<aside> 🚨 Egg binding is very rapidly life-threatening. If you suspect egg binding, your first priority should be taking your pigeon to a vet as soon as possible.
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Egg binding is the inability to lay an egg; in other words, the egg is “stuck,” which is an extremely serious health issue. If suspected, you should be taking your pigeon to a vet immediately; until a vet appointment is secured, emergency supportive care should also be offered at home.
Extended time spent within the nest without the presence of an egg may also indicate egg binding, however this can be difficult to distinguish from normal nesting behavior if other symptoms of egg binding are not present.
Sometimes it is also possible to feel an egg sitting within the hen’s abdomen by gently palpating the area, however this is extremely difficult to do without training as a ‘mass’ felt within this area could be anything from a hernia, to swollen bowels, to normal fat deposits within the animal.
<aside> 🚨 It is never recommended to squeeze the hen or attempt to pull a stuck egg out if you can see it. This can be fatal to the bird.
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As stated earlier, if egg binding is suspected, an emergency veterinary appointment should be made immediately. Until your appointment, it is recommended to provide palliative care to the hen by following the below steps where possible.
Administer liquid calcium orally to the hen roughly every 8 hours. Supplements will have varying concentrations, so follow the instructions on your bottle for dosage per your hen’s weight, but instead of mixing the solution in water as typically recommended, administer it directly to your bird as you want her to absorb the calcium as quickly as possible.
A leading cause for egg binding is calcium or vitamin D3 deficiency. D3 is crucial for the body to absorb calcium, while calcium is not only required to properly shell the egg but also plays a role in stimulating contractions. While it is too late to further shell an egg once it is already stuck, administering oral calcium to the hen will help prevent her second egg also getting stuck! It will also hopefully stimulate contractions, helping her push the egg out.
<aside> 🧑⚕️ If possible, consult your vet for aid in dosage and instructions. It is extremely important to be accurate with dosages.
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Meloxicam/Metacam works as both pain relief and an anti-inflammatory in pigeons, and if one happens to have any left over from past veterinary visits, even from cats and dogs, this is great to administer to an egg bound pigeon to not only help relieve pain the stuck egg is causing but to reduce inflammation which may be blocking the egg’s passage. 1.5mg/ml meloxicam concentrate (dog version) can be administered at a rate of 0.4 - 0.8 ml/kg of a bird’s body weight. So for example, a 300 gram pigeon can be given 0.12 - 0.24 ml of meloxicam.