Extremely large eggs and now dead hen

[karebare6379]

I have hens laying brown eggs that won't fit into jumbo boxes and are covered in blood. They are either ISO Brown or Golden comets cause the eggs are brown. I also have Asian, Delaware and Red Leghorns. They are 9 months old so I figured the cause was first laying.

The first picture is a store bought jumbo egg and one the girls are laying.
Went out tonight to put the girls into the coop and found a dead hen with a very large vent. Can the eggs be killing the hens? No blood in the coop or on her.

 

[BullChick]

I’m sorry you lost a girl. In a manner of speaking, no. It’s not the eggs. I’m guessing you lost a Golden Comet, correct?
We have bred chickens to lay like crazy, and it’s costing them their health. The Comets especially seem to die unexpectedly. You were right to think that the blood was just them working out the kinks. Don’t fret each time you see blood regardless of age.

 

[azygous]

The danger of large eggs is that they are more apt to get stuck. When it happens that a large egg gets stuck low in the tract, it blocks the poop duct. A hen will die in less than 24 hours if that happens.

If a large egg happens to get stuck farther up the oviduct, it can still cause a partial blockage, slow the crop function and cause starvation and dehydration and death. A large egg that happens to rupture inside, causes rapid infection, and that can cause death.

When I know I have a hen with such egg issues, I keep a close eye on her. If she starts acting the least bit "off" or she lingers too long in the nest box without laying, I give a calcium tablet immediately to get strong contractions started that will get the egg out before it causes trouble. If an egg comes out broken or smashed, I start the hen on a round of an antibiotic to head off the expected infection.

Production layers are much more subject to this sort of egg laying woes. I have four of them that are a year old, and I fully expect to see some reproductive issues by another year.

 

[karebare6379]

I'm just concerned cause her vent was huge when I inspected her. I have a 90 chicken flock with 4 roosters, I think, Asians are hard to tell cause the girls will mount I've found out.
I also found a picked apart hen that was smaller then the rest just now. I'm hoping they aren't turning on each other. I live in northeast Pennsylvania and it's been cold.
We just started getting eggs a week ago from them.
I also have 8 ducks in with them.
I'm just at a loss.

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

My chicken probably has a sore butt because she lays eggs this size to. They aren’t bloody (surprisingly)

 

[Weeg]

I'm just concerned cause her vent was huge when I inspected her. I have a 90 chicken flock with 4 roosters, I think, Asians are hard to tell cause the girls will mount I've found out.
I also found a picked apart hen that was smaller then the rest just now. I'm hoping they aren't turning on each other. I live in northeast Pennsylvania and it's been cold.
We just started getting eggs a week ago from them.
I also have 8 ducks in with them.
I'm just at a loss.

Was it a prolapsed vent? Large red ball hat looked like insides?

 

[karebare6379]

No just an empty hole, no blood, no growths. It's like she laid the egg and fell over dead cause the egg was under her.

 

[Weeg]

No just an empty hole, no blood, no growths. It's like she laid the egg and fell over dead cause the egg was under her.

You didn't happen to feel her abdomen did you? Maybe she laid two eggs and one got stuck? Maybe she laid 2 and one broke inside her? If you still have the body, you can send her in for a Necropsy at your state lab to be certain.

 

[azygous]

If you an stomach it, you can do a rudimentary necropsy. Lay the body on its back on some newspapers, take garden shears and open the body cavity from anus to sternum. Crack it open and take a look. A stuck egg or internal laying will be staring right back at you if that was the cause of death. It doesn't require any special training to notice if an egg issue has killed a hen.

Many people are completely unaware that double eggs are not that uncommon. One egg may make its way out while the next egg, released only moments after the first, collapses from inadequate calcium in the shell gland or gets stuck. This will be easy to see if you cut her open and look.

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

Maybe an egg broke inside of her and that did something?