Hen with broken soft-shelled egg inside her.....what to do now

[littlecreekfarm]

Hi I have a one-year old red sex-link hen that I recently found with what looked like to be part of a soft-shell egg, I pulled out part of the soft shell. Today she isn't acting right, seems to be stressed and isn't moving around much. She was in the nesting box this morning but didn't lay an egg. She is just standing there and kind of puffing up almost. Is there anyhting that I can do to help her? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[donnavee]

I had the same problem recently with a black sex link and I soaked her in a tub of warm water for about 10 minutes - then DH held her while I was ready to go in with a lubricated, gloved finger - but it wasn't necessary. The rest of the egg was poked out of her butt enough for me to gently tug it out. She is now molting, but otherwise fine. Good luck!

 

[chkn]

Lubricate the vent and around the soft shell inside her thoroughly. They kind of have a porous surface and don't slide out real easily.

 

[littlecreekfarm]

thank you very much for all your advice! I gave 'Ruby' a warm bath and rubbed vaseline on her vent and inside of it. I'll let you all know how she does!

 

[littlecreekfarm]

I gave her warm bath for 30 minutes and gave her some yogurt to eat today. I have a cage with a heat lamp ready for her so hopefully she will be ok. Thank you for all the advice!

 

[stellas mommy]

Let us know how it turns out. Poor girl!

 

[donnavee]

You might also try a heating pad under her - I forgot that I put my Aretha in a small box with a heating pad for about 20 minutes - covered the box with a towel so she would be quiet. Just make sure the pad isn't set too high. I actually heated up a damp towel in the microwave, put that on top of the warm pad, put her in and then covered it all up. She sat very quietly the entire time. This was after the warm bath and sort of pressing gently on her lower tummy to help get the egg going in the right direction. So, I did the soak, the massaging, the heating pad and then the egg was protruding from her butt enought to extract it. I never had to do the lubrication, but that would be a good 1st step.

Hope she recovers soon.

 

[70monte]

I had one like this and she ended up dying. I had to pull the remains of the egg out of her. Hopefully yours will be okay.

 

[littlecreekfarm]

I put Ruby back with the rest of the flock, she is doing better now and seems to be perked up. I think she will be ok

Thanks for all the help!