Tiny lash eggs (at least I think they are)

[MandS]

Scarlett is a sexlink hen we rescued just over 3 years ago. She has been an amazing layer and didn't moult for nearly 2 years. In October, she started to moult and grew a complete set of new feathers by early December. She was fairly low for a while but has now picked up and is active and doing the usual things chickens do.

However she has not started laying again although I am aware it can be 12 weeks sometimes. Today I went to put them to bed and noticed that the roosting area was turned upside down. Currently she lives on her own as her coop-mate died in October. In the bedding I found the outside of an egg - just the dry skin, no shell (it was soft) and she had clearly eaten the contents. She has calcium (oyster and her feed is layers pellets), so I looked at her poop in the bedding area and saw two tiny white blobs that look to me like mini lash eggs. They are about the size of a large pea or baked bean. They might not be but they have the right consistency.

I know this is never good. I have not seen any this small before and I have seen quite a few over the years, but could this be her getting her laying back online?

I am loathed to take her to the vet. Our last 3 visits have not been good. All he will do is give her antibiotics and I have a supply from the hen he gave them to in December who died that night (I think from aspiration as he drained her crop by simply squeezing it until all the goo came out of her beak whilst she was on her feet!), so I can give the correct dosage of antibiotics for 7 days.

What would anyone advise? I suppose I can:

1. Just keep an eye on her and see if it clears up and she lays again
2. Give her extra calcium and see if that helps
3. Give antibiotics and see how she gets on
or some combination of that - or another thing entirely.

Here is the photo of the tiny white (and rubbery) things, next to a Quarter (yes, I am in the UK but thought this would help - it's about a 10p size for UK folks)

Any advice would be gratefully received. I am hopeful that it is just a quirk of a restarting system, but that may be false hope.

 

[nuthatched]

What you're thinking about doing is probably the best, the antibiotics might help. Maybe there's some info you can use in this thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-returned-to-the-flock.1507075/#post-25277927

 

[Eggcessive]

It does look like lash material. That is a result of salpingitis, or inflammation of the oviduct, very common in hens. Antibiotics possibly would help, and most use either amoxicillin or Baytril to treat that. Antibiotics may not help. Baytril has a long egg withdrawal. Here is some reading:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/salpingitis

 

[MandS]

Thank you both.

I've never seen any this tiny before so hopefully I'm catching it early. I'll give her some Tums (unless you say otherwise) to see if that can help form the shell and help her to expel any of the infection with the eggs.

If it is salpingitis, then I think they have about 6 months or so. I now know of a very good vet who is about 130 miles away from me but she does do removal of the reproductive bits and has a very high success rate. It's not imperative or urgent now, but if she doesn't get better, I'll consider this as she is such a lovely hen who is super friendly and flies onto my shoulder whenever she can.

Thanks again. I'll update and if anyone else has any ideas, I'll welcome them.

@Eggcessive - thank you. Your knowledge is far greater than mine and it's always very welcome and useful. We don't seem to get Baytril here. I don't think it's licensed. However we have Therios - which is labelled for dogs and that's what our very prescribes. 300mg, half tablet twice daily. I cannot find anything online about giving this to chickens, although the active ingredient is cephalexin. Not sure how effective this would be but he gave it to two previous hens who got salpingitis. It didn't cure them unfortunately.

Thanks @nuthatched - I did read the link to the other post which was helpful.

 

[Eggcessive]

Cephalexin dosage can vary from link to link, but 50mg per Kg given 4 times per day given orally seems to be the usual dose. How much does she weigh?

 

[MandS]

Cephalexin dosage can vary from link to link, but 50mg per Kg given 4 times per day given orally seems to be the usual dose. How much does she weigh?

Interesting.

She's about 1.6kg (or at least she was last time she was weighed).

 

[MandS]

Update:

She laid an egg this morning! She was eating it when I went to let her out of the roosting area. The shell was thin - but it was a shell. I think she laid it intact but then probably pecked it and broke it. It was a normal egg otherwise. I also checked her poop. She normally does pellet type poops but last this morning there was a quite a wet one with lots of white urates. Photos below.

However there were no more lash eggs bits at all. I will keep an eye on her and see if she does any more before starting the antibiotics. She certainly was a happy hen today. She flew onto my shoulder twice, which she hasn't done since before she moulted.

I did give her 1/2 a Tums. She has plenty of calcium (oyster shell) in the run in a pot, so maybe it is just her laying system coming back online..... I certainly hope so.

I will update again over the next day or so.

The egg wasn't as broken as this - it fell as I was carrying it but had some beak sized holes in it up to then. Normally they are much darker brown, which again makes me think her system is at the early restarting stage.

This was runny and the white was all like the darker creamy white in the bottom left. Obviously it absorbed before I could get my camera. Normal poops are pellets, some large, some small. Mostly brown with urate streaks. She seems to have pooped normally for the rest of the day.

 

[LaFleche]

With increasing hormone level the poop will get softer and the droppings wetter indicating the beginning of lay.
Happens every time and is a reliable hint for starting to lay with my pullets as well.

 

[MandS]

With increasing hormone level the poop will get softer and the droppings wetter indicating the beginning of lay.
Happens every time and is a reliable hint for starting to lay with my pullets as well.

Thanks! That's good news.

 

[MandS]

Update:

She laid another soft shelled egg (and ate it) but then yesterday:

This egg is large and not the usual shape, however it is hard shelled. It also, as you can probably see, is very rough - almost like it isn't smoothed over properly as it was produced. I will keep an eye on this. She has done it in the past quite a few times over the years, so may be nothing to worry about.

She hasn't laid anything today but we also had an episode where a local dog (big one) broke into our garden and hounded (no pun) the hens in their runs. One of them is so traumatized that she won't come out and developed almost instant runny poop/water.

Also there have been no more lash eggs. I have checked the poop daily and there is no sign. Indeed the poop has returned to its normal constituency.

I'll update if anything changes, but so far, the signs are much better.