Partial Soft egg hanging out of hen. Emergency?

[Chickielrl]

Noticed my 4 year old hen was acting off ( looking like she was trying to pass an egg) about 2 hours ago and saw she had a broken soft shell egg partially hanging out of her. It basically looks like a broken finger of a rubber glove) she is an extremely tame pet so I tried to pull on it but I’m afraid of damaging her internally as I feel I’d need to use a fair amount of force to get it out & the action seemed to be stretching her cloaca pretty far from her body making me worry about prolapse . Is it important that I get it out tonight or will her egg tomorrow push it out? She seems to be defecting just fine & is how acting fine. I’m worried. Unfortunately I had a friend visit my house earlier this evening and am a bit intoxicated from a few drinks & am now trying to deal with this stressful situation home alone the only thing I had on hand with calcium is milk (can’t drive the 10 miles to a store for anything else) so I gave her some & then saw online it can cause gastric distress. Getting more oyster shell tomorrow. Is this a serious emergency? Should I bring her inside the house & pull the rest out? Any advice appreciated

 

[micstrachan]

It’s ok. Deep breath. You’ve got this. If it’s stretching her cloaca, I personally wouldn’t pull too hard and would let her pass it. However, the broken egg is a breeding ground for infection, so you might consider a round of antibiotics. Do you happen to have any tums? That would be a calcium source.

If she were mine, yes, I’d bring her in. Reason being, if her flock mates pick at it, they might damage her vent and that’s a whole other issue. I would try gently tugging again, but not to the point of stretching her insides out.

 

[Pentatonchix]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...se-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/#ams-comment-518983 here is an article by @azygous

 

[Chickielrl]

It’s ok. Deep breath. You’ve got this. If it’s stretching her cloaca, I personally wouldn’t pull too hard and would let her pass it. However, the broken egg is a breeding ground for infection, so you might consider a round of antibiotics. Do you happen to have any tums? That would be a calcium source.

If she were mine, yes, I’d bring her in. Reason being, if her flock mates pick at it, they might damage her vent and that’s a whole other issue. I would try gently tugging again, but not to the point of stretching her insides out.

I went and snatched her out of the coop last night and gave her a warm soak & a blow dry. I couldn’t see anymore membrane so hopefully she had expelled it earlier& it’s not hiding internally.
Unfortunately the vets in my area don’t accept chickens so I will not be able to be prescribed antibiotics. My local feed store appears to have durvet fish antibiotics that I could dissolve in her water. They have penicillin & Cephalexin I’m not sure which is better. Have you used any of them on chickens? Thank you for your advice!

 

[Chickielrl]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...se-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/#ams-comment-518983 here is an article by @azygous

I will definitely pick up some calcium citrate thank you for this!

 

[azygous]

Fish antibiotics are what many of us use for our chickens. Grab whatever you can get at that feed store. Cephalexin is a good one. But if it comes in capsule form, no need to dissolve it in water. Tell us the potency and we'll help you with the dosage. It's best to give these without disolving them in water so the chicken gets the full dose.

 

[Chickielrl]

Fish antibiotics are what many of us use for our chickens. Grab whatever you can get at that feed store. Cephalexin is a good one. But if it comes in capsule form, no need to dissolve it in water. Tell us the potency and we'll help you with the dosage. It's best to give these without disolving them in water so the chicken gets the full dose.

I got cephalexin 250 mg it came in powder filled capsules

 

[azygous]

Perfect.

 

[Chickielrl]

Perfect.

How many days should I keep her on the antibiotic? A full week? Currently on day 5!

 

[azygous]

Another five days. Assess where she is at that time, and you may need to go a full fourteen days if she's indicating she's not fully recovered.