Sick hen?

[Wyorp Rock]

She layed a couple of chalky, rippled looking eggs a couple days ago and I started giving her oyster shell and crushed egg shells, see previous post. The dark liquid is not blood. She just turned a year old. The soft shelled egg seems to be intact but appears to have collapsed.

Any photos of the rippled, chalky eggs?

 

[Bdbutton]

Any photos of the rippled, chalky eggs?

Yes I’ll post them. I just checked on her and now she is sitting in the nest, not the one she normally lays eggs in but the one next to it. I hope this means she’s feeling better.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes I’ll post them. I just checked on her and now she is sitting in the nest, not the one she normally lays eggs in but the one next to it. I hope this means she’s feeling better.

Did she have access to oyster shell previously?
Ever notice any coughing, sneezing, runny nose or watery eyes?

What do you feed, including treats? I would give her some poultry vitamins for a few days in a row and 1/2 tablet of calcium for 3-5 days.

It may be just a laying glitch, is she young? She may also have something else going on with her reproductive systems, but hopefully it will straighten out with calcium, vitamins and making sure she's hydrated and eating.

Not sure if moving to a nesting box is a good sign or not. I've had them move before, just seemed like they were more comfortable, but it did not solve the problem.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think she is under a year. It looks like she is definitely have some problems with egg shell development in her oviduct and shell gland. Has she had or have any others had any mild respiratory symptoms recently? Or has she suffered any significant injury? Sometime infectious bronchitis can cause problems with shell formation, and impacted oviduct and internal laying may be some of the reproductive disorders that are possibl. If you can give her the human calcium with vitamin D for a few days, that would be good to see if her shells improve.

 

[Bdbutton]

Did she have access to oyster shell previously?
Ever notice any coughing, sneezing, runny nose or watery eyes?

What do you feed, including treats? I would give her some poultry vitamins for a few days in a row and 1/2 tablet of calcium for 3-5 days.

It may be just a laying glitch, is she young? She may also have something else going on with her reproductive systems, but hopefully it will straighten out with calcium, vitamins and making sure she's hydrated and eating.

Not sure if moving to a nesting box is a good sign or not. I've had them move before, just seemed like they were more comfortable, but it did not solve the problem.

I have been giving her crushed egg shells and oyster shells for the past couple of days. I haven’t seen any signs of sneezing or runny nose. She was totally fine yesterday. She is just turned a year old. I feed them layer pellets with occasional scratch and yesterday I fed them a scrambled egg and a crushed egg shell. If she is not eating or drinking how do I get her to ingest calcium? What kind of vitamins do I give them.

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Putting her in a crate might not be a bad idea; always a balance of how much stress it causes vs isolate her diet and behavior. Some of mine don't care and eat/drink/poop as usual. Some freeze up.

Do you treat them with Corid for Coccidiosis? May sound basic but just to rule it out, do a few days treatment.

I had a hen laying misshaped eggs for a while, either elongated on "scarred", thick rings etc. Vitamin supplements seems to work well and relatively quickly.

https://www.savacaf.com/products/sav-a-chick-electrolyte-vitamin-supplement/

 

[Bdbutton]

I brought her inside and put her in a crate. Giving her Sav a Chick but she isn’t really drinking it. She is breathing very shallow. I checked her vent and it looks fine. I gave her a bit of scratch but she isn’t eating it. Any other suggestions of what I could feed her or do for her?

 

[Bdbutton]

I want to thank everyone for their comments and advise but I’m sorry to say that my sweet Dixie died! I can’t believe how fast it was. Now I have only 1 left and I’m thinking I will try to rehome her. I don’t think I’m a very good chicken mom. And it’s not fair to keep one by itself.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh I am so sorry that you lost her so quickly! Please don’t beat yourself up and think that you are bad at chickens. Your hen had something going on with her reproductive system, and it would help you to find an answer on what was wrong. Refrigerate her body in a plastic garbage bag tonight and call your state vet in the morning early to get a necropsy. I had a single barnvelder once and lost her in her first year of unknown causes (before I did necropsies on my chickens who died.) It is sad when we lose one, but chickens can suffer from different illnesses. It can help to learn more about illnesses, and to recognize any symptoms of the common ones. Here is a link to contacting your state vet:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I want to thank everyone for their comments and advise but I’m sorry to say that my sweet Dixie died! I can’t believe how fast it was. Now I have only 1 left and I’m thinking I will try to rehome her. I don’t think I’m a very good chicken mom. And it’s not fair to keep one by itself.

Oh No, I'm very sorry to hear about Dixie

I agree, sending the body for necropsy will give you some answers.
If you feel like you can do an informal one yourself, it would be worth looking in the abdomen, at the reproductive system and at the major organs for anything out of the ordinary. We will try to help you with what you see if you take photos.

Sometimes these things happen and it's no one's fault. This does not mean that you are not a good chicken Mom. Chickens are very good at hiding illness, by the time they do allow themselves to show that something is wrong it can be too late.
Re-homing the other one is up to you. Your remaining hen can survive and do o.k. but if you decide to keep her, spring is coming so you should be able to find a few friends for her.