Any ideas? My hen feels pregnant.

[ManWithChicks]

I'm assuming there is nothing I can do, but I'm so curious.
She was born around 8months ago and is laying eggs. I think she is laying cracked and healed eggs every day, but I havent confirmed it is her.

She was born late and I thought she would die. These are my first chickens and I had no idea what I was doing, but she lived. I've added a picture of her as a baby, so you can really see the lump she had. It hung between her legs and was so big she could barely walk.

Well today she is full grown and poops herself, so I wanted to clean her for the first time cuz I noticed it was starting to accumulate. I felt her and her lump feels like how I would expect a very pregnant womans stomach to feel. I couldnt imagine that it had grown so large.

Does she have like am internal twin or something?

 

[ManWithChicks]

Current photo

 

[Eggcessive]

I wonder if she had an abdominal hernia that never quite closed. She might also be suffering from ascites or water belly. It might be hard to tell exactly without seeing a vet for an xray to look at her organs. Here is a good link to read about egg quality problems to find the possible reasons for the egg shells you are seeing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[ManWithChicks]

It's always cracracked or body checked in the same ring and then many time there will be a spot near the ring that looks like and egg cracked with the blunt end of a pen, but pushing outward. It's always the same, and the eggs are always huge. I'm guessing its her anatomy, but no idea.

As of now she seems happy and active, so I am just letting her be a chicken. She's high in the pecking order, and she is also always first to run to me. Never thought she would make it past a few days. So I guess I'll just let the mystery continue for now.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you see another egg like that, can you post a picture?