Chicken laid a soft egg with clotted blood..?

[setfree]

Hello! I've been lurking around this site gleaning much useful information, and now I actually have something to post about..



I noticed about an hour ago that one of my 4 barnyard girls was looking a little droopy (low wings, head pulled in, standing alone in the corner) and thought she might have become egg bound like her sister had this week. Right then I heard a little "plop!" and saw a soft egg had just fallen out of her, and there was a small glob of deep red gelled stuff that looks like blood with firm, small, slug-shaped globs within that! The entire red spot is about 2-3" in diameter.

Anyone seen this before? I tried searching on here but am on a slow connection that kicks me off often. I can take a picture (but would rather not as it's raining... and I figured someone probably know what this is!

)

Right after she evacuated this stuff, she perked right up and joined the rest of the gang over at the feed bowl. She's been running around like her usual self since.

She's a red sex-link, around 7mths, a bit smaller than the other 3 birds, but she lays an egg almost every day. They came from a farm last month and they are the only chickeys here. Her comb was pale today and she sat on the nest this morning for quite a while. No signs of trauma or injury, she was fine yesterday and this morning.

There have been no changes in the coop lately... The four of them live luxuriously in a 4x8' coop bed with sawdust (usually shavings, but couldn't get them this week - changed 4 days ago) and 10x10 outdoor enclosure, as well as a 5x10' run on wheels that they go in while I'm home (they were in said wheely run at the time of this Egg Incident). They range in clover when the dog isn't 'ranging' herself. Right now they're getting veggie mash, oyester shells, leftovers, and lots of sparkling clean water.

She's been eating and drinking okay, and earlier today was eating peas out of my hand, no problems. Haven't seen her poop, but someone had one massive pass of runny, slightly green-ish poop this morning. Though, it was raining yesterday, and I hung a head of lettuce in the coop so they wouldn't get bored ... = green diarrhea?

I haven't given her anything in terms of treatment, as she seemed fine right after the egg/red glob was passed.

Thanks for reading through this novel, any info is helpful.

 

[threehorses]

Are they getting a laying mash? They need it because of the calcium absorbtion precursors in it. Their systems are used to it and they really need to have that as 95% of their diet. The oyster shell is great. You could offer her and the other girls some yogurt once a week as a boost to their beneficial gut bacteria, D3 for calcium, and to bribe them.

The blood - because it was in the egg - do you feel that could have been a flesh bit? Or sloughing of some of her liner? You'd want to watch for runny droppings in case of cocci but I suspect that diarrhea was because of lettuce. If you hang a green, hang cabbage or kale as it has more nutrition, less moisture. Actually until you figure this out, I wouldn't hang or give any high-moisture treats. (By the way make sure you're giving them all free-choice granite grit - as oyster shell isn't useful as a grit).

I suspect, possibly because of the mash (?) that she's just beginning to lay a soft shelled egg d.t. a possible calcium deficiency, maybe D3 deficiency, too. And even possibly phosphorus depending on the mash. (Could you clarify which mash that is please?) Soft shells don't always pass - you were lucky in this one. Neither do shell-less eggs. MOre often they crush and will stay in the bird causing peritonitis which can lead to death.. So I'd take a cue from the egg and adjust the mash to a commercial fully-fortified laying mash. Then add treats to make up the other 5% of their diet.

I'll be looking for your reply. Thanks!

 

[setfree]

Thanks for the reply!

Hmm... They are getting layer mash (Purina Golden Layena). Small town, and we don't have a lot of choice in terms of feed. I offered them yogurt earlier this week, but they didn't seem to crazy about it. They did take a bit of milk, however.

I thought that they would get enough grit from pecking around outside, but I'll definitly get on the granite (does coarse sand work?) and see if they'll go for yogurt again too. Have attached a pic of the egg/glob - there appears to be a bit of blood inside the egg, but looks like maybe the red stuff was not inside it? It has the exact same texture as an egg, except for the firmer bits, which seem to me like they could be tissue, as the whole mess hasn't changed in appearance or texture since I wrote this 3.5h ago (I saved it under a pail - I know, gross, right?).

