Egg boxes smell like death

[InterestingChickens]

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.

Calcium could be a factor in preventing the egg bound condition, but not a cure.

 

[Sussex19]

Calcium could be a factor in preventing the egg bound condition, but not a cure.

I thought hens need calcium for contractions?
Therefore if she's lacking calcium she would have a hard time laying the egg.

 

[InterestingChickens]

I thought hens need calcium for contractions?
Therefore if she's lacking calcium she would have a hard time laying the egg.

You are correct, however it would not help so much if the egg has cracked. You are right, my mistake.

 

[Sussex19]

Thanks for the clarification, I agree that it wouldn't help much if the egg was broken, possibly antibiotics might help?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

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,

Please re-check her crop and smell her breath.
Look at her vent and underneath her for any wounds, maggots or infection.

 

[feather13]

Please re-check her crop and smell her breath.
Look at her vent and underneath her for any wounds, maggots or infection.

Thanks, everyone, for all your advice! She doesn't seem egg bound and I've checked her crop, breath, vent and underneath for wounds and other issues. She seems better now, although she's developed an odd bump where her wing connects to her back that is featherless. Someone suggested I check for mites, so I'm going to do that.

I do think what happened while I was gone was that some of the chickens were eating eggs in the nesting boxes and what wasn't eaten became rotten in this heat. I put in some ceramic eggs that they seem to have pecked, so hopefully that issue has been resolved.

Thanks again!