Soft torn egg

[Sherri1990]

My astrolorpe is on her 3rd egg. The first two were perfect. This last one was torn and I found the egg and it’s contents in the ground. There was a hole the size of a dime in the shell and egg contents on her bottom fluff feathers. Please tell me this is expected and she will be ok.she is on grower and has access to oyster shell. How do I do a quick fix to help her on her next egg??

 

[azygous]

Please don't panic. No need for it, and it's not productive. We'll help.

Give her one calcium citrate with vitamin D3 supplement. Not all layers absorb calcium as well as they should from layer feed or oyster shell since calcium carbonate is the least easily absorbed forms. The calcium is in the people vitamin aisle.

It will help expel any lingering egg remains that could still be inside her. You will know if this may be the case if there's fluid coming from her vent and she is squatting and straining to expel whatever is left. She will also be lethargic and in pain, tail held low and flat.

If it appears she still has broken egg inside her she'll need an oral antibiotic to stop the bacterial infection that almost always grows in broken egg yolk. You will know this is necessary if she is exhibiting the signs I listed.

 

[CHlCKEN]

My astrolorpe is on her 3rd egg. The first two were perfect. This last one was torn and I found the egg and it’s contents in the ground. There was a hole the size of a dime in the shell and egg contents on her bottom fluff feathers. Please tell me this is expected and she will be ok.she is on grower and has access to oyster shell. How do I do a quick fix to help her on her next egg??

Sounds like a soft shelled egg broke before the hen (pullet)
was able to expel it. This happened to my hen Joy this summer. I found an eggshell hanging from her vent and like you said, egg contents elsewhere. Is she acting lethargic? Tail drooping? How is she acting? If she is acting lethargic I would go ahead and bring her to a vet if possible. She may have egg contents and shell still inside of her, and if left for an extended amount of time those contents can harden (quickly) blocking her intestines and in Joy’s case, her airways. Is she pooping? If so, that’s a good sign, if it contains a yellow or whitish/clearish substance than that means there is egg contents stuck inside, in which case bringing her to a vet can really save her life. To prevent EYP your vet will try and extract any egg contents, which is something you can do yourself (I’d link an article but I’ll edit my post in a moment) or have the vet do (I’d have the vet do it because you can also take an X-ray, this helped me and my vet figure out that my hen’s airways were blocked) and they probably will give you some sort of medicine to give her once-twice a day (I found that if the hen doesn’t want to eat it on her own, you will have to use the syringe method- that would be holding her beak open and putting the syringe down her throat until you see a bulge from the syringe on the RIGHT side of her crop area- you have to be very careful to make sure that the syringe is in her crop (on the right side of her body) otherwise you may release the liquid medicine into her lungs- and that’s never going to be good) If you don’t think that your hen has any egg contents inside of her than I would continue to watch her.

Soft shelled eggs are actually common with new layers. It’s nothing to be worried about, in fact there are lots of strange types of eggs your hen may lay, and none of it is your fault. If you say they are on Oyster then I wouldn’t worry about calcium deficiency.

 

[mommiesrcool]

My astrolorpe is on her 3rd egg. The first two were perfect. This last one was torn and I found the egg and it’s contents in the ground. There was a hole the size of a dime in the shell and egg contents on her bottom fluff feathers. Please tell me this is expected and she will be ok.she is on grower and has access to oyster shell. How do I do a quick fix to help her on her next egg??

Once i see the first egg i ALWAYS switch to Layer feed with oyster shells on the side as an option

 

[Sally PB]

If that's only the third egg she's laid, she's probably just working out the kinks. I found a membrane-only egg and a no-shell egg when my pullets were just starting to lay.

 

[Sherri1990]

I just gave her some layer feed. She is really unsettled. It’s like she has another egg behind it??? Is that possible?

 

[azygous]

Clear fluid means an obstruction, and continued clear fluid from her vent means it's still obstructed with material, even a small amount. The calcium supplement encourages strong contractions to push this obstruction out. You may see it, or not. Your hen will suddenly feel better, so that will tell you she's going to be fine.

 

[azygous]

It's always best, for lots of reasons, to confine your patient to a crate so you can more closely monitor her and give her the meds she needs. And be sure to give her plenty of water because she's losing it instead of absorbing it.

If you sent someone out to buy calcium, call them and have them pick up calcium citrate with D3. It's much better than Tums and more easily absorbed. It's in the vitamin aisle at Walmart.

Place your hen on a nice thick towel to absorb the fluids she's expelling. What happens in a lot of these cases where egg material blocks off, even partially, the common duct where eggs and poop share the road, is the cecum is shut down. That's where the water she drinks that isn't used in the intestine gets distributed to the rest of her body's tissues, so it comes out the poop hole instead. Also, no cecal poop is produced during the blockage. When you see a nice smelly cecal poop again, that's a sign the blockage has probably cleared.

 

[Eggcessive]

The picture in post 46 does look like it could be lash egg material mixed with egg yolk. Lash eggs are a sign of salpingitis, a common inflammation of the oviduct. Sometimes the material comes out while it can be laid inside the abdomen. I had seen quite a few of these in chickens who were necropsied. Since you are giving antibiotics I would continue them. Here is a good article or two:
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/salpingitis

https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

 

[Weeg]

@Eggcessive @azygous @Wyorp Rock