# Female who can't walk, need advice asap



## SeaOat (Jun 5, 2005)

I only have two birds, a pair found when squeakers at the racetrack. the female has started laying eggs and seemed to be doing so quite well. This morning when I went to feed she looked fine, came off her nest to eat w/ one new egg (I think from yesterday, arrived home after dark). About an hour ago I noticed she was limping on one leg, difficulty flying but doing so. I just checked on her and she can't move her legs & is using her wings to hobble around. She is alert, willing to eat. I felt for an egg and I can't tell if she's bound....not sure what I'm feling for here & exactly where. If this is even her problem. I put a warm bath dish out, she must be placed/held to bathe. Put out fresh grit to peak interest & she ate a good bit of that as well as earlier grains.

Stools on both birds look fine, male is flighty & active as ever. Female just hobbled to her nest in straw & seems OK, if you didn't know about her difficulty otherwise.

Please help, will keep searching threads for like issues in meantime. Thank you!


----------



## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

For possible egg binding or post egg-laying paralysis:
"You need to isolate the bird so she can rest and won't be bothered by the other birds. Put a heating pad on low, and lay towel on top of the heating pad, and then lay down lots of tissue in the isolation cage so you can monitor her droppings/shells/ or egg coming out. Let her sit comfortably, and give her access to food and water.

You can also give her access to bathing facility, as this will give moisture to the vent and help draw the egg out. Or, hold the hen's feet, vent and bottom in 1 inch pan of slightly warm water for 5 minutes. This may prompt the muscles to relax and expell the egg into the water naturally.

An immediate increase in calcium will do nothing to harden the shell of an already formed egg but will do wonders in improving the muscle action needed to expel the egg. Calcivet by Vetafarm, provides not only the calcium, but also the D3 needed to absorb the calcium. It can be served in the drinking water or sprouted seed if the bird is still eating and drinking. If the bird has stopped eating and drinking, it can be administered directly into the crop.

* Massaging a small amount of vegetable oil around the vent will help soften the mucus membranes around the vent and help the hen pass the egg.

·	Once the egg has passed, the bird will appear to have made a complete recovery. It is now time to assess the nutritional problems that caused this problem in the first place. It is dangerous to attempt to breed this hen again until the nutritional deficiencies have been addressed.

Post egg Paralysis (can't walk after laying egg)

Keep the bird warm. Give extra calcium (oyster shell 500 unit dose) and brewers yeast tabs for five days. You can also make raspberry tea, as it will help with contractions. Brew a cup of the tea and add water to delute it to half the strength.

Soft shell eggs/over & under production of eggs (for young hens)
For birds that have already treated with calcium gluconate and other forms to restore calcium with no results. I treated a hen who was still laying soft shell eggs as follows:

Garlic capsule (1 per day) Clean bloodstream, immune system stabilizer
Colloidal silver (A few drops down the throat)for infections."

Quoted from "Aviculture 2nd ed" available free, see my signature.
Discussion here:
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/my-bird-is-egg-bound-9262.html?highlight=binding


----------



## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

That's really good advise. Calcium is really important and should always be available unless the bird is on certain antibiotics. I always offer oyster shell in a separate bowl as I do with grit.
To give this hen an extra boost, with calcium, you can give her 1/4 tablet tums. If you don't want the eggs to hatch, be sure to replace the fertile eggs with wooden ones or old eggs that are no longer fertile. It's really important for the birds to go through the natural incubation process as laying egg after egg is physically hard on the hen and depletes her body of calcium.


----------



## SeaOat (Jun 5, 2005)

Thank you! I will get oyster grit & cod liver oil today, give Tums now. I had no idea she was lacking, but it would appear so (as I'm not feeding properly for this egg laying buiz).

I candled her first few eggs & replaced them w/ plastic, but didn't this last time. Should they be wooden, or does it matter? Where can I find the wooden? I only have one plastic.

Again, thanks for the great advice, am reading up on all now. Currently the post egg paralysis....


----------



## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Plastic, wooden or old eggs that are no longer fertile...it makes no difference.
You can order more wooden or plastic eggs from all of the on-line pigeon supply places and can even find them at craft stores like Michaels. Do get some though. They are a MUST for folks that have pigeons and don't want to keep adding more pigeons to their loft.


----------



## SeaOat (Jun 5, 2005)

.....more stupid questions, sorry. But how many dummy eggs are enough, and for how long? I'm guessing the entire breeding season, but do you allow laying in intervals then replace? I understand the object is to slow laying/prevent hatching, just not sure if you are to encourage some laying or none at all. Muchos gracias.


----------



## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Pigeons breed all year long. I replace once the hen has laid her two eggs. When the hen and cock sense the eggs aren't going to hatch, they abandon them and the courting cycle begins again. The number of eggs you order dipends on the number of paird you have in your loft. You need two eggs per pair.


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

SeaOat said:


> .....more stupid questions, sorry. But how many dummy eggs are enough, and for how long? I'm guessing the entire breeding season, but do you allow laying in intervals then replace? I understand the object is to slow laying/prevent hatching, just not sure if you are to encourage some laying or none at all. Muchos gracias.


Hi ...

You can either replace each egg as it is laid or wait until both eggs are laid. They would normally expect their eggs to hatch at around 19 - 21 days. After that, most of our pairs start to lose interest and after a short break will start all over again. 

So, you can wait until they stop incubating and desert the dummy eggs, then take them away. If they just continue to use the same nesting place, and lay two more eggs, just take the new ones away.

Our pairs will breed all the year round, so we do a lot of egg changing 

John


----------



## SeaOat (Jun 5, 2005)

Oh crike, maybe I have two females since have found 4 eggs in the same nest w/in 10 days, undisturbed. None contained wee ones when candled. I only have these two birds, they take turns sitting. I just assumed "Wallace" was a male because he's two years old (I've had him since a few days old) and never an egg until we added "Fussy". Fussy was a squeaker raised by a friend & we added her this spring so I could stop being Wallace's best/only gal. Things were pretty simple when it was just us  So, one more question about eggs, 2 is the norm?


----------



## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It sure is.


----------



## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

Sounds like you have 2 hens. I'm adding that tums tip to the book now.


----------



## SeaOat (Jun 5, 2005)

They act like sweethearts to me. Wallace occasionally struts & they roost on same platform together. But that's all I've seen & I'm in the yard near them a lot. Wallace/Wanda......who knew? Seems hard to tell, even watching the ferel ones around the barns.

thanks for the help


----------

