Acting lethargic - egg problems

[KayTee]

Well done to your fiancé for persevering to get her to pass the egg! A photo would be great to see what it is like, and if you can cut / break it open it would be interesting to see what it's like inside as well.

Also let us know how she is behaving since passing the egg - the same, better or worse? Is she eating / drinking? And what are her poops like? Disgusting information I know, but necessary nonetheless! Unless you are certain she has an infection then I wouldn't start antibiotics - they can cause more harm than good if a chicken is ill with something that doesn't need them.
My vet prescribed antibiotics after she took the temperature of one of my girls anally - it should be around 39°C or 102-103°F, and my girl's was higher, indicating infection. Maybe you could check your girl and see how warm she is.

If she isn't eating much then try her with treats - scrambled egg, plain boiled rice, sweetcorn, yogurt or cream cheese.

 

[sphinxface]

She is a lot more active and moving around today, I was really too grossed out by the smell of the eggshell to take a picture, but it pretty much looks just like her regular eggshell but crumpled up and slimy with a bit of blood.

She still seems a little dazed, like when I fed the girls some fruit she wasn't pushing in to get her share like she usually would, but still ate it out of my hand, but also her eyes kindof went distant. Her comb still looked purple at the end.. I'll try to see if she feels warmer than normal when I get home.

 

[KayTee]

So it was a broken eggshell, not a whole egg or a lump of rubbery stuff?
If it broke inside her then the contents could cause an infection which you will need to deal with.

 

[sphinxface]

So it was a broken eggshell, not a whole egg or a lump of rubbery stuff?
If it broke inside her then the contents could cause an infection which you will need to deal with.

Is it a latent thing? She's doing like 80-90% better? It was her normal eggshell that had sort of imploded and was all kept together with the membrane. She pooped out the contents over the 3 days she was sick, or at least most of it. I never ended up separating her so I wasn't able to keep constant track of it, but every poop we did see was either egg whites or yolk mixed with her regular poop.

 

[KayTee]

If you think she pooped most of it out then she may be lucky and get away without getting an infection. I would try and get a cheap thermometer and take a reading once or twice a day. If her temperature seems normal for the next few days then she should be ok. If it is (or starts to go) high then suspect infection and start antibiotics.

I'm suggesting that in order to avoid using antibiotics if they aren't really necessary, a) because it promotes bacterial resistance and b) because it destroys the beneficial bacteria in the gut - an unavoidable side-effect if the drug is doing good elsewhere in the body, but an unneeded strain on the bird if there is no infection to fight. Having said that, I'm all for the use of antibiotics if they're the only way to fight an infection and get a bird back to health.

Good luck for your girl - she's lucky to have you and your fiancé to care for her!