Help please - red star acting broody but laid nasty egg

[esjro]

My two year old Red Star Olivia (in my avi) has been acting broody the last couple of days. Yesterday I brought her out of the coop and she drank some water. She had very watery stool. Today I found that she was sitting on an egg with a very soft shell that was cracked open and smooshed. The insides of the egg looked fleshy - like pale pink chicken thigh meat. It smelled like bad fish, and had a grainy organ (liver) feel to it. What could this be? Is something wrong with her? We do not have a rooster. Thanks for any help!

 

[esjro]

Please, does anyone have any ideas? Much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I might not be any help - but here goes.

When you say she has been acting broody - exactly what do you mean?


A broody hen: will fluff up and growl at someone approaching the nest. She stays on night and day – when off for a short bit, she eats/drinks potties and goes right back to the nest. When she walk – her walk will be normal but she may or may not fluff up and stick her wings out (appearing bigger) and be grumpy when approached by people/chickens. A broody does not lay eggs.


A sick or ill bird often will also stay in the nest box because it can be safe from other birds there. Will not protest when you are near the nest. When walking will often look “wrong” tail will droop, chicken might walk and then lay down again. An ill bird might lay.


The egg – I am guessing was either an “egg bound” egg that someone expelled – quite possibly your “broody” girl, or a meat spot egg. With the smell you describe, I am guessing/ leaning more toward egg bound. This site has lots of information on eggs, look to the left side of the page for more information links: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/29/meat-spots

There are many, many threads on BYC dealing with egg bound hens – the easiest way is for you to search and read about the possible helps. To search – use the BYC search link which is found in the upper blue bar, just above your logged in name – NOT the google search. BYC search will allow you to search the words “egg bound” in the emergencies thread. You can also search by author – Speckledhen, unfortunately, has dealt with this issue and has lots of good advice.

I wish I could be more help. Broody experience I have, egg bound experience – not yet, but it is just a matter of time.

for you and your girl.

 

[esjro]

A sick or ill bird often will also stay in the nest box because it can be safe from other birds there. Will not protest when you are near the nest. When walking will often look “wrong” tail will droop, chicken might walk and then lay down again. An ill bird might lay.

Yes, more like this. She fusses a little when I disturb her, but nothing like Stella my BO who is truly broody right now and is puffed up to twice her normal size!

I don't think it was a meat spot. There was no white or yolk that I could see, it was solid - looked like a very pale-pink kidney in an egg shell, maybe an inch long. I wish I would have taken a picture now, but it was making my husband squeamish.

Thank you for your help! I'll search for more info about egg bound hens. Poor Olivia. My husband always says "Those ladies!mmThere is always something going on with one of the animals!"

 

[farley]

One of my hens, i can't work out which one, laid an egg sized red/fleshy egg today. It looks revolting. It was covered in what looked like skin, it was the size and shape of an egg but was more "rubbery". None of my hens look unwell. No idea what it is.

 

[cornucopia]

Could this be a 'lash'? It's a bit of the lining of the reproductive tract which gets sloughed off at the end of the laying season sometimes. I wonder if this got shelled on its way out! Read more about it here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/637090/my-first-lash-egg-experience

Also, HorseFeatherz wrote: " A broody does not lay eggs."
Actually, sometimes they do! I have a hen who has done this. She is a Skyline, aka Columbine, a hybrid laying blue eggs. Her eggs are a very distinctive blue so there is absolutely no possibility of confusion here. She had been broody - sitting tight, very thoroughly broody - for several days and carried on laying.

Because she is a hybrid, she doesn't necessarily follow the purebred pattern of instincts. We gave her some fertile eggs to sit on, and she incubated them well, sitting patiently until they hatched. Unfortunately she seemed to be lacking the instincts to tell her what to do next - she freaked out and slung all the newly-hatched chicks out of the nest :-(