Egg Goo in Nest Box?

[tulie13]

The hens seem to really like one of the boxes more than the others, so several of them will lay in that same box. When I got eggs yesterday, there seemed to be a "puddle" of some slimy stuff on the bottom of the box and on some of the eggs that were sitting in it (and of course sticking some poo to the eggs - YUK!).

I didn't see any broken eggs, but as I cleaned it up I kept thinking that it sort of felt like egg white. But I didn't see any yolk or a broken egg or any pieces of shell. Could I have had a hen break an egg up inside and she just let out some of the liquid?

Everyone seemed normal and OK yesterday, but then I had to be gone all afternoon and didn't get home until close to "bedtime" for the chickens. I will check on them shortly this morning - I know if this has happened I need to look for a sticky butt and a droopy hen. If I find one, and assuming she did have an egg break inside, what do I need to do with her? I think I have read past posts on this that mention a warm bath and manual removal of shell bits if possible, but I couldn't find any posts through searching "egg broke" and "egg broke in chicken". Any hints, helpful chicken buddies?

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: As I was cleaning yesterday's eggs this morning I could see that there was a definite yellow tint to the "goo" that was stuck to them - I think it's yolk.

But I can't tell which hen may be having a problem - nobody has a gooey butt or looks droopy or anything. But there is one Buff Orp in a nesting box, and I checked again a while later and there is a Buff Orp in that box. They all look alike, so I'm not sure if it's the same hen in there or not.

I'll check again later and if there is STILL a Buff Orp in that same box, I'll pull her out and see what's up.

 

[faykokoWV]

I would just keep an I on them for any signs of being egg bound. Sounds like someone might have layed and egg that was shell-less or someone might have cracked an egg and everyone ate it. Make sure to change out the nesting material so there is no rotten egg left in it.

If anyone looks ill, do a search for egg bound. There are a lot of posts on here regarding this topic and how to remove bits of egg.

 

[Imp]

It's possible that it is egg eating also. Watch closely.

Imp

 

[MandyH]

Sounds like you've got an egg eater, they eat the shell and the yolk and leve the white.

 

[Kittymomma]

You may have an egg eater, but it's just as likely that one of the hens laid a sof shelled or shell less egg or even that an egg got broken during the nestbox shuffle.

The chooks eating the occasional broken or softshelled egg doesn't mean that they are now egg eaters, but it's a good idea to do what you can to keep it from happening too often. Put some oyster shell out for them if you haven't already and make sure they have enough nestboxes--though they'll probably still want to use the same one or two.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
They have PLENTY of nest boxes - my father-in-law said we built our chickens a luxury condo.

They do just like to use a couple of them preferentially, I have no idea why - what makes THAT box so much more attractive than the others???

I did put a couple of river rocks in the boxes at the beginning to have an egg-shaped object to let them know "eggs go in here...". The rocks are still in there, one in every other box or so, and might contribute to breakage. Maybe I should take them out now. I think they know by know where to go...

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on them. My buffs all look alike in the face, so I couldn't tell who was sitting in there a long time. So I grabbed a marker and put a blue mark on her beak. You should have seen her expression!!!

The one with the blue mark is NOT still sitting in the nest box, but at least I should be able to track her for a couple of days until the mark wears off...