Update. hen on ACS Please help!

[Gayle R463]

Lash Egg:
https://timbercreekfarmer.com/what-is-a-lash-egg-salpingitis-in-laying-hens/

This may help you to understand things better too:
Internal Laying & Other Reproductive Malfunctions: my YouTube Video (GRAPHIC PHOTOS!)

This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

Thank you for the Lash egg link and your response. I appreciate it. And I apologize for not answering your questions earlier. In the second photo, the dissected fragment off to the right gives a resemblance to what my girl was laying, but none of that outer part. And the video I have seen recently.. thank you

 

[Kiki]

This photo?
The lighter pink?
If so she was laying lash eggs.

 

[andreanar]

here to find out if she laid a lash

 

[Gayle R463]

Thanks Kiki for the lash egg link

@Gayle R463 I'm still not entirely sure if your hen was laying shell less eggs or lash eggs. If you google images of lash eggs, hopefully you will be able to clarify. The fact that your hen was eating them and had yellow on her beak suggests soft shelled or shell less eggs. Lash eggs are rubbery and look like layers of cooked egg and sausage meat and can be a variety of odd lumpy shapes. They are almost always solid (not runny) when you cut them open and I would not expect you to see yellow on their beak from eating them.
If she has been laying lash eggs, then that would confirm salpingitis and whilst it may respond to antibiotics if you catch it early enough, the likelihood is that there is a mass of egg matter inside her, clogging up her oviduct and probably causing a constriction of her gut, causing things to back up.

There is a common misconception with an impaction that it will feel hard and so far, all the impactions I have dealt with have been soft and pliable (doughy) but not sour crop. I have had to resort to surgery twice and whilst I did it unaided the second time, I very much doubt I would have managed to pull it off without someone to hold the bird the first time, so I can entirely understand your situation. Even with surgery, and I can tell you that my little pullet was far less traumatised by it than I was and made a miraculous recovery, I am starting to wonder if perhaps it is not necessarily the right thing to do. After removing a soft ball sized mass of soggy grass, my little girl went right back to filling herself up with more over the following months and we were then back to square one. Sometimes perhaps we have to overcome our human need to try to fix things and just let nature take it's course.

I'm sorry that I cannot offer anymore advice and just hope that you can make your hen comfortable during her final days.

Sending hugs

Barbara

I'm grateful to you Barbara, for all of the info, and even the straight talk. It's very difficult now, but necessary. And much better to know something.Now I know to do everything I can as early as possible, to seek diagnosis and treatment options from you and others on this site.

Yes, I will do all I can to keep her comfortable and happy as long as she seems to be active. More on this at the end. I realize that the chickens don't show their discomfort often. They go as long as they can and then we notice something. Sad.

On a side note re: her laying history, the period of runny yolk being discovered in the nesting box and the period of the rubbery things were separate and not overlapping periods. On Kikis link for 'Lash egg', a smallish fragment in the 2nd photo, sort of dissected and off to the right, that does give a resemblance to my girls 'things', but I never saw anything like that whole egg shaped, brown thing.

The history of these 4 lovely girls is a mystery. My family did not know to ask questions, or seem to want to contact the previous owner. So, of course, when I saw the graphic video of the awful reproductive problems of 'hatchery' hens a few days ago, I began to wonder if that was what was in store for at least this girl and her sister. I just don't know. And I still don't know if there is a breed name evidenced by her photo. They are beautiful, though.

I call this one Big Sis, because everyone I know warned me not to name them. No help for me there. Barbara, I will go all the way to day 10 on the ACS with her and maybe even start giving her more of the h. B. Egg or sardines she wants. She continues to have poop now, and I will probably give her run and coop time alone or supervised very, very carefully with the other girls for minutes at a time, but she won't be able to safely rejoin the group without my constant watch which won't be possible. I'll give her whatever she wants to eat and go back to their regular ACV water, and maybe even not continue with the Strike III. Don't know what comes next. But she's family, I do know that. Accepting your hugs and all with gratitude. Gayle

 

[Kiki]

lash eggs

Lash eggs don't all look like that dark one from the link I posted above.
Here are some different pics:

 

[Gayle R463]

lash eggs

Lash eggs don't all look like that dark one from the link I posted above.
Here are some different pics:
View attachment 1154114

Oh my goodness! Thank you KikisGirls for the pics and info. I had forgotten that my girls 'Lash things' did look like cooked egg inside, among other things. On row 3 from the top, one next to the end pic is much like what I saw way back in summer.
Right now it's difficult to find the time and energy each day to get everything taken care of. I know most of us can relate to that. Discovered lots of diarrhea in run just now after my other girls being in there for 2 hrs or more this morning. And I will take a sample to a vet, isolate them one by one to ID which hen, then order something for worms or whatever is appropriate. My first suspicion when the diarrhea first appeared last week in small quantity, was that it was from a hen who lays daily, now not at all sure.

Thanks so much. Don't mean to ignore anyone, but the time......?

 

[Kiki]

This may sound harsh but I do not mean for it to:

Are you aware that the sick girl...who has been laying lash eggs...is in really bad shape...and there probably isn't much you can do to save her life?