the symptoms is constipation. Here's is an article about calcium you may want to read: http://www.avianweb.com/calciumforbirds.html

I'm not saying this is the problem but I do feel you need to go over the supplements you are giving and how you are giving them. You really should get the avian calcium rather then human, to rule out possible Hypercalcaemia.

Hope you can figure this out especially because it seems to happen more then once and with different birds.
good luck

[Nerien]

A few things come to mind here.
You say she is egg bound but you never see an egg. Her belly is swollen and you constantly give her liquid calcium. Finally a huge poop, a day later barely a trace of poo till a "smelly, yellowish poo lump stuck on her again". More calcium no poo again. "But no egg comes out. Ever."

I know it's hard to read a chain of posts, and interpreting what's written without hearing a person speak, but a lot of this is not quite right.

I said she looks eggbound, but there is no egg. Hence the question mark in the title. Ask about constipation or gas. Because if it's eggbound, why is there no egg? Questioning this.

I do not "constantly give her liquid calcium". I said, "Repeated calcium a few times. Not very frequent." Before being disabled, I was a research chemist and a biologist. I'm not shoving a straw down her throat and pouring bottles of stuff into her.

Big poop was on her when this started, before calcium. Then practically no poop and very swollen belly. Swelling goes down after calcium, but still no poop and no egg. Swelling returns, gooey poop stuck on her butt. Later swelling goes down, but still practically no further poop. Is why I am questioning, this makes no sense--if she is full of *something* that makes her swell, then where is it when swelling goes away, because it isn't laying on the floor of the cage or her bottom.

My mistake on simply saying "had started putting ground cuttlebone on their food." Should have said, some days put a small pile (tip of teaspoon) of ground cuttlebone in their food. Am not completely covering or dusting their food with cuttlebone, and not constantly. And what's the first thing everybody says when you have a hen looking puffy, swollen, distressed? Give calcium! Same thing, my mistake in carelessly saying, "she has had quite a bit of that over the last three days", biologist/chemist speaking, knowing how much stuff is in the stuff, and the size and weight of the bird, not meaning I have used half the bottle force feeding her, meaning, if it was an egg problem, she's had well enough to have solved it by now.

How much calcium is in human liquid calcium compared to avian?
Morning Birds label says: Calcium Borogluconate 33g/L
A generic human brand says: Calcium500mg 100%

33g/L means 33 GRAMS per LITER. 33 grams is 33,000 mg (milligrams). But that's in a liter, which is 1000 mL (milliliters). But that's calcium borogluconate. Take out the borogluconate, you get about 2.7mg/mL elemental calcium (just calcium itself).

Human brand says 500mg elemental calcium per teaspoon, which is 5mL. So it's 100mg per mL. Do not know what the 100% on your label means, if it was 100% elemental calcium, it would be a chunk of calcium, like a rock. No water. But we do not give birds a liter, or a teaspoon, or even a mL. We give them a drop, or a fraction of a drop.

BUT--the calcium borogluconate is in solution. That means the calcium is actually dissoved in the water, in a way part of the water, and when consumed can go directly and completely into the bloodstream. The human calcium, thick white stuff, shake well before using, is not in solution. It is a suspension. Little tiny fine chunks of stuff floating in the water. Like grinding up a Tums. When consumed, it must be basically digested and dissolved to be able to be absorbed into the bloodstream. So it takes longer, and a lot less actually goes into use.

However, the chalky white human stuff would indeed act just like Tums if her problem is actually bloating from gas, which would explain why I see her improve when at the same time nothing has been expelled from her backside. Problem is, what makes her bloat like that? She has five companions sharing the same food and water and all, none of them show any problem, two are also female.

Total of 17 other finches eat the same food, drink the same water. All okay, except for now the zebra hen, but her symptoms are completely different. She is feather puffed up, not swollen or bloated, and she is pooping copiously, and it looks strange. But she is eating and drinking, and chirps to greet me every time I go in the room. Different problem. Coincidental timing.

[debbie276]

All I posted was what I read in multiple posts with an opinion or two of what you might want to consider and/or re-evaluate. But I see you have it well in hand and under control.
good luck