Soft egg in old hen

[Ascholten]

Id be careful about any flushing out procedures. They are small and you could easily over inflate or damage something. I'll let someone who knows more about this than I answer but you might end up going up there with a finger a bit if there is stuff stuck. Gloved of course. Poor thing I hope this solves itself soon!
Aaron

 

[azygous]

No flushing the bottom end. It risks pushing bacteria up into the north part of the oviduct where bacteria does the most evil.

You can use an Epsom salt flush and have her drink it. One teaspoon Epsom salts to one ounce warm water. You could also do a molasses flush (orally) one teaspoon molasses in one-fourth cup warm water. The liguid must all be consumed.

 

[Eddie12109]

Alright so thanks for the input!
After she already had that, she decided to lay another egg! Much more relieving though is that is is a soft shell but a normal soft shell. Hopefully she is returning to laying normal eggs?!

 

[azygous]

No. Two eggs like that in one day means her ovulation is whacked and her shell gland is putting out much too little calcium. She needs a calcium tablet each day until this stops. Left along, she's a good candidate for egg binding.

The calcium will reset her cycle and build up calcium in her shell gland.

 

[Eddie12109]

So is it bad that after three days of giving her calcium she is still having those eggs? Or is it slightly normal? Because last time she didn’t lay an egg for a few days after her soft shelled one

 

[azygous]

What calcium supplement have you been giving and what is the strength and does it have vitamin D in it?

How old is she? Does she get regular exposure to sunlight? Does she get regular exercise? Does she get spinach regularly (spinach is not good for laying hens)? All of those things factor into how well a hen will absorb calcium .

 

[Eddie12109]

I attached a picture of it. It doesn’t have vitamin D. She is 8 years old and she is always outside and in sun. She does have curled toes which started when she got a mild heat stroke so I always thought that curled toes happened due to heat stroke. Due to this she doesn’t walk around too much but she still finds ways to. I usually give lettuce to them.

 

[azygous]

If you and your family take D3 (1000mcg), which it's really a good idea in this time of Covid, give her one capsule each day with the calcium, and half a 1000mg calcium tablet is plenty adequate. Too much calcium is hard on the kidneys, although it can take weeks for some hens to respond to the calcium and get straightened out.

Lettuce is fine. Spinach and kale has oxalic acid which slows the absorption of calcium. But at eight years old, she's got tired organs, and egg laying is going to be a tough occupation. I have a Wyandotte who is now twelve and I'm holding my breath she doesn't get into the nest box like she does every damned spring and get herself bound up again with a broken egg inside. Unfortunately, there's no stopping these old gals unless you have a fancy vet who can install a hormone implant every six months at fancy costs.

 

[Eddie12109]

Alright so we do have D3 but only 2000 mcg so just give half of one at the same time I give calcium correct? And should I give amoxicillin? I rarely give spinach and never have given kale but I didn’t know that so thank you! And yes it seems to be very stressful having older hens laying eggs(especially at 12! That’s crazy!!)

So now I have another 8 year old who I have posted about before. In order to not get confused with these hens of mine... the one throughout this entire thread is Eddie. She has been having the soft shelled eggs.
My other hen is Rihanna, I mentioned her name before in my ascites posts because she was laying eggs with really no shell to them. They would just come out as yolk with a soft shriveled shell on the side. This was about two weeks ago and I gave her amoxicillin and calcium and she seemed to stop. Well now she is back at it again. I attached a picture but she decided she wanted to lay more eggs I guess. Should I start her up on amoxicillin and calcium again?

 

[azygous]

Yes. Amoxy and calcium is probably going to be a regular item in her future. Sigh. And D3 2000mcg is okay to give with the calcium tablet. The difference between 1000 and 2000mcg for the short term is not going to be a concern.

If you're lucky these old biddies of yours will get this egg compulsion over with after a couple of sad tries at egg laying into their dotage. With my elderly layer, she seems to catch spring fever every year and heads to the nest over a period of a few weeks and tries to show what she can still do. Last spring she laid a perfect egg. Then a week later, she had one stuck inside with the yolk broken and even decided to have a prolapse for good measure that took nine days to resolve. So far, this season, she appears to have given up on this foolishness. I have my fingers crossed.