Is my hen sick?

[shanadienne]

My sister and I just watched our Fayoumi Ace suddenly go from normal perky roadrunner to fluffed up lethargic hen. She was walking around the chicken pen, straining, occasionally dripping what looked like egg whites, then stopped and laid her egg in the middle of the yard. It took a few minutes and we had to shove away curious hens while she kept pushing, sometimes making noises of I think pain.
Once it came out... well, this is what she laid:

After a little bit, she walked off and went back to being herself.

We removed the membrane/stuff around the egg, and it was a completely normal, fully formed egg with a beautiful orange yolk.

I'm thinking she was almost laying an egg within an egg, but the solid-ish white stuff looks weird to me. Anyone know what it is?

 

[Kiki]

She had an oppsiee.
A mistake in her egg laying process.

What do you feed her?

 

[shanadienne]

Layer pellets, plus occasional kitchen scraps. And, well, whatever she finds when I let her free-range.
Ace is one of several hens I have who like eating gypsy moth caterpillars. I mean, she doesn't eat that many, but not all hens are interested in those.

 

[Kiki]

You may want to add a dish of oyster shell (on the side).
Sometimes things like this just happen.

You should read this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[shanadienne]

Thanks for the link! It didn't quite help me figure out what the lumpy-looking white stuff was, though. I'm still not sure whether it's lumps of calcium or a weird infection or what.

 

[azygous]

Hens occasionally hit a glitch in the egg assembly line. It doesn't mean she's sick or anything is necessarily wrong with her. It may never happen again. Here's another good source for why eggs can sometimes go wrong. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html

 

[aart]

It backed up out of the shelling gland and got another dose of albumen and membrane.
Could be a glitch or not....only time will tell.

How old is she ...and how long has she been laying??
I'd keep an eye on her, take a good look at her vent.

 

[shanadienne]

She's just turned 1 year old. She's been laying since... maybe November or December? I have a total of 3 Fayoumis and they've been really consistent with the eggs they lay until now. Just regular little white eggs. No outliers in size, shape, nor texture.

Her behavior today is normal, and I will examine her vent tonight once it's dark.

We just had a heat wave last week. If that can cause hens to stop laying, can it cause "glitches" like this?

 

[aart]

She's just turned 1 year old. She's been laying since... maybe November or December? I have a total of 3 Fayoumis and they've been really consistent with the eggs they lay until now. Just regular little white eggs. No outliers in size, shape, nor texture.

Her behavior today is normal, and I will examine her vent tonight once it's dark.

We just had a heat wave last week. If that can cause hens to stop laying, can it cause "glitches" like this?

Yep, sure can be very stressful.