Hen stopped laying after passing a large yellow mass covered egg

[CityHens]

My 10 month old Golden Buff passed a large yellow mass covered egg. She usually lays 6 eggs a week. I found a large yellowish mass that looked like fatty tissue surrounding a yolk in the next box. She didn't lay again til 7 days later when she laid a shell less egg. It's been 6 days since the shell less egg and still nothing. She eats, drinks, and runs around just fine. She has free choice of oyster shells for calcium. Her abdomen is much larger than the other girls and her stool is a little runny. Do you have advice? This is my first time raising chickens. Thank you! ~C

 

[Pele]

Sounds like she has her production line gummed up (ie is laying internally). I would isolate her asap, and put her into a carrier in a dark place to discourage her from further laying.

Unfortunately, you will also need to buy some sterile surgical gloves, and give her a gentle probing to see if you can pull any stuck eggs out. Most likely she's been continuing to lay shell-less, and there will actually be just liquids, but you never know if there is broken shell in there irritating her system.

Also, put her in warm water baths at least once to twice a day. She'll hate you at first, but then relax as she figures out it's nice. Gently massage her belly, starting from her chest and moving back towards her tail. This is your attempt to help her work out anything that doesn't belong.

Keep your nose on alert, if she starts to smell funny/bad, then give her a round of antibiotics to fight infection. It's a miracle she hasn't had problems with that yet.

Good luck, I hope the poor girl recovers.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I wouldn't remove her from the flock. If she is internally laying, there's not much you can do anyway.

See here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/639749/timeline-of-internal-laying-update/0_50