Really strange “egg”

[NewYorkMama]

Hello! I found this “egg” in the nest this morning. It’s the second time I’ve encountered one that looks like this - no shell, no discernible yolk, some weird pink brains. Last time was perhaps a month ago. My flock is all female & consists of 4 buff orpingtons of undetermined age - somewhere between 5 and 7(?). One red star also unknown age. Two 7ish month old speckled Sussex & one Easter egger who have just started laying within the last 3 weeks.
some background info: much of my flock are rescues, so that’s why I’m uncertain of ages.
The red star used to lay pretty consistently
Until 6 months ago or so when her “sister” (the only other red star) was killed in front of her by a fox. All the girls went off lay for a while. The buffs went back to laying one egg maybe every 4-5 days, but for the one who I suspect has never laid — she’s a little weird haha — Has never sat on a nest, has an odd-shaped head. The red star has laid a couple of shell-less eggs since the attack (but not with the weird pink membrane) but otherwise hasn’t laid at all. She had some diarrhea right after the attack as well — for a few weeks which we treated with probiotics and ACV and.

All the older girls are molting now so no one but the babies are laying.
The Easter egger lays nearly every day. The speckled seem to lay every 2-3 days. I suspect this weird “egg” is from one of them due to the tiny size, but I can’t be sure.

they have access to grass every day, and have a fully enclosed run for when we’re not home. They have both free access to calcium and I sprinkle calcium in with their food (which is organic purina pellets).

Has anyone seen this kind of thing before? And should I be worried? Everyone’s acting/eating/drinking completely normally, which in my years of experience seems to be the best indicator of wellness.
Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like a shell-less egg with some lash egg material to me, from the oviduct. She may have salpingitis or other reproductive disorder. They can lay shell-less eggs, or pass parts of membrane, yolk, or albumen. Lash eggs are usually flesh colored or pinkish, and may have a cooked egg appearance. They are in various shapes, colors, and sizes. I would try giving a human calcium tablet for a week or two, to see if it makes a difference. Stress, age, molting, infection, or past exposure to infectious bronchitis virus can be possible causes. If you can identify the one laying this, I would try the calcium and add a little vitamin D3. Also see if she is walking differently, if her tail is down, and if she is acting lethargic.

 

[NewYorkMama]

I agree with more research that looks like a lash egg. Because I’m not positive who’s laying these, I’ve decided to add oregano oil & ACV to their water. I also did a full coop clean & sanitized the roost bars. I have an email in to our local avian vet. Is there anything else to be done in the meantime?

as far as the calcium goes… I have some garden of life organic plant calcium tabs. Can I break these up and put in their food? Again, not sure who is the weird egg layer so I want to treat everyone.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would only give the calcium to the suspected hen, if you can figure that out. Usually 1 tablet daily is good for up to a week. If it also has D3 that is great. It is not good to give calcium in their food. Just having crushed oyster shell in a separate container and or feeding layer feed is usually all they need. If the others are not having problems with shells, it could be more of a problem inside her oviduct. This link has good pictures of a hen’s reproductive tract:
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

 

[Aunt Angus]

Lash material = bad juju. I hope that vet gets back to you. After I lost my Australorp to a reproductive infection, the vet said early antibiotic treatment was just about the only thing that might have saved her.

 

[Lizzy733]

Lash eggs can also be soft and curdy - will grow more hard and rubbery as the infection progresses.

With your egg there, are the coloured areas hard or soft? When opened, what are the contents of the egg like? Anything's Ng that looks pussy?

As for who done it, my first suspect would be your red star, not just for the background, but because she's a hybrid. These birds are egg laying machines and once their reproductive days are over, all sorts of medical issues start to pop up.

Try to see if anyone has a noticeably warmer abdomen as well. If they're fighting an infection, they'll generally have a bit if a fever as well.

Once you have a suspect, Isolate them or keep an eye out at lay time to see if you can catch them in the act. Salpingitis is fortunately not contagious, but may require the hen to go on antibiotics to clear up. The calcium advice is good as well - you should direct dose daily till she puts a shell on. They'll likely take a permanent quality hit. My girl laid many a corrugated and soft shell after her infection. Her heat tolerance was notably worse than her sisters afterward too.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Lash eggs can also be soft and curdy - will grow more hard and rubbery as the infection progresses.

With your egg there, are the coloured areas hard or soft? When opened, what are the contents of the egg like? Anything's Ng that looks pussy?

As for who done it, my first suspect would be your red star, not just for the background, but because she's a hybrid. These birds are egg laying machines and once their reproductive days are over, all sorts of medical issues start to pop up.

Try to see if anyone has a noticeably warmer abdomen as well. If they're fighting an infection, they'll generally have a bit if a fever as well.

Once you have a suspect, Isolate them or keep an eye out at lay time to see if you can catch them in the act. Salpingitis is fortunately not contagious, but may require the hen to go on antibiotics to clear up. The calcium advice is good as well - you should direct dose daily till she puts a shell on. They'll likely take a permanent quality hit. My girl laid many a corrugated and soft shell after her infection. Her heat tolerance was notably worse than her sisters afterward too.

I'm impressed she revovered!

 

[Lizzy733]

Lash material = bad juju. I hope that vet gets back to you. After I lost my Australorp to a reproductive infection, the vet said early antibiotic treatment was just about the only thing that might have saved her.

It's not impossible for them to recover on their own. My hen was stuck in a queue for the exotic vet and managed to pass all the lash material and gotten over her fever by the time her appointment was ready and did not need to go on antibiotics.
Granted she was young, had only just come into lay, and her lash eggs were the soft curd variety. I've heard that hard lash material is indicative of a progressed infection and is harder to treat.
I'd had her indoors with daily Epson salt soaks, garlic covered crickets and any other juju I'd heard might be helpful at the time as it was early days for my flock.
She left the vet with liquid calcium and anti-inflamatories.

 

[Lizzy733]

I'm impressed she revovered!

I was lucky I'd done all this research on possible illnesses and found lash eggs early on, so knew what it was when it first happened. She'd been laying soft and no shells for a week before the first lash came through. She was my first to go into lay and had been giving us double yolkers. I think she tore something and that kicked everything off. I mean, my pullet was laying what looked like goose eggs :/

 

[Aunt Angus]

I was lucky I'd done all this research on possible illnesses and found lash eggs early on, so knew what it was when it first happened. She'd been laying soft and no shells for a week before the first lash came through. She was my first to go into lay and had been giving us double yolkers. I think she tore something and that kicked everything off. I mean, my pullet was laying what looked like goose eggs :/

Luck isn't in it: you were prepared! Nice!

With my girl, I saw what turned out to be lash material, but it didn't look like it at the time. She was one of my rescue hens, and she'd come from deplorable conditions. I thought it was urates from high temps and dehydration. Now that I know better, I won't let it happen again!