My first soft egg

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I have two secondhand hens, a wyandotte and a naked neck silkie, who I've had about two weeks. Not sure exactly how old they are, the person I got them from said "about a year." They came to me with poopy butts, but laying ok. The wyandotte started laying her second day here and has been doing six eggs a week, the silkie, who had been broody for months before being given to me, started laying after being here a week and laid about six in the past week. (Her first day laying, she even laid TWO!)

Yesterday I got one silkie egg and zero from the wyandotte. This morning when I opened the coop I found one broken, soft egg that I couldn't really tell which bird it came from. Both did a large morning poo when I let them out of the coop this morning, one was pretty watery and one was solid. But again, I didn't catch either in the act and don't know who dropped what.

So far I've fed them a scrambled egg with the shell and some oregano mashed in, and they're both eating and drinking pretty enthusiastically. What related symptoms should I be watching out for?

 

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The silkie is huddling in a corner of the yard. The same part of the yard she's usually hanging out in, but seems extra fatigued, not following her big sister around. When I approach her, she seems to have some trouble getting up, throwing one of her wings out to the side like she's using it to stand, but then she'll get up and walk around like normal.

I scrambled her and her sister some eggs again, with shells, oregano, fennel, and black pepper. They were both really into it, she does still seem to have an appetite.

Should I try to give her calcium tablets too? I have some fancy pants plant based calcium + D3, K, and magnesium. They're 6 tablets per serving of 700 mg Ca, so a little over 100 mg per tablet.

I'm extra worried because I'm supposed to go out of town tonight until Saturday, and my chicken sitter (wife) hasn't been feeling well and doesn't want to have to do anything but make sure the food and water are full.

 

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Ok so I tried the epsom salt bath. It's definitely the silkie feeling sick, the wyandotte laid an egg today, and the silkie is butt out squatting. Bathing her, I noticed her cloaca almost constantly spasming. I tried to put a finger in, but I could only get my pinkie up to the first knuckle because she was squeezing pretty hard. I couldn't feel anything that was definitely an egg or anything, palpated her abdomen too. For good measure, I squirted a bit of lube in with a bulb syringe, rinsed her off, toweled her dry, and left her in the bathtub in the dark. When I came back with the space heater to kind of blow dry her, she did a decent sized poop on the towel so she doesn't seem backed up. Seems to be acting normal.

I did notice she has some little bugs. Fleas? They're flat like cat fleas, but smaller, they go right through the tines of a flea comb. Pale brown flat, long ovals running around in the feathers, near the base but not anchored to anything.

Would it be safe to use Frontline Plus spot-on on chickens? 10% fipronil, 8% s-methoprene. I have a big tube I was about to dose my cats with for their fleas. I'll probably wait until I'm back in town to treat them in any case, since it's my first time and I'd want to be around if there are any reactions. (My cat had a bad reaction to a dewormer before so I'm overly cautious.)

 

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Well, everything is going fine with the "patient" (silkie) and she is back to laying regularly. Still curious about what caused it, but so far so good.

It does seem like she's constantly clenching and unclenching her cloaca as she walks around, and I don't notice that kind of movement on the wyandotte's booty. Her cloaca is mildly everted, not sure if this is a mild prolapse or if she just has an "outie". Don't see any wet "inside" looking tissue, just a black, outward puckering cloaca.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that no one has answered your thread. I hadn’t noticed it until now. It seems things are back to normal except the cloaca. You were right to give your silkie some calcium plus vitamin D3. Silkies go broody constantly, so maybe she was just having something temporary after starting to lay again. I would break her each time she starts to go broody.

Could you get a picture of her vent? I think it can be normal for them to have movement in their vents. But if she is prolapsing, she could attract pecking from the other chickens. That can be very dangerous if they pull out the cloaca or cannibalize. I had a couple of faverolles who would prolapse when laying, but the cloaca would immediately go back in.