Folded up egg

[taprock]

This hasn't been a good week and I'm looking for advice. On the 4th we lost a Polish to vent prolapse. Yesterday we found a Production Red swollen below her vent and straining. Yesterday afternoon I found a Polish in the nest box looking dead with wet vent area, some yellow - I assumed yolk on her head and butt. Both of them yesterday went into the dog crate after sitting in warm water and having their vents checked. This morning I found this from my Polish girl.

I have two containers of Oyster shell in the coop that does get eaten. Do I also need to add it to their feed? They free range more than half of the day. Could this have caused the other hen's death and my Red who still isn't acting right?

 

[chicmom]

I would imagine that is some type of tissue that was "sluffed off" of your polish gal's insides......Sometimes my gals have some shell-less eggs, and it's usually when I let them free range ALOT, and so they're not eating much of their layer food. I suspect when they forage, they're not getting that complete nutrition that they need daily that the layer feed provides, and that includes the calcium.

So if I see alot of these weird eggs, like a shell-less egg or a very weak egg shell, then I keep them in the coop longer, only letting them free range in the evenings, after I get home at 5pm. It seems to get their systems back to normal. (it doesn't happen very frequently, but it does happen.)

Good luck to you,
Sharon