My Favorite hen keeps passing shell-less eggs, please advise

[Tacampbell1973]

I have a sweet little white cochin hen i bought at auction last summer. Her and her identical sister. Faith and Hope. I spoke with the owner then and was told they both laid cute little brown eggs. Fine. Got em home,no eggs. ok Fine. Time goes by and I realize now neither hen was old enough to lay as they hadn't even started to grow a comb yet. Duh.So toward end of summer Faith starts laying evenutally as does sister Hope with no problems. Soon as frost started coming on came problems. At first Faith started about once a week doing the symptoms, standing like a zombie,wings out, not eating or drinking. First time I freaked but brought her in and put on a warming pad. About twenty minutes later she passed what looked like a balloon with a yolk attached. I kept her inside for a couple of days to make sure she was ok and then thought no moreabout it. Cut to now, she is doing this regularly about once a week and when she does manage to lay a regular egg, it sometimes is misshapen long and tubelike or with a wrinkle in the shell (thought it was a crack at first) Every time she does this I put her on a warming pad on my lap till it comes out and fill her up on water and she returns to normal as soon as it passes. Now today her sister is doing it too. I heard they might lack calcium? How do I give this to them, and why is it only in cold weather they are affected? I thought I usually catch Faithy every time, but two days back at dinner, she had the white balloon passed and the other hens were playing keep away with it, ugh. Now I have to watch for egg-eaters. I get that they are hatchery quality and this wasn't a problem maybe until now, as they are strictly pets. But they are pets that are very much loved and I dont know how to help them....Thank you for reading this and any help anyone can pass on to me.
Sorry this pic wasnt part of it....

Hope and Faith as I bought them. Bald as an egg, no pun.

The "thing" that Faith keeps passing

The "thing" being shown off to husband, at breakfast no less.

Faith getting bath after passing "thing"

 

[bluefrog87]

This is incredibly serious. It could kill your a good chunk of your birds if untreated

She needs calcium and vitamin D 3 asap

How-
Water supplements
Oyster shells
Calcium feed
layer feed
washed crushed egg shells
Limestone feed
(all but layer feed and water supplement in separate dish don't force feed or you will have kidney/liver problems)

Don't give apple cider vinegar- It interferes with calcium absorption. It helps absorb a lot of the negative ion nutrients but not the positive ion nutrients. Calcium is one of the few positive.
This could become fatal if left untreated. Follow dosage.

Also,
It be best to put the chicken in isolation or reduce disturbances to nest area as much as possible. And make sure you don't have salty water. Expose to sunlight.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

Watch for Egg Binding. It's where the egg gets stuck and if untreated the chicken will die.
http://www.avianweb.com/eggbinding.html

The fatigue/weakness/wing flapping sounds like a possibility of hypocalcemia (calcium/vitamin d 3 deficiency)

http://www.ehow.com/about_6596952_hypocalcemia-birds.html

http://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/digestive/c_bd_Acute_Hypocalcemia?page=2

The calcium is also important for the chicken neurological and muscular function. Watch for seizures.
The bird will become stiff or may fall or shake and possibly all of the above. It will look weird the website I linked below has a better list of symptoms and it varies between birds.

The zombie like dazed and confused behavior sounds like the after affect of a seizure. For example after humans have a seizure, they become dazed and confused. They sometimes give the wrong year/ place they are in/ what is going on/ who they are etc. It's kinda similar in birds.

http://www.avianweb.com/seizures.html

This treatment could take a couple days or weeks. I don't know how willing you are to go to the vet but they would run test and possibly give calcium shots


If you use Apple cider vinegar make sure you are not over dosing. That would cause hypocalcemia. My mother in law has been there done that and got the t shirt the hard way.

Edited because My keyboard sucks

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Hi again, I dont think i was clear before in my description, i apologize,she isn't seiszing or wing flapping,shejust stands there with wings out like shes pooping, while passing the sac....only happens when cold outside and only lasts about a half hour...then right back to normal. also in the cold i notice Hope's face is usually pink, turns yellowish and pale. I am leaning toward vitamin deficiency and calcium deficiency. as she isproducing eggs but nor regularly. she will have a good egg and then two or three days of nothing and then pass a shell-less egg. Also she is fairly young about 6 months maybe 7 I think. I would like to take her to see a vet but they charge 80 just to walk in the door and I have to come up with that first as on limited income. I will dowhatever it takes, but this has been going on now since October....

 

[bluefrog87]

Hi again, I dont think i was clear before in my description, i apologize,she isn't seiszing or wing flapping,shejust stands there with wings out like shes pooping, while passing the sac....only happens when cold outside and only lasts about a half hour...then right back to normal. also in the cold i notice Hope's face is usually pink, turns yellowish and pale. I am leaning toward vitamin deficiency and calcium deficiency. as she isproducing eggs but nor regularly. she will have a good egg and then two or three days of nothing and then pass a shell-less egg. Also she is fairly young about 6 months maybe 7 I think. I would like to take her to see a vet but they charge 80 just to walk in the door and I have to come up with that first as on limited income. I will dowhatever it takes, but this has been going on now since October....

I understand not wanting to go to the vet. I avoid the vet too even with my dog. I'm a former army medic, I can get away with it a lot. The above is the treatment for calcium/vitamin d3. And you may be able to avoid the vet. Sunlight/feed/supplement/comfort for chicken for a couple weeks. Funny thing is, it's the human treatment too for this deficiency.

Seizure happen in the severe form. So I would still watch for them even if they haven't happened yet. This deficiency can come with some fatal complications though as mentioned above and I hope none of them happen to you. But I posted it is to keep you informed. I hope your chickens get well soon

 

[ten chicks]

Try giving her extra calcium,most hens require calcium in the form of oyster shells and crushed egg shells. Here is a link explaining how eggs/egg oddities are formed in a hen.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html