Help! Broken soft egg shell still inside hen. Is there anything to be done?

[LittleNCFarm]

Hi all! We have a favorite Comet who's a few years old. She's had trouble with prolapsed vent a few times, and try as we might, we can't seem to keep her consistently laying harder-shelled eggs. This morning when I went to the coop to let the girls out, she was sitting on the ground, away from the other hens. She came out, but a little slowly, and she did come participate in the Morning Sunflower Seed Toss. After that, tho, she hung around, not moving off for the morning adventure with the other hens.

I picked her up to check her tush and saw a bunch of hard, clumpy poop there. Figuring it couldn't hurt to clean her off, I filled the sink, had her soak in it for a few minutes, and broke up the crumbles of poop. She was agitated, which isn't normal for her sweet disposition, and when I lifted her out of the sink and onto the nearby towel, she flapped her wings hard and jumped around, spraying water everywhere, and flapping so much so that she ended up flying down to the floor (not gracefully!) and then walked toward the door, dripping what I thought was just water in her wake.

I went to let her out, and my foot slipped on something on the floor. It was egg yolk! And on the towel was a big goo of egg white, but NO SHELL ANYWHERE. It looks like all the yolk is out and all the white, but there's absolutely no membrane or shell. I'm guessing what's left inside of her is soft, but apparently the flapping and jumping broke it enough to let the rest out.

I've read here about using mineral oil on/around the vent and a warm bath for 20 min or so, but if the shell is soft and inside, will that even work? Will it hurt her if there are no sharp edges to the shell? Will it pass tomorrow in front of another egg??? She's just hanging around, not moving much at the moment. I hope I haven't just doomed one of our favorite girls with all the action that broke the egg!!!

Any thoughts/suggestions are *much* appreciated.

 

[LittleNCFarm]

Update: broken soft shelled egg confirmed. Just looked again and a bit was sticking out. I gently pulled out as much as I could, which didn't seem to bother her, but a good sized clump went back up in.

 

[Eggcessive]

Take a rubber glove and insert a finger, and try to get the membrane out. Then take some diluted white vinegar 1:4, and use a syringe to shoot small amounts up into the vent a couple of times so that will help flush out any remaining egg contents and clean the vent. Egg yolk peritonitis can get started later on from broken eggs inside the vent.