RIR hen passed broken egg - should I wash out vent immediately or can it wait until morning?

[Michaels1715]

This evening, right before my flock went in for the night, I looked over to see one of my 11-month old RIR hens "Peewee" hunched up and straining. My first thought was that she was constipated. She started to walk away from me, although still straining somewhat, so I bent over to look at her vent, and then saw a couple of clear drips, followed by what was apparently the egg white a few seconds later, followed by the broken yolk. All of my chickens were hanging around me, as I had just given them a treat a few minutes prior (cantaloupe bits and "mash", which is plain yogurt mixed with Layena), and they watching me hopefully, in case I had anything else yummy for them

Well I didn't, but Peewee did. That egg got gobbled up so fast, I never would have known it happened if I hadn't been standing right there. I had to attend to something else, so I did not keep watching her, to see if any shell came out too (I sure wish I had!). I do not recall seeing any shell at all - just the clear white and then the yolk - and any evidence was gobbled within seconds. I looked at her a few minutes later and she seemed fine, and there was just a tiny bit of egg residue on her butt feathers. 

She went in with the rest of the flock, and I have spent the last couple of hours reading some of these threads and searching the Internet, trying to figure out what I should do. I decided to mix 1 qt. warm water with 1 TB of white vinegar, and use that to rinse her vent out with a needle-less syringe (which I found with my horse stuff), to flush out any egg/shell that she didn't get out on her own. However, she is, OF COURSE, all the way in the far corner, so I would have to climb/crawl into my coop, which is NOT easy for me. My coop is raised and only 3'-4' high inside, and I am recuperating from knee replacement a few weeks ago, so I can't crawl or even get into the coop without pretty much laying on the floor (Eewww). On top of that, I would have to move just about everyone else to get to her, so would disturb just about my entire flock - 20 birds. 

So, after that long explanation, my questions are:
1. A) Am I right in thinking that I should do something? 
B) Or is this something that happens occasionally with hens and they can normally handle it on their own?
2. A) If the answer to #1 is "A", Is my plan of action a good one (flush vent with vinegar/warm water)? 
B) Or do you recommend that I do something else?
3. A) Would it be best to attend to her right now?
B) Or will it make no difference if I wait until the morning?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can offer!

Sharon 

 

[Judy]

I think sometimes they handle this on their own. I think flushing her out is as likely to push shell bits up farther as it is to wash them out. I would wait til morning, myself, and start with a warm bath followed by rest in a darkened area, probably my bathtub, for the day. Then I'd see how she acted the next day before doing anything else -- at least unless she seemed in severe distress. Hopefully she will lay an egg, telling you all is well.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Had she been laying long? Was she just coming out of molt? I only ask as one of my girls will lay an egg with no shell every once in a while. She did it most when she first began laying.

Possibly there wasn't any shell to begin with? Hope all goes well with her.

 

[Michaels1715]

Thanks very much for your replies. I meant to post this reply a couple of hours ago, but just noticed that it never went, sorry about that. 

I feel better waiting until the morning then, thank you. I will try a warm bath first as you suggested. 

She's been laying since October. I don't think she's coming off molt - I'm not really sure, though. I gave my girls (and still do) light going on early in the morning - they've always had 14+ hours of light, so I got eggs all through the winter. As for this particular hen, I don't know her laying habits - I can't watch the girls all morning, so I don't know who laid an egg & who didn't or which egg came from which hen, etc. I get about 8 eggs a day from my 10 big (vs. bantam) laying hens. I will say that I rarely see anyone in the nesting boxes much after 1-2PM, but this happened around 6:30PM.  

Yes, I was also thinking it's possible there was no shell - I would have though I'd see at least a little piece come out with the white or yolk, but I don't remember seeing any. I wasn't specifically looking for shell at the time, though, so I might just have not noticed. 

I'll take a look at her tomorrow and try the bath, thanks again.