Need quick help: Egg binding

[Behind the Aegis]

I have a Black-faced African lovebird. She has had 3 clutches and is about 5 years old (may be a little older but we have had her for 5 years). This morning my partner noticed she was standing funny. He told me over the phone this afternoon. I checked and could see her lower abdomen was distended. She is not listless, nor having other noticeable trouble, so I feel we probably caught this pretty close on to her actually becoming bound. We put olive oil on her little birdie coochie, which was pink, not red, so I took that as a good sign because it didn't appeared to be distressed or sore. We also let her soak her hindquarters in a warm bath. That actually seemed to calm her, and she did her best to try an pass it. I also massaged her torso and did 3 second compressions on the upper torso to help alleviate the contractions. She never passed it.

Tonight, she is doing well and flying around the cage. She is not "fluffing" her feathers or acting depressed, though she isn't biting at us like she normally does; she is more sedate. I will try the above again tomorrow, but if anyone has any other ideas, please pass them along. The closest pet hospital is 40 minutes away. I have a call into my vet who will hopefully come to the house tomorrow.

Also note: her mate has been cuddling her in the nest box and bringing her food and water. After the bath, she was eating and drinking on her own. I counted the eggs already in the nest, so I will know if it passes besides the obvious shrinkage in her lower regions.

Any additional help/ideas would be great.

[spooky3]

1. I don't know about birds but I am glad your vet is coming out, the sooner the better.

They sound like a pair of sweeties. Hope she recovers quickly.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Update.

I was actually getting ready to walk out the door to go to the vet to have the egg yolk sucked out via syringe and collapse the egg when I saw at the bottom of the cage a collapsed, broken egg. I counted the ones in the nest and all were there. I took her out and checked her abdomen...the egg had been passed!!! She is back to her ornery , "i'll bite you if you pick me up" self! YEA!

Thanks for your well-wishes. They are a cute pair.

[spooky3]

3. I hope she is completely ok now.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Oh, she is spunky as ever. I am still keeping an eye on her, though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ah birds, aren't they amazing?

My nanday went crashing against the wall yesterday. Yes, we already took him to vet... yes he got pain meds. Yesterday he let us more or less check him and give him a bath... helped with all the feathers that he pulled out. Bird crashing against wall, that's not good.

Today, AFTER he got his pain meds, he is back to his we love you too in spite of your orney self.

I love this bird, but at times...

[Behind the Aegis]

6. They really are amazing.

I saw your other post, I am glad your guy is doing better. Birds are so interesting and fun. I was so scared. I lost my green canary to egg-binding, then a month later my male. I had to hide the cage because it made me cry.

You may not know, but I will give it a whirl. I have a rooster who has taken up residence in the oak tree over my house. I have tried to id the type, but no luck. So, if you know (or anyone else) here he is:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Nope, I'd say that's a rooster

and he is pretty too