Please help poor Gladys!

[HumbleHome.net]

Hi. My name is Jamie. I have a hen that has been acting a bit subdued, and it has me pretty concerned.

Yesterday she was standing quite still for long periods of time. When I saw her sitting on her nest box a little bit later in the day, she looked a little strange, so I checked out her backside. It looked very messy. Kind of slimy and clear.

I brought her in the house to observe her for the rest of the day, and overnight. I also took away her food and provided only water so that I could make sure her crop emptied out this morning in order to rule out sour crop. She didn’t drink much yesterday, and she was pooping a yellowish substance that looked kinda like egg yolk to me.

When I checked on her this morning, I noticed that she passed these two really strange things!

The first one looks like a clump of egg whites to me, and I have no idea what that second thing is! Is this her natural way of solving the problem, and she is fine now? Or do you think I need to take her to a vet?

Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

Sincerely,
Jamie

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@casportpony @azygous

 

[andreanar]

Looks to me like she was struggling to pass a soft shelled egg. Maybe it broke inside her? Hoping someone with more experience with this comes along.

 

[HumbleHome.net]

That’s what I was maybe thinking. I’m wondering what to do from here. Thank you so much for your reply. Hopefully someone will have some more info for us.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Poor Gladys! Looks like the problem may have resolved itself. If she seems any perkier, I would try to feed her something gentle, like scrambled eggs, and observe her for a day or two.

It seems like a positive step that she passed something, as well as some solid green poop too.

 

[HumbleHome.net]

Thank you so much Annie! That’s what I was hoping! You said you think green poop is a good thing?? That’s good to hear! I was worried that green poop meant infection. I watered her normal layer pellets down for her and she seems to be enjoying it. I’ll go ahead and make her some scrambled eggs like you suggested.

You don’t think I need to flush her out or worry about infection?

Thanks again!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Thank you so much Annie! That’s what I was hoping! You said you think green poop is a good thing?? That’s good to hear! I was worried that green poop meant infection. I watered her normal layer pellets down for her and she seems to be enjoying it. I’ll go ahead and make her some scrambled eggs like you suggested.

You don’t think I need to flush her out or worry about infection?

Thanks again!

Their poop is usually green, with some white. There are also brow stinky cecal poops, which are normal also. If she is showing some kind of green poo, that means her digestive system is moving and not blocked, if it was.

Again, you will know more what to do in the next day or two. Listen to your instincts. You know how she normally acts.

 

[Eggcessive]

She may be having some problems with egg laying. The second pic could be a collapsed egg membrane, but also may be a small lash egg. Hopefully, she is just having a temporary problem. Look for strong shells in her eggs, make crushed egg shell available in a container in addition to her layer feed. I might go ahead and give her a calcium tablet for a couple of days anyway until her next egg. If you see more egg-type material, I would do a search for internal layer.