Egg with soft tail

[ElmCityChickens]

My mom gave me some chickens a few months ago, and they came to live with me in the city. They have a large portion of the yard to roam, and we live near a big park with other wild animals which is not great because of hawks and wild birds with bugs on them. They do get bugs on them as well but it never gets bad because I take care of it asap. They live in a chicken house that looks like my house but tiny and it's all very very adorable.

My prized Ameraucana laid some soft eggs 2 months ago followed by a lash egg. She's been on antibiotics and I don't care if she never lays an egg again. She's bestfriends with an Easter Egger (and they both don't care for the other chickens lol) and I would hate to see her die, as it would break mine and the other one's heart. We've spent over 100 dollars on her meds and other immune boosting things, and after being fine for a few weeks, she's laid another freak egg! I didn't take a picture because it broke and I had to throw it out right away. Should I put her back on meds? It was a normal hard-shell egg with a weird soft squishy tail. I've uploaded a picture from the internet that resembles it. She's laid at lest two other freak eggs that looked long and tub-like but had a fully developed yolk in side along with egg whites in the tubs. I'm guessing they are shaped that way because she has Salpingitis and the egg was stuck in her for sometime. I was just wondering if anyone with more experience knows what Salpingitis survival rate is, or what I can do to make things easier for her (I've got her eating oats, yogurt, herbs etc everyday). Also, Henrietta (her name) is just over 2 years of age, and should have many years left. How do I get her to stop laying eggs with out surgery? I think that might help.
The following picture is NOT her egg, but one that closely resembles it. Her eggs are blue.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They do get bugs on them as well but it never gets bad because I take care of it asap.

My prized Ameraucana laid some soft eggs 2 months ago followed by a lash egg. She's been on antibiotics and I don't care if she never lays an egg again.

We've spent over 100 dollars on her meds and other immune boosting things, and after being fine for a few weeks, she's laid another freak egg!

Should I put her back on meds? It was a normal hard-shell egg with a weird soft squishy tail.

She's laid at lest two other freak eggs that looked long and tub-like but had a fully developed yolk in side along with egg whites in the tubs. I'm guessing they are shaped that way because she has Salpingitis and the egg was stuck in her for sometime.

I was just wondering if anyone with more experience knows what Salpingitis survival rate is, or what I can do to make things easier for her (I've got her eating oats, yogurt, herbs etc everyday). Also, Henrietta (her name) is just over 2 years of age, and should have many years left. How do I get her to stop laying eggs with out surgery?

Welcome To BYC

Welcome To BYC!
What type of feed do you normally feed, including treats?
Where are you located in the world?
Just curious as which antibiotic your vet prescribed?

Do you provide oyster shell free choice?

I would stop the oats and focus on her eating her normal nutritionally balanced poultry feed.
Oyster shell free choice should also be available.

The egg with a tail is explained in one of the articles below.

Since she has passed lash eggs before and you notice that her "normal" eggs are long and tube shaped, then she may have more inflammation and/or even lash material in the abdomen which is causing a compression of the oviduct.

At this point if she were mine and she is able to expel the eggs and if she's active, eating/drinking, etc., then no...I would not give another round of antibiotics. I would offer a bit of supportive care focusing on nutrition (eating her normal feed, limiting treats and probably giving a direct dose of poultry vitamins once a week).

Sadly, at 2 yrs old a lot of laying hens can start to develop reproductive issues. While antibiotics do help control infection/inflammation due to Salpingitis, there is no cure. There's some reading for you below.

Personally, I would not try to stop her from laying eggs. To stop a hen from laying eggs you would need to reduce the amount of hours of daylight - essentially keeping her in the dark for 12-16 hrs a day. So she would need to spend some hours isolated away from her friend in the dark. Let her be a chicken, enjoy her as she is. If she takes a turn for the worst/shows symptoms of illness, then re-treatment of antibiotics may be helpful - when it's clear that she's in a state of decline and in misery, then kindly let her go.

Others may have a different perspective, I'm just giving you my 2¢

https://www.yellowbirchhobbyfarm.com/weird-eggs-101-the-oddities-explained/https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/https://the-chicken-chick.com/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by/

 

[ElmCityChickens]

Hello!

Welcome To BYC

Welcome To BYC!
What type of feed do you normally feed, including treats?
Where are you located in the world?
Just curious as which antibiotic your vet prescribed?

Do you provide oyster shell free choice?

I would stop the oats and focus on her eating her normal nutritionally balanced poultry feed.
Oyster shell free choice should also be available.

The egg with a tail is explained in one of the articles below.

Since she has passed lash eggs before and you notice that her "normal" eggs are long and tube shaped, then she may have more inflammation and/or even lash material in the abdomen which is causing a compression of the oviduct.

At this point if she were mine and she is able to expel the eggs and if she's active, eating/drinking, etc., then no...I would not give another round of antibiotics. I would offer a bit of supportive care focusing on nutrition (eating her normal feed, limiting treats and probably giving a direct dose of poultry vitamins once a week).

Sadly, at 2 yrs old a lot of laying hens can start to develop reproductive issues. While antibiotics do help control infection/inflammation due to Salpingitis, there is no cure. There's some reading for you below.

Personally, I would not try to stop her from laying eggs. To stop a hen from laying eggs you would need to reduce the amount of hours of daylight - essentially keeping her in the dark for 12-16 hrs a day. So she would need to spend some hours isolated away from her friend in the dark. Let her be a chicken, enjoy her as she is. If she takes a turn for the worst/shows symptoms of illness, then re-treatment of antibiotics may be helpful - when it's clear that she's in a state of decline and in misery, then kindly let her go.

