Lethargic hen, mixed mucus yellow diarrhoea

[xiaoheihuahua]

My girl (1 year old, Australorp hybrid) has been looking off since yesterday.

Today she's very lethargic; spending most of her time sitting down, barely eats (not even her favourite treats), and is very quiet (she's normally a chatterbox).

She didn't lay an egg yesterday nor this morning whereas usually she'd lay everyday.

There's been two poops passed since this morning ~3h since sunrise. Both are loose and diarrhoea looking, with streaks of white, clear mucus and mustard colour in it. Picture attached.

She has a history of laying thin shelled eggs despite having mounds of calcium deposits on them. So I suspect that she might have had an egg break inside her? I've tried putting her in a warm water bath, but she was too big for the tub and she won't sit down in it. Next thing I'll try is feel up her vent for any eggshells.

I really would love some opinions from more experienced chicken keepers as to what's going on!

Super worried about her.

 

[Eggcessive]

The dropping looks like there could be some yolk in it. I would probably give her a human calcium with D3 tablet orally once a day for several days. She may have something wrong in her shell gland part of the oviduct, or other reproductive problem. Some use antibiotics when they have a hen with reproductive problems, broken eggs, or salpingitis. Amoxicillin or Aqua-Mox is available online, and dosage is 125-250 mg twice a day 7-10 days. Her tail is up which is a good sign. Try getting her to eat and drink.

 

[xiaoheihuahua]

Thanks for your reply, I'll try the calcium/D3 tablets.
When would you use antibiotics? When there's risk of retained egg shell abrading her tract?

We suspected as much! The other hen in our flock's on the same diet and her eggs have no issues at all, so we thought it musn't be a lack of Ca. I've heard hens that lay soft shells are at a higher risk of EYP which has me worried about how long she's got down the line but just got to stay present and enjoy them while they're here.

Update: did a vent exam with a lubricated finger, but couldn't feel anything up there. She did end up passing a soft shell egg a few minutes later! And she's looking slightly perkier now, but still nowhere back to normal.