HELP NEEDED! What's in her butt? Sick & Not eating...

spicedoubt

In the Brooder
7 Years
Please help!

One of my BR hens has been ill for the last 3 - 4 days. I first noticed her standing in a corner alone as the others would run over to her and would give her a good peck now and then. She would just stand there with her head down.

Her age is 1.5 years and weighs 3 lbs.

She is lethargic and isn't eating much. Her crop is small, soft and mushy like water. Initially i heard lots of gurgling coming from her and there was some diarrhea with lots of white goo, but that seems to be improving. She did have a fairly dirty bottom from poo, but is also improving after a thorough cleaning and less diarrhea. However, I saw some clear slime dripping from the vent the last two mornings and she seemed to be in discomfort during the process. I assume that was egg?

She is drinking plenty of water, even garlic water. Now, as I was giving her a good inspection last night I notice something hard, light colored and appeared to be hollow like a flattened tube just inside her vent. I gently brushed my finger on it and she was not happy, it definitely bothered her. I took the few images below in hopes to get some feedback. Could it be eggshell?

As of this morning I can no longer see that tube-like thing in her vent. There was a small blister-like scab on the outer lip of the top portion of the vent.

she is still drinking, but no food was touched. Poops are small since no food, but I did notice a small bit of yellow in it. She is in her molting process to boot so her feathers look raggedy. Also, Her skin seems to be dry, Waddles are a bit pale and her comb is a little off color. Today I noticed her really tucking in her neck in/back and proofing out her feathers.

Right now I have her inside as I want to monitor her closely and to remove her from the danger of the other birds and extremely cold weather. I bring her outside during the day in hopes to keep her acclimated to the colder temperature up here.

Thank you for any advice or suggestions. Here are those images...

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I wonder if she broke a soft shelled or shell-less egg inside her and remnants of part of the membrane is what you are seeing? There are a lot of threads on BYC on various ways people have dealt with getting the broken (soft shelled) eggs out if the hen doesn't pass it. If that is what it is you also probably want to put her on antibiotics because they often seem to develop peritonitis http://www.avianweb.com/eggyolkperitonitis.html
 

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