Meet Cee Cee:
My little Silkie Serama was acting off on Sunday, wandering with her flock in the back yard but still not motivating around as much as usual. I kind of kept an eye on her through the day, and started to notice that she had what I call The Egg Bound Waddle... which to me looks pretty similar to the way I felt in the last few days of pregnancy-you get the picture.
That night I brought her in the house for warm baths, blow dryings and warm olive oil 'massages'. When ever we have an unwell chicken they go into the Sicken Kennel which gets set up in the kitchen. I put her away for the evening and hoped for an egg delivery during the night. Bright and early Monday morning finds us still Eggless at Bearfoot, so I repeated the bathing process and popped her back in the Sicken Kennel for the day as I had to leave for work. I almost brought her in with me but thought that we might have better luck in a nice quiet house...not a stressful hour long car ride, and a day spent at work being poked and prodded by me.
In the past, one bath does it but this was proving to be more of a challenge for this lil girlie.
Monday night when I got home, there was STILL NO EGG. Having talked to The Chicken Doctor (who is also a great friend of mine thankfully!) during the day we had come up with a plan to try and coax this stubborn egg into the world. We would try a very small dose of Oxytocin, along with starting antibiotics, a steroid, and vitamin b12 and b-complex. Also, keep in mind that CeeCee has been eating and drinking normally during this whole ordeal--just waddley- ;) Sooo, that's what I did--administered the medications, did the bathing, tried to palpate the actual egg, etc and wrapped her in a towel, sat down with my book and read for two hours while I held her to keep her warm and hopefully induce great relaxation. Aaaaand guess what.. we got nuthin'. I put her away at 11 PM and went to bed, worried and thinking the worstest things.
Now approaching panic on Tuesday, I pack her into work with me and Dr. takes a radiograph:
Yup.. that baby is HUGE compared to tiny little Cee Cee. Also, look closely and you will see a broken soft shell blocking the whole process! (that crumbly looking stuff in her 'belly' is actually her gizzard) We gave more Oxytocin, the steroid and vitamins, mixed up a 50/50 mixture of KY and warm sterile saline and lubed up the chicken. Dr also 'gently manipulated' the egg with his gloved pinky. It took about 1/2 an hour and out came THIS:
WHOOOOHOOOO!! That grossness is the broken soft shell, a malformed small smooshy egg, a highly calcified well done egg, and the other small thing, I think might be a yolk? I have no idea... it was all quite icky.
Also, it would be interesting to note that neither the Dr or I could palpate the soft shell as that--a shell, we both thought it was tissue, and feared the worst and started to discuss what to do. It was during this time that Cee Cee passed that whole mess and I heaved a huge sigh of relief and cheered. She is now resting comfortably.. eating, drinking and preening.
I will be continuing her antibiotics for the next several days along with her Vitamins.
I am very very happy, and I am sure Cee Cee is too. :)
