HELP!

[Trunkboy]

one of my hens has been a bit down lately, i notcied that she has been laying thin shelled eggs, so have made sure they have plenty of eggshells and grit too eat along with a little cod liver oil to help with the absorption. however the other night at about midnight, i foundh er wandering around, i notcied lots of big slugs and kinda thought nothing off it. then i saw her feathers around her vent were covered in faeces. so cleaned it up and cut the feathers back. however today she hasnt cheered up too much and is kind of just standing around. i suspect she may have broken eggshell inside of her, as i had a feel inside of her vent and found what resembled a floppy eggshell and as i slowly pulled it it broke off and i couldnt retrieve the rest and wouldn't like to stress her out anymore. any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'd give her a warm bath and lube up a gloved finger with veg oil or whatever you have on hand. Try to recover any more pieces of shell from inside her. This is very important. I have no personal experience with this, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I have read that this can be fatal if the egg shells injure her internally.

Now in terms of her diarrhea and general run-down status, it is good to consider worms or mites/lice (esp. worms with diarrhea). If she is also getting thin that is a big clue that it could be worms.

Some vets will do a fecal float test for worms for a small fee (false negatives are possible, even likely).