My girl seems sick

[Ajoy1955]

I went into the coop tonight to do my nighttime headcount, and one of my girls was not on the roost but on the floor, I picked her up to check on her and she didn’t even fight it, I sat her on the roost and she dropped her tail and wing feathers, I picked her back up and she passed what looked like a pale watery yolk, and her vent was dripping some of what she passed… her vent looks normal, I couldn’t feel any evidence of an egg in her …she had layed an egg yesterday.. she has access to plenty of free choice oyster shells and nutritionally complete laying pellets , I put her in a nest box and covered her with a light weight throw, cause it is going to be cold tonight… please any thoughts on her problem?

 

[azygous]

She's got a stuck egg most likely. We need to know her age. Also your location.

Do you have any calcium supplements on hand? The kind people use? Calcium citrate or calcium carbonate, Tums? If so, what does it say on the front of the label?

 

[Ajoy1955]

She's got a stuck egg most likely. We need to know her age. Also your location.

Do you have any calcium supplements on hand? The kind people use? Calcium citrate or calcium carbonate, Tums? If so, what does it say on the front of the label?

She already passed about 30 minutes ago

 

[Ajoy1955]

She already passed about 30 minutes ago

She already passed about 30 minutes ago

She was 27 months old

 

[azygous]

Are you in the US? Get some of this and keep it on hand in case this happens in the future. I keep a bottle in my run all the time, and at first sign of a hen in distress, discharge, tail down, I give one tablet into her beak. Be sure to get the 630mg bottle, and give one tablet of 310mg.

This will stimulate contractions and help get the egg out or remnants of a collapsed egg. It also quickly pumps up blood calcium to protect the heart from failing due to the sudden draw-down of blood calcium. This may have been the cause of your hen's death.

 

[Ajoy1955]

Are you in the US? Get some of this and keep it on hand in case this happens in the future. I keep a bottle in my run all the time, and at first sign of a hen in distress, discharge, tail down, I give one tablet into her beak. Be sure to get the 630mg bottle, and give one tablet of 310mg.

This will stimulate contractions and help get the egg out or remnants of a collapsed egg. It also quickly pumps up blood calcium to protect the heart from failing due to the sudden draw-down of blood calcium. This may have been the cause of your hen's death.View attachment 3708272

Are you in the US? Get some of this and keep it on hand in case this happens in the future. I keep a bottle in my run all the time, and at first sign of a hen in distress, discharge, tail down, I give one tablet into her beak. Be sure to get the 630mg bottle, and give one tablet of 310mg.

This will stimulate contractions and help get the egg out or remnants of a collapsed egg. It also quickly pumps up blood calcium to protect the heart from failing due to the sudden draw-down of blood calcium. This may have been the cause of your hen's death.View attachment 3708272

I live in Tennessee, and thank you

 

[Ajoy1955]

I don’t understand how this even happened.. I am ocd about making sure that my girls have oyster shells, they have access to the flaked oyster shells and the ones that look like grit, and in their afternoon ferment treat that feed has oyster grit in it (Henhouse Reserve)

 

[Ajoy1955]

Are you in the US? Get some of this and keep it on hand in case this happens in the future. I keep a bottle in my run all the time, and at first sign of a hen in distress, discharge, tail down, I give one tablet into her beak. Be sure to get the 630mg bottle, and give one tablet of 310mg.

This will stimulate contractions and help get the egg out or remnants of a collapsed egg. It also quickly pumps up blood calcium to protect the heart from failing due to the sudden draw-down of blood calcium. This may have been the cause of your hen's death.View attachment 3708272

I don’t understand how this even happened.. I am ocd about making sure that my girls have oyster shells, they have access to the flaked oyster shells and the ones that look like grit, and in their afternoon ferment treat that feed has oyster grit in it (Henhouse Reserve)

 

[Eggcessive]

Did she pass away? That is what I am understanding. Sorry for your loss. These things do happen sometimes. It would be good to get the calcium just incase it happens to another hen.

 

[azygous]

If you live in a very northern latitude with very dark days, if your chickens are cooped up most of the time and don't see the sun, they will have poor calcium absorption. Or if she may have been eating things that prevented calcium absorption like spinach does, it robs the hen's body of calcium.

Poor quality oyster shell prevents proper absorption if it is mostly small powdery particles. Check your supply and replace it if this has been what your hens have been getting. Larger particles are absorbed far better than dust. Making it free choice so each hen can eat as much or as little as she needs is better than putting it in the food you give them.

If you are not feeding a commercial chicken feed, perhaps they don't get enough of added vitamin D and other minerals necessary for calcium absorption.

Or this may have been caused by a genetic flaw in her digestive system that prevented proper calcium uptake. We can't know, only guess at the possibilities since we know nothing about your situation from the small amount of information.