Egg binding "The Nigtmares"

Egg binding is common and many times fatal to the bird. It’s important to understand what causes egg binding to prevent it, but if you have a binding issue, it is critical you act quickly and intelligently if you are to save your bird. We all know that when we can physically see that one of our birds looks unwell, the situation is serious.

Identify the issue

The first step in treating egg binding, is to correctly identify it. An egg bound hen will be stressed, with a large, hard mass in her abdomen. If you have a sick or stressed hen bird but cannot be sure if she is egg bound, the best bet is to get the bird warm and contact your vet immediately.

First Action

Like any illness in a bird, egg binding is best attended to as quickly as possible. The first action required is hospitalisation and heat. Your hospital box needs to be between 28-30 degrees C with adequate humidity.

Energy to Deliver

Once the hen is hospitalised and warm, we need to ensure she has the energy to pass the egg. Poly-Aid Plus should always be on hand for these situations. Poly Aid will need to be administered directly to the bird either via Medication Tube or Feeding Spoon and will ensure the hen has what she needs to get through the ordeal. Do not underestimate the importance of this support product – it is invaluable for any sick bird you will encounter.

Calcium and Vitamin D3

Along with energy, we also need calcium and vitamin D3. These two nutrients are crucial for muscle function, which of course is needed to expel the bound egg. It’s best to administer an initial dose of Calcivet with the above Poly Aid by mixing 4-6 drops into the first emergency dose. This first mix should be given at a rate of around 5ml total per 100g of bird. Follow up doses of Calcivet should then be administered every 2-3 hrs following.

Monitor and Asses

In many cases, an egg bound hen will pass the egg once provided with the right support in the right conditions. But if the situation remains unchanged for over 24hrs or at any stage the hen becomes very depressed, it is important that you seek vet attention immediately. Be sure that the bird has free access to a high energy food and a clean water source when hospitalised. Adding Spark Liquid Concentrate to the drinking water may also help.
Don’t believe the hype – Below are two older myths that have existed about the treatment of egg binding for some years. Both methods are pointless at best and dangerous at worst.

• Oiling the vent – This is a farce! Not only does catching the bird up to apply the oil cause massive stress, it is also about as useful as applying oil to the birds left ear. Force feeding oil is also a myth.
• Forcing the egg – This is dangerous! Forcing the egg can cause serious physical harm to a bird, not to mention more stress. Do not attempt this under any circumstance.

Sometimes, even after your best efforts or those of your veterinarian, you may still lose the bird. However, with the right tools and some quick action you will save many of them. Keep an eye in next month’s Talking Birds for the follow up to this article, where we will look at some of the causes of egg binding and a few simple ways to prevent it.

Treatment

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and do something a little differently? I know that I certainly have. If you have ever lost an egg bound bird and wished there was something more you could have done, well, chances are there was, once upon a time…….

What you didn’t know about calcium

This is the all important mineral for breeding birds, but you already knew that. What you may not have known is that a Zebra Finch will deplete its entire blood calcium stores after laying just 2 eggs, or that calcium is also important for muscle function. What’s required for pushing an egg out of the uterus? You guessed it, muscles! Cuttlefish is widely used across the world as a source of calcium for birds, but the actual calcium that birds can obtain from cuttlefish versus the amount they need for egg laying is all wrong. You need to ensure you are making calcium available from as many angles as possible for breeding birds, whether this be in drinking water, sprinkled on soft foods or added in the form of pellets. As a general rule, smaller breeds of birds lay more eggs and therefore require more calcium in ratio to their diet.
Malformed egg passed from a bird with a uterine infection. A good diet supporting the bird immune system will prevent many issues from occurring. Once a bird has a uterine infection, antibiotics will usually be required.

Chewing the fat

Fat can be a major contributing factor in egg bound hens. Overweight birds are at much higher risk of egg binding than birds in a healthy weight range. High fat diets also adversely affect the bodies ability to absorb calcium. So this problem is magnified when there is a high fat diet that is low in calcium to begin with. This situation is more common than what you might think, the best example of the above is the bird on a seed diet high in grey sunflower seeds. Like most things that taste really good, sunflower seeds contain huge amounts of fat, to put it into perspective, sunflower seeds contain about the same percentage of fat as a standard block of chocolate. When we have this particular seed freely available to birds many will selectively eat only sunflower and as you can imagine, this is where many egg binding problems and other health issues begin.

Infections

Egg bound birds that expel malformed eggs may be suffering from a uterine infection. A uterine infection can be remedied with antibiotics, but the antibiotics required are quite specific, a vet will need to be consulted to prescribe you the right drug for the job. Long term, the chances of avoiding uterine infections are affected by the diet, which contributes to the birds overall health and immune system. Either considering a complete food for the birds in the form of pellets or ensuring you supplement your seed diet with vitamins and minerals will help avert any future infections. If one particular hen is becoming egg bound consistently after all efforts, it may be in your best interest to remove them from any future breeding program.

Conclusion

Egg production is a complicated process that can be affected by a huge multitude of factors. In this article we have only targeted three common triggers that can be influenced by what we do as bird keepers. Diet is all important and as always, influences nearly every functional part of a birds body, including reproduction and egg laying. Making the effort to get your breeders diets correct will ensure that 80% of egg binding problems never eventuate, not quite as exciting as changing the past, but definitely the next best thing!