Egg Bound Hen!

One of our Easter Egger hens was egg bound! Her egg was stuck and she couldn't expel it. I noticed this morning that this particular hen seemed a little off. I checked on her through the day and found her in the nest box frequently. At first I thought she had something different wrong and tried to give her some non dairy yogurt. Upon watching her and examining her I learned that she was in fact egg bound- her egg was stuck. I knew from past research that the first thing to try is a warm epsom salt bath so in the tub she went. I keep epsom salt on hand since it's a very useful first aid item for animals and humans. Thankfully that was all she needed, after about 15 minutes of soaking and a bit of poking and prodding from me to examine her she was able to expel the egg. It was a a large egg and more rounded than oblong. I opened the egg to see if there was anything odd about it but it was just a normal egg that was a bit too large and possibly positioned wrong. The hen was immediately feeling much better, if a bit dazed by the whole experience and was able to be returned to the flock. I might have kept her in the house overnight but this bird is one of our most nervous hens, probably the most flighty chicken we have and I knew that being in the house for the night would stress her.