Egg boxes smell like death

[feather13]

While I was out of town for three, my daughter took care of our chickens. But when I came back yesterday, the chicken coop smelled like death, mostly in egg box area. It was so bad I could smell it from a distance. We have two plastic egg boxes in a small coop (where we live it's hot most of the year, so we don't need an enclosed or large coop) with a huge covered run. I really thought a chicken had died in there. I cleaned the nesting pads out and replaced them, but it still smells bad.

Everyone looked ok except our two year old Black Sex Link. She's generally an active, greedy, and boisterous hen, but she's been really lethargic since I got back. It looks like others have pecked feathers off her head and under her chin and she's missing feathers on her belly. She had explosive diarrhea this morning that looked like egg whites (kind of like clear gel) and was really watery (sorry for the graphic description!) She sat in an egg box for a bit today, but didn't lay an egg and now she's in a corner of the coop acting pretty listless.

They were fed their normal layer crumble while I was away with an occasional scrambled egg and apple my daughter gave them. Two of the other more rowdy hens also are missing some head feathers, but no one else is acting listless.

We've raised chickens for a while, but I've never smelled something this bad. Has anyone else had a chicken with these symptoms?

Thanks so much for your time!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Does your Black Sexlink smell? If she does, then she must have peritonitis or something grossly wrong with her tract/digestive system. Coryza (a bacterial infection) can smell, but she would likely have bubbling eyes. That would be something to consider as well.

If you pick her up, and she smells, well, simply like "chicken" (which can have a musty chicken smell), then it's likely an egg got broken in the egg box and rotted.

You may also need to improve your ventilation.

Otherwise, a good clean, change of bedding, some airing out should improve the situation.
The plastic may be holding the smell. You may need to change that out. I also like to use pine shavings as that really absorbs odors well.

LofMc

 

[feather13]

Does your Black Sexlink smell? If she does, then she must have peritonitis or something grossly wrong with her tract/digestive system. Coryza (a bacterial infection) can smell, but she would likely have bubbling eyes. That would be something to consider as well.

If you pick her up, and she smells, well, simply like "chicken" (which can have a musty chicken smell), then it's likely an egg got broken in the egg box and rotted.

You may also need to improve your ventilation.

Otherwise, a good clean, change of bedding, some airing out should improve the situation.
The plastic may be holding the smell. You may need to change that out. I also like to use pine shavings as that really absorbs odors well.

LofMc

Thank you so much, LofMc, for your reply! The Black Sexlink doesn't smell, but this evening she had really started to self-isolate in a corner of the coop and wasn't moving much. She was sitting on another hen's egg (she didn't lay her own today) and there was some kind of awful smelling yellow liquid on it that must have come from her. So something is wrong, but I've searched this forum and can't figure out what it is. Several of the birds decided to go broody while I was gone, but none of them were broody today.

The coop has three walls, but the entire front part is open. When it gets colder, I put a curtain on a rod up to keep in heat, but it's really well ventilated. I also change the bedding frequently and use pine shaving pads. The nest boxes have never smelled bad and even with Sweet PDZ in them now, they both still smell like something died in there.

I was also definitely thinking they must have cracked open some eggs in there (does everyone's chickens get really naughty whenever they go out of town or is it just me?!), but with this chicken acting so odd, I'm afraid she must be sick. I'm going to look up peritonitis. It's definitely not Corzya because her eyes look fine.

Thanks again!

 

[InterestingChickens]

Feel her crop early on in the day. If it feels hard it could be a crop issue. How was the water situation while you were away?

 

[Sussex19]

From you description it sounds a bit like she could be egg bound, in which case I think one of the most important things is to give her some extra calcium.
However I'm not very knowledgeable, with this sort of thing.

 

[dawg53]

Perhaps an egg broke inside her and might be egg bound as well. You can try soaking her in a container of warm water up to her sides for about 30 minutes. While soaking, gently massage her underside front to rear. The warm water will relax her and expand her innards, massaging will help move whatever is stuck or blocked inside her and might be expelled.
IF there's a broken egg inside her, a bacterial infection will set in and then there's nothing you can do.

 

[feather13]

Feel her crop early on in the day. If it feels hard it could be a crop issue. How was the water situation while you were away?

Thank you! She was active this morning and eager to get out of the chicken run (I had isolated her last night so that no one would pick on her and she could get some rest). I'll feel her crop now.

 

[feather13]

From you description it sounds a bit like she could be egg bound, in which case I think one of the most important things is to give her some extra calcium.
However I'm not very knowledgeable, with this sort of thing.

Thanks for this advice! The chickens have been getting scrambled eggs once a week with the shell mixed in, but I'll offer her some oyster shell today.

 

[feather13]

Perhaps an egg broke inside her and might be egg bound as well. You can try soaking her in a container of warm water up to her sides for about 30 minutes. While soaking, gently massage her underside front to rear. The warm water will relax her and expand her innards, massaging will help move whatever is stuck or blocked inside her and might be expelled.
IF there's a broken egg inside her, a bacterial infection will set in and then there's nothing you can do.

Thanks for the advice and details for treating a hen that might be egg bound. I'll try this today and see what happens. We've never had an egg bound chicken (that I know of), so I'm glad to know what to do if this ever happens in the future.

 

[Sussex19]

Thanks for this advice! The chickens have been getting scrambled eggs once a week with the shell mixed in, but I'll offer her some oyster shell today.

Have you got any calcium tablets? I think oyster shell is more effective in the long run, and if she is egg bound she needs something faster acting. It's pretty easy to pop a tablet down a beak.