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Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 10:14
by CathyCraftz
This morning I noticed my zebra hen at the bottom of the cage. She is quite active but can't seem to fly. I don't think that she is egg bound either. What is wrong with her?
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 10:27
by CathyCraftz
UPDATE: Now she just sits and is really puffed up. I'm beginning to think that it is egg binding. I don't have a spare cage, only a small cage for insects. What should I do?
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 10:38
by CathyCraftz
UPDATE: She can fly from perch to perch but still stumbles a little bit. Now she is on top of a box. I gave her some egg shells.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 11:32
by Shane Gowland
Keep her warm, provide access to calcium, and leave her alone. Put a towel or something over the cage if it's located somewhere with a lot of activity.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 12:13
by CathyCraftz
Thanks but I gave her eggshells, she went back into the nest and I gave her some privacy. When I went to check on her again she had already laid an egg. She's much better now.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 12:20
by Tiaris
As Shane said, warmth is the best short-term remedy for an egg-bound hen. Eggshells etc. are fine for the future but won't provide any short-term help. If it happens again, best to put her into a warm & quiet spot to reduce the chance of death.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 13:15
by CathyCraftz
I know this sounds crazy but the hen's companion was sitting with her through the whole thing. She was also very intelligent and alerted me by beeping really loudly and wouldn't calm down until the egg bound hen laid the egg.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 14:17
by Shane Gowland
Tiaris wrote: ↑12 Aug 2018, 12:20
Eggshells etc. are fine for the future but won't provide any short-term help. If it happens again, best to put her into a warm & quiet spot to reduce the chance of death.
Exactly right. Increasing calcium only helps to prevent re-affliction on subsequent eggs.
Some articles say that calcium strengthens the muscles and helps the bird pass the egg that's currently stuck. I'm skeptical of this. Birds are especially bad at absorbing calcium, for both physiological and dietary* reasons, so the idea that enough would be absorbed into the bloodstream and then deposited into the muscles in high enough volumes to increase contraction ability—all within a few hours—is highly unlikely.
*Oxalates, found in a lot of things we frequently feed our birds, supposedly inhibits the absorption of calcium. Calcium and oxalates bond and are quickly expelled as waste.
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 17:41
by CathyCraftz
ShaneGowland wrote: ↑12 Aug 2018, 14:17
Tiaris wrote: ↑12 Aug 2018, 12:20
Eggshells etc. are fine for the future but won't provide any short-term help. If it happens again, best to put her into a warm & quiet spot to reduce the chance of death.
Exactly right. Increasing calcium only helps to prevent re-affliction on subsequent eggs.
Some articles say that calcium strengthens the muscles and helps the bird pass the egg that's currently stuck. I'm skeptical of this. Birds are especially bad at absorbing calcium, for both physiological and dietary* reasons, so the idea that enough would be absorbed into the bloodstream and then deposited into the muscles in high enough volumes to increase contraction ability—all within a few hours—is highly unlikely.
*Oxalates, found in a lot of things we frequently feed our birds, supposedly inhibits the absorption of calcium. Calcium and oxalates bond and are quickly expelled as waste.
Yes I have heard about it but does it apply to calcium supplements you put in their drinking water?
Re: Finch egg bound?
Posted: 12 Aug 2018, 18:20
by Shane Gowland
Calcium is calcium.