Egg stuck? Covered in membrane... :(

[thappy]

I have a young hen who is laying her first or maybe second egg. A few hours ago I noticed an egg was sticking out of her bum and it is bright red. After reading online I thought she might be "egg bound". We gave her a warm bath and tried to put olive oil on it. We also tried to feed her some olive oil, but she said no.

She walks slowly and waddles.

When we touched the egg to put the oil on it, it was like it was covered in a membrane. We were not touching the egg itself. There was some whiteish poo on her feathers below it, so some poo poos are getting out, but from what I read the solids may be backing up behind the egg?

Our farm store is closed now and it opens late tomorrow (Sunday). I'm not even sure they can help. What should I do??? I put her up in the coop for the night into her favorite area since it is late and I'm out of ideas.

I'm a very inexperienced chicken person!! AH. Any ideas or terms I can read on for more ideas??

thanks,
tara

 

[thepouts]

Bumping this to the top for you. I have no idea but hopefully somebody can help you...sounds serious!

 

[Eggcessive]

could it be that it is not an egg but a prolapse of her cloaca outside the vent? Do you have any rubber gloves and some lubricant that you could try to feel this to see if it is actually tissue hanging out, not an egg? If it is tissue, you need to try to gently push it back inside. Preparation H or honey is supposed to shrink prolapses and help them go back in. If it is an egg, I would try another warm bath, and try the gloved finger to insert into the vent and try to help the egg out without breaking it. A dose of calcium might help--Tums tablets or a human calcium (or crushed egg shell) would do.

 

[dandrews1971]

the red membrane, I would bet, is part of her vent prolapsing.

 

[BantamLover21]

the red membrane, I would bet, is part of her vent prolapsing.

Agreed. I think you are dealing with a prolapse and/or an egg that is having trouble being laid, and is therefore causing the vent to prolapse. Soak her for 15-20 minutes in hot water (95-100 degrees), then dry her the best you can, put her in a enclosure, and leave her alone. Don't give her any more feed for at least six hours. Water is fine.

After she has dried a bit more on her own, you can try rubbing some honey and/or Witch Hazel on the prolapse, try to push the prolapse in once, and then don't try again for at least a day. Make sure that the tissue is kept moist, as if it dries out, it dies. Most of the time, if left alone, prolapses will go in within 1-3 days. Make sure to keep your hen in a dark or dimly lit area, and only let her have feed once in the morning, and once in the evening. The object is to keep her from laying any more eggs, as that will only aggravate the prolapse.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me. I recently dealt with prolapse in one of my own hens. Fortunately, she recovered. I hope that yours does the same!