Sick Chicken - Need Advice

[FlyinDonkey]

I have a 5 month old hen that has been laying very soft eggs recently and had some diarrhea, otherwise has been acting fine. She was eating, drinking, roaming around and seemed quite normal, Prior to the soft eggs she has been laying normal eggs for about three weeks. Tonight she seemed lethargic, feathers fluffed up, eyes dull and generally not well. I was holding her and massaging her belly and petting her and she suddenly laid one of the soft, squishy eggs in my lap. Now she is perched and is contracting like she is trying to get something out and she is dripping a clear fluid. A pretty consistent drip about every 30 seconds. Any ideas what is going on? Or what I can do to help her?

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I have a 5 month old hen that has been laying very soft eggs recently and had some diarrhea, otherwise has been acting fine. She was eating, drinking, roaming around and seemed quite normal, Prior to the soft eggs she has been laying normal eggs for about three weeks. Tonight she seemed lethargic, feathers fluffed up, eyes dull and generally not well. I was holding her and massaging her belly and petting her and she suddenly laid one of the soft, squishy eggs in my lap. Now she is perched and is contracting like she is trying to get something out and she is dripping a clear fluid. A pretty consistent drip about every 30 seconds. Any ideas what is going on? Or what I can do to help her?

I probably won't *know* the answer, but I might be able to help ya find it (and, responding might float your post to the top, where somebody more useful might actually see it ~'-)

Possible diseases, based upon symptoms, in regard to egg production:

Sudden severe drop ...
Newcastle disease; infectious bronchitis;
laryngotracheitis; influenza-A, mycotoxin,
mismanagement (no lights, feed, or water)

Unsatisfactory...
Infectious coryza; fowl cholera; chronic respiratory
diseases; diet deficiencies; gizzard impaction; fowl pox;
hepatitis; lice; mites; ascarids; capillaria; lymphoid
leukosis; coccidiosis; enteritis; pullorum; fowl typhoid;
aflatoxicosis; adenovirus infection; toxins

Egg wrinkled, depigmented...
Necrotic enteritis; infectious bronchitis

Production pause...
Epidemic tremor

Poor shell quality...
Newcastle disease; infectious bronchitis; adenovirus
infection; diet deficiency; T-2 fusariotoxin

 

[casportpony]

I have a 5 month old hen that has been laying very soft eggs recently and had some diarrhea, otherwise has been acting fine. She was eating, drinking, roaming around and seemed quite normal, Prior to the soft eggs she has been laying normal eggs for about three weeks. Tonight she seemed lethargic, feathers fluffed up, eyes dull and generally not well. I was holding her and massaging her belly and petting her and she suddenly laid one of the soft, squishy eggs in my lap. Now she is perched and is contracting like she is trying to get something out and she is dripping a clear fluid. A pretty consistent drip about every 30 seconds. Any ideas what is going on? Or what I can do to help her?

I have read that it is very hard on poultry to pass those shell-less eggs. You might want to keep her inside where it's warm and try treating her like she has an impacted egg. I've used a combination of steam baths, warm baths and OB lube (KY Jelly). Someone posted that they had a hen lay three shell-less eggs in one day, so maybe she has another soft one and it broke? Also, I have a couple of turkeys that have been laying nothing but soft/shell-less eggs, so I decided to give them each a 500mg calcium tablet and a vitamin D capsule. Two days after doing that, one laid a shelled egg, so we'll see...

I'm not sure, but too much calcium might not be good for poultry, so beware. Both of my turkeys weigh around 25 pounds, so I figured I would be okay.