Pullet laying shelless eggs, having trouble pooping. Please help!

[RodNTN]

My New Hampshire Red pullet "Elephant", has been acting strangely these past few days. She has been spending a lot of time in the nesting box, but not laying any eggs. Last night she was acting completely normal, just sitting on the roosting stick. And then she sat up and laid a yolk.

My other hens devoured it before I had the chance to look at it. But today she has been spending all of her time in the nesting box, and just a few minutes ago I went outside to check on my flock, when I noticed that Elephant was sitting on the ground. With her eyes closed and her feathers ruffled. I checked out her vent, and there was some poop all over vent, and she was trying to pass some, but couldn't. I put her in the coop, and she is still there. With her feathers ruffled, eyes, closed, and not eating, drinking, etc.

Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong with her? Thanks in advance

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Hey Isabella I know this is super fast but I just happened to see it as I came.

How old is she?Is she waddling like a penguin?Walking?Does she have grit?Did you check her crop and other sings of egg bound?Is her face pale?
I'm not really sure what could possible be wrong, I'm not a expert at illness.

 

[RodNTN]

Hi Kyndra!
She is 11 months old, no she isn't waddling, she is walking a little bit, no, she doesn't have grit, (she always forages for natural grit, in fact all of my chickens do), I checked her crop; completely normal. Her vent feels normal too. No, her face isn't pale, it is still its normal color. But her eyes were watering.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Hmmmm, Isabella I don't know.Let me go and check something and I will be right back.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Does she have yolk colored droppings or Is her vent/Abdomen swollen?

 

[RodNTN]

No, her vent isn't swollen. And her droppings are normal.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My New Hampshire Red pullet "Elephant", has been acting strangely these past few days. She has been spending a lot of time in the nesting box, but not laying any eggs. Last night she was acting completely normal, just sitting on the roosting stick. And then she sat up and laid a yolk.

My other hens devoured it before I had the chance to look at it. But today she has been spending all of her time in the nesting box, and just a few minutes ago I went outside to check on my flock, when I noticed that Elephant was sitting on the ground. With her eyes closed and her feathers ruffled. I checked out her vent, and there was some poop all over vent, and she was trying to pass some, but couldn't. I put her in the coop, and she is still there. With her feathers ruffled, eyes, closed, and not eating, drinking, etc.

Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong with her? Thanks in advance

Quote:

Were you able to see if she passed the shell? She may still have some soft shell she is trying to pass if all you saw was yolk.

Give her some extra Calcium - crush up a Tums or if you have it liquid Calcium (1cc or what your label says). This can help contractions so hopefully she can expel it if there is a shell still in there.
Also give her some vitamins - direct dose of Poultry Nutri-Drench if you have it - 1cc per 3lbs.

Hydrate her as best you can - dehydration will make it worse.

You may also want to separate her, give her a soak in a tub of warm water with epsom salts or place her in a steamed up bathroom. See if this helps. If you feel like you need to, gently feel inside her vent with a lubricated finger about 1" - see if you feel anything (egg), but if she has a soft shell in there, you don't want to push it further in. Hopefully with the calcium, vitamins and a soak/steam, she will expel any material left in there.

Keep us posted.

 

[RodNTN]

Were you able to see if she passed the shell? She may still have some soft shell she is trying to pass if all you saw was yolk.

Give her some extra Calcium - crush up a Tums or if you have it liquid Calcium (1cc or what your label says). This can help contractions so hopefully she can expel it if there is a shell still in there.
Also give her some vitamins - direct dose of Poultry Nutri-Drench if you have it - 1cc per 3lbs.

Hydrate her as best you can - dehydration will make it worse.

You may also want to separate her, give her a soak in a tub of warm water with epsom salts or place her in a steamed up bathroom. See if this helps. If you feel like you need to, gently feel inside her vent with a lubricated finger about 1" - see if you feel anything (egg), but if she has a soft shell in there, you don't want to push it further in. Hopefully with the calcium, vitamins and a soak/steam, she will expel any material left in there.

Keep us posted.

No, I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think she has passed the shell yet. Even though she isn't doing as bad like she was yesterday, (and she is walking around the yard with the other girls, and eating and drinking) she is still acting a bit uncomfortable.

I am making sure she stays hydrated. But at the time we don't have Tums, liquid calcium, or Poultry Nutri-Drench. But our local feed store has some poultry nutri-drench. So we'll look into that.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can crush up an egg shell or pulverize it in a food processor, and feed it back to her--it is pure calcium carbonate. You can add it to chopped cooked egg or yogurt, but my chickens will eat the chopped shells fine if I toss them out like scratch. If she had a membrane partially coming out of her vent, more than likely one of the others saw it, and scarfed it. I have witnessed that before.

 

[RodNTN]

You can crush up an egg shell or pulverize it in a food processor, and feed it back to her--it is pure calcium carbonate. You can add it to chopped cooked egg or yogurt, but my chickens will eat the chopped shells fine if I toss them out like scratch. If she had a membrane partially coming out of her vent, more than likely one of the others saw it, and scarfed it. I have witnessed that before.

I have been feeding her egg shells, and she is doing much better!