Another weird thing, when I went to check them a little while ago, three were crowded into a corner on top of the (slanted, to prevent this) next boxes, practically sleeping on top of each other. I guess they can decide to snooze wherever they want, but they're usually all in a row on their perch.

The other was beside the nest, where she has slept since she moved here. Huh. There has been weird weather today, and I caught a chipmunk in the coop earlier, so maybe they're just a bit weirded out.

By the way, if this is useful - from the feed analysis :
calcium = actual 3.8%
phosphorus = actual 0.6%
D3 = min 2550 ui/kg

Thanks!

 

[setfree]

Oops, guess I can't attach a photo after all, or am I missing something?

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
You can, but you have to use something to make an IMG file. I use photobucket.com as it's free and easy. Sign up. Then use the "upload photo" option. When the photo's shown below, if you run your cursor over it it'll give you several options. One's an option for IMG. Copy the text in the box and paste into the message box here where you type your text.

It'll look like just text, but comes out right when you hit enter and look at the message through the board.

Going back to read your other message now.

 

[threehorses]

OK, the words "veggie mash" threw me off. Good feed choice! That being said, I still would provide them some free choice oyster shell and the granite grit. Calcium levels in the feed, as you see, are usually 6:1 cal/phos. But some hens need more, sometimes up to 15:1. The feed manufacturers provide for the average laying hen's needs - not either of the extremes - so as not to overload with calcium. So we, the owners, provide bioavailable calcium in the form of the oyster shell most commonly. Another option (one I might note I rarely see available) is limestone grit, which isn't to be confused for granite grit which is used for digestion because it's hard. Limestone is soft and used for the calcium lime in it. But oyster shell is way more readily available.

The reason you don't also provide D3 and phosphorus - often - is that a god complete feed usually provides adequate amounts for both of those ingredients. D3 is more often deficient than the rarely deficient Phos so sometimes we give human grade cod liver oil (very little), fortified wheat germ oil (again very little), or treats of yogurt for their D vitamins.

The reason for granite grit (and I'm glad to hear that you'll be picking some up) is that we never know the exact hardness or sizes of the grit available in our environment. So it's just best to hedge bets, buy at least a little thing of it, and not have to worry about slow crops or impactions due to lack of grit. It really is a basic that helps prevent so many issues.

Let's see - what am I forgetting?

Oh yeah - grit, oyster shell, both can often be found at TSC stores if there's one in the next town to you. They come in much smaller containers that the ones that you sometimes get at your local feedstores. However, local feedstores also often sell by the pound. As granite grit isn't a bit issue now, you could even order one of those nice calf-manna small bags of it online without much shipping cost. Oyster shell is more of a need now.

I'd even consider with this hen giving her a 1/2 of a tums tablet in a quickly eaten ration to help boost her up just in case she needs calcium now. But in the mean time, adjusting her feed (in case this was just a warning) will help prevent future issues.

Thanks for the thorough reply to my questions! I'd love to hear how your hen does.

Quote:

 

[setfree]

Thanks again for the reply.

Ah, I meant mash made with vegetable protein as opposed to animal protein. Guess that was a little vague, eh? Hehe.

Okay, that makes sense about the feed ratios. They do have oyster shells free-choice, so I'll see if we have some tums and will head over to the TSC for grit.

Thanks for all the help! I shall let you know how she does.
Cheerio

 

[threehorses]

Well you know - I always have to ask. Someone was talking about feeding treats often like birthday cake, and another person was feeding shrimp tails.

So hearing about a 'veggie mash' I had to make sure it wasn't someone creating a mash feed out of veggies.

I'm glad to hear it wasn't.

Hopefully then this was a one-off situation! Good! Do please let me know how she does. Thank you!

 

[setfree]

Hi!

Wow, and I thought my birds were spoiled, though cake doesn't last long enough around here to make it through the door, much less to the chickens.

Life seems to be back to normal for my chickeys, there were normal eggs this morning and they're all happily pecking stuff and galloping after dragonflies. Looks like we're good to go! Thanks for the very helpful advice and quick responses. Have a lovely week.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
That's great news!! Well unless one is a dragonfly at your place. ha! You're very welcome, and enjoy those birds!