Egg laying trouble

[Cygne]

Budgie hen, approx. 4 years old, has started producing eggs for the first time. I see the bulge of the egg right by her vent, but she won’t lay it. The first egg had to be massaged out by the vet, but he couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t pass it on her own. I have no idea how to help her lay on her own and don’t think it’s a good idea to try myself. A vet visit every couple days however would be costly and time consuming. Looking for suggestions.

 

[TikkiTembo]

@Zara ?

 

[JLcribber]

A vet visit every couple days however would be costly and time consuming. Looking for suggestions.

Well at this point you don't have much choice because your bird's life will depend on it. The number one cause for this kind of thing is poor diet. Hens need need a "complete" diet that includes all the vital nutrients. What is her diet?

Another contributing factor is fitness level. The fitter the bird (flighted) the better the chances of avoiding egg binding. How much flight time does she get? It could also be a genetically driven problem from where, how they were bred (ie: commercial breeding). There is no cure for that.

I hope your budgie gets through this cycle safely. If she does her world will need to change somewhat to hopefully disrupt this egg laying cycle.

Has your vet considered things like a calcium injection during this critical time? And possibly some lupron therapy? Your bird can not continue to lay eggs for her own good and health. I'm sorry this is happening.

 

[MommyBird]

 

[Toy]

You have 2 choices. The vet or you try things to help her pass the egg. When my U2 was egg bound the vet gave her an injection, which failed. She lubed her vent & sent her home with liquid calcium & metacam. I was told I'd need to take her to a BCAV, if she hadn't laid the egg in 36 hours, to have it removed surgically. This was her very first egg & the x-rays showed it was huge. After a ton of research I stumbled on what people that raise fancy chickens do when their hens get egg bound. They give them coconut oil via a syringe. They give them liquid calcium. They sit them in warm water, for 10 minutes, deep enough to cover their vent. I tried this & one hour later my U2 laid her egg. You would need to ask your vet how much liquid calcium for your size bird. I used about a teaspoon of coconut oil in a syringe & gave it to her slowly. I'm sure a Tiel would require less. Later she started laying every week, so I got fake eggs, which cured the egg laying problem.

 

[Lady Jane]

Good advice from both members.

 

[Cygne]

Thank u everyone for the advice! Good news is she passed it on her own.

She has now laid two eggs into open air, bc my girl is good at eggs and laying eggs.

 

[Birdbabe]

Good she passed it!