Others may have a different perspective, I'm just giving you my 2¢

https://www.yellowbirchhobbyfarm.com/weird-eggs-101-the-oddities-explained/https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/https://the-chicken-chick.com/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by/

Hey what's up and thank you for answering!

To answer your questions: I feed them oyster omega stuff feed from Tractor Supply Co. They also have 8 grain scratch mixed with herbs and oats inside the coop 24/7.
In addition to those regular foods, they get a bowl of random treats that I screen online before giving to them (such as left over veg, fruits). They get yogurt rarely with fruit mixed in. I also rarely cook unseasoned fish/pork for them when I have time. I do try to push her to eat her chicken vitamins, but she doesn't seem to be interested. Just curious why should I stop feeding them oats? Also why is it that an oyster shell free choice is a good idea? I appreciate these suggestions a lot, just wondering for my own good.

I've tried to talk my boyfriend into taking her to a vet, but he said "that's ridiculous, it's a chicken(lots of arguments over this issue)". So I'm just trying my best to be a replacement vet. I also work in biology, and have a basic understanding of chicken anatomy. The meds I've purchases were at first a full spectrum treatment via Ebay, it wasn't enough so I panicked and speed ordered basically the same thing from Walmart.com. She's been loads better since being on the meds, even laying some normal eggs (you can tell it's her based on the color). This egg with a tail came this week while she was on antibiotics.

I've actually read some those articles during my panic stages. Your information was very helpful and I will continue to closely monitor. Thank you very much!

 

[Eggcessive]

You might want to limit the 8 grain scratch and any treats to only 10% of their diet. The layer or all flock feed is balanced with all of the nutrients needed for hard egg shells, including protein, D3, and calcium. Scratch grains, though tasty, don’t have those. They should be eating a balanced feed as 90% of their intake, and if the shells do not improve, then it may be a problem with the oviduct.

 

[ElmCityChickens]

Thanks again!

I will restrain myself from spoiling them.

Also, I live near the downtown area of New Haven, CT. Trash is easily blow in to my backyard where the chickens roam. I've just purchased a house with my boyfriend and it's over 100 years old. There's without a doubt lead paint chips on one side of the yard, but the hens are fenced off to the other side with good soil quality. Before we had the fence in, this particular chicken that's sick did enjoy eating the paint chips for abt out 3 days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I feed them oyster omega stuff feed from Tractor Supply Co. They also have 8 grain scratch mixed with herbs and oats inside the coop 24/7.

I do try to push her to eat her chicken vitamins, but she doesn't seem to be interested. Just curious why should I stop feeding them oats? Also why is it that an oyster shell free choice is a good idea?

The meds I've purchases were at first a full spectrum treatment via Ebay, it wasn't enough so I panicked and speed ordered basically the same thing from Walmart.com. She's been loads better since being on the meds, even laying some normal eggs (you can tell it's her based on the color). This egg with a tail came this week while she was on antibiotics.

For confined chickens, I would aim for them eating a nutritionally balanced poultry feed 90-95% of the time. Scratch, oats, etc are treats and can dilute the nutritional content the get - say that layer feed is 16% protein, then you give scratch that is 8-9%, if they eat a lot of scratch, that lowers the amount of protein they are getting (just an example). Now, every once in a while, that's fine, but if it's consistent, then they may be lacking.
Anyway, I would not provide the scratch and/or oats 24/7, give as a treat.
Some birds eat more than their fair share too (don't we all! LOL) and they can become fat, having too much fat in the abdomen and around the organs can cause fatty liver disease, they can be more prone to prolapse because of straining to push eggs, there's only so much room in there!

Oyster shell free choice...if you are feeding layer pellets, that already contains calcium. Oyster shell is "supplemental" when using layer feed. If the shell is mixed with the feed, also the hens have to bill out feed and/or shell to the feed. They don't need to be eating oyster shell every day, they will pick out what they need. I feed a flock feed that has minimal calcium, even with that my hens only take a few pieces of oyster here and there - egg shells are nice and hard.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/chickens-obesity-silent-killer-how-to/

 

[ElmCityChickens]

For confined chickens, I would aim for them eating a nutritionally balanced poultry feed 90-95% of the time. Scratch, oats, etc are treats and can dilute the nutritional content the get - say that layer feed is 16% protein, then you give scratch that is 8-9%, if they eat a lot of scratch, that lowers the amount of protein they are getting (just an example). Now, every once in a while, that's fine, but if it's consistent, then they may be lacking.
Anyway, I would not provide the scratch and/or oats 24/7, give as a treat.
Some birds eat more than their fair share too (don't we all! LOL) and they can become fat, having too much fat in the abdomen and around the organs can cause fatty liver disease, they can be more prone to prolapse because of straining to push eggs, there's only so much room in there!

Oyster shell free choice...if you are feeding layer pellets, that already contains calcium. Oyster shell is "supplemental" when using layer feed. If the shell is mixed with the feed, also the hens have to bill out feed and/or shell to the feed. They don't need to be eating oyster shell every day, they will pick out what they need. I feed a flock feed that has minimal calcium, even with that my hens only take a few pieces of oyster here and there - egg shells are nice and hard.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/chickens-obesity-silent-killer-how-to/

Hello, Thank you for answering!

None of them are fat chickens, but it's sounding more and more like they are spoiled rotten. lol. I actually have never seen them eat the oyster grit, maybe they just pick it out and eat the stuff they like. They actually don't always eat their scratch, because I always find some in the container when I go to restock. They seem well behaved enough to eat what they are supposed to. Also the other chickens are fine, their eggs are perfect and nothing weird about their behavior either. I'm guessing it's just this one chicken w the occasional poopy butt that got an infection and here we are... Thank you again! Very informative, I will stop giving them so many snacks!