Factors that may affect the degree of pain during egg laying
Egg laying may be painful for young chickens. For some of them, it seems to be at the very least uncomfortable. They make a wheezy, gasping sound that seems to be an expression of discomfort as they struggle to push the egg out.
And some chickens even squeak when the egg comes out. Watch the video below to see a cute little Sultan hen who squeaks when she finally drops her egg and makes the wheezy noise while she is laying.
Furthermore, a lot of young hens might lay an egg with some blood on it or drip a few drops of blood from their vents. Later on in the day, you might even discover some blood in their excrement. This could mean that the egg’s passage was uncomfortable or painful.
A chicken’s vent will expand as she lays more eggs, making it much more comfortable for her to lay. Numerous hens have hopped into the nest box, laid an egg seemingly effortlessly, and then hopped back out to continue with their day.
The likelihood that a chicken will experience pain and discomfort during egg-laying increases with egg size.
Many of my young chickens have laid double yolk eggs. When a hen’s ovary releases two yolks in a brief period of time, they unite to form a single, larger egg shell. Occasionally, I come across an egg that seems unusually large, and I wonder if it was difficult to lay.
Does laying an egg feel like human labor and birth?
An egg’s laying process differs greatly from human labor and childbirth. In comparison to a woman’s pelvis, a baby’s body and head are enormous in humans. Thus, labor takes a human woman nine hours on average. Every thousand babies have heads that are too big to be delivered naturally, necessitating c-sections.
However, if you watch the aforementioned video of a chicken laying an egg, you will witness how quickly the egg is actually laid. My hens appear to be merely lounging around in the next box until the very last minute or two when I watch them lay. The egg then drops out as they push and stand up.
Additionally, I’ve attempted to gauge how uncomfortable the hens are while laying by offering them a treat of scrambled eggs in the palm of my hand—yes, chickens enjoy eating eggs—while they’re in the nesting box. They will merrily eat from my hand for the final thirty to sixty seconds of their life. This is how quickly the egg can be pushed out.
And they are once again ready to eat as soon as the egg drops.
When a hen is extremely upset, she usually doesn’t want to eat—not even treats. This leads me to believe that, if the egg-laying process is uncomfortable, the pain might only occur in the final moments or so.
How can I tell if my bird is egg bound?
Many bird owners are unaware of the gender of their bird and frequently do not think that egg binding is the source of the illness in their bird. An avian veterinarian’s comprehensive examination will assist in identifying the underlying cause of your bird’s illness. If egg binding is the cause of the illness, a calcified egg in the abdomen is frequently visible on an X-ray.
When an egg forms as a follicle on the ovary, a healthy female bird should pass the egg within 24 to 48 hours of the follicle forming. An avian’s reproductive cycle is determined by its species, age, and overall health. Birds that are egg-bound display the following symptoms:
- could have passed an egg in the previous 48 hours or not;
- are typically feeble, don’t perch, and frequently sit low on the perch or the cage’s bottom;
- are typically straining, as though attempting to lay an egg or excrete;
- usually have a noticeable swelling of the abdomen;
- occasionally have an egg protruding from the vent, or it might be held in the cloaca, or oviduct—the common chamber containing the gastrointestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts—and then prolapse or have tissue forced out of the vent; and
- if the egg presses against the nerves controlling the legs, it might not be able to stand or might have problems gripping the perch.
Diagnostic testing is necessary to properly diagnose sick birds because symptoms related to egg binding can also be seen in birds with other illnesses.
FAQ
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