Sick chicken: Please help.

[Olda Bat]

Lois, our very best egg layer (a Red Star) and our most friendly bird of our whole flock is acting really strange today. She would not come when I called her and she didn't even eat meal worms I fed her. She is NUTS for these!!! And, she is normally so social and friendly and follows me around everywhere. All the other ladies were in a feeding frenzy and she was off to the side. It looked like she was trying to push something out. I think I saw what appeared to be like a bubble/round shape pushing out....but was clear in color??

She seemed to want to go to the nesting box. So, I helped her up the ramp and in she went. I just went to check on her and hour later. She is still in the nesting box. She had already laid an egg this morning. There was no egg, but I checked her bum and it looked like there was a little peice of pale something or other in the shape of a triangle hanging out. I took a glove and gently brushed it but nothing happened....it didn't come out and it didn't go back in.

Help? Is that a piece of her? WHat is her fate? What can I do for her to make her more comfortable. It has been really cold here at night....about 2 degrees. But they all seem to have been just fine with the cold. (A Red Star/Lois, a Black Star/Stella, an Australorp, Adie, A White Rock, Pearl, and Buff Orpie/ Ethel.

Thanks so much for your help. You can read about my ladies at The Backyard Farm Project.com.

 

[brimjohnson]

Never heard of this but maybe she has an eggshell fragment stuck? Maybe try giving her a warm bath with gentle soap and washing her vent really well. I do this to my girls every couple months and they love it, I also make sure I blow dry them fully after the bath and sometimes I keep them inside for that night in a dog crate so they dont get too cold after a bath. Good luck

 

[suebgbr]

Do you have any pictures to help work out what it is?

 

[Olda Bat]

Thank you so much. I am terribly worried about her. We just love this hen. We just went out to the coop. SHe is still in the nesting box. Thanksfully the other ladies aren't picking on her. We thought in fact it may be an egg shell, as it has that consistency of the egg shell lining. But, gently tugged and realized...it wasn't it. Here are pictures. Thank you for any thoughts, advice, etc.

 

[suebgbr]

This is going to sound dense and I am going to get shot down in a second but she hasn't eaten anything that has passed through her, like a bit of plastic carrier bag or something floating on the wind?
I know it's not the same but that is something my dog would do!

 

[casportpony]

Thank you so much. I am terribly worried about her. We just love this hen. We just went out to the coop. SHe is still in the nesting box. Thanksfully the other ladies aren't picking on her. We thought in fact it may be an egg shell, as it has that consistency of the egg shell lining. But, gently tugged and realized...it wasn't it. Here are pictures. Thank you for any thoughts, advice, etc.

That looks like an egg membrane (soft shelled egg), just pull it out. If you have some human calcium and D, give her a pill, it might help her with her next egg.

This is exactly what I give my hens when I suspect egg issues.





These are for your reference

 

[casportpony]

This is going to sound dense and I am going to get shot down in a second but she hasn't eaten anything that has passed through her, like a bit of plastic carrier bag or something floating on the wind?
I know it's not the same but that is something my dog would do!

Have you pulled it out yet?

 

[Olda Bat]

Chicken Obsessed....THANK YOU so much! I was so afraid to pull it out because I didn't want to pull her insides out (!).....And, it was hard to pull out. But, my husband, on his birthday, is a hero! He pulled it out! I told him it is how he could put his zoology degree to good use. Here is a pick of what we pulled out. Immediately after she was back to herself and joined the other ladies on the roost for the night. Thank you. Thank you.

What caused this and how can I make sure not to have it happen again? This hen isn't even a year old yet and she lays HUGE eggs. I also feed them Organic feed and Organic Scratch and organic veggie scraps and organic milk, organic yogurt, (even heavy whipping creme), crushed up really small egg shells....I thought they were getting enough calcium....

 

[brimjohnson]

Wow! So glad you got it out!!! Do you feed them oyster shell? Maybe add that to their diet

 

[casportpony]

Chicken Obsessed....THANK YOU so much! I was so afraid to pull it out because I didn't want to pull her insides out (!).....And, it was hard to pull out. But, my husband, on his birthday, is a hero! He pulled it out! I told him it is how he could put his zoology degree to good use. Here is a pick of what we pulled out. Immediately after she was back to herself and joined the other ladies on the roost for the night. Thank you. Thank you.

What caused this and how can I make sure not to have it happen again? This hen isn't even a year old yet and she lays HUGE eggs. I also feed them Organic feed and Organic Scratch and organic veggie scraps and organic milk, organic yogurt, (even heavy whipping creme), crushed up really small egg shells....I thought they were getting enough calcium....

This link has some info:
http://www.avianweb.com/eggproblems.html