Urgent: pullet pooped whole egg white - not feeling well

[2ndTink]

I didn't notice Blue looking off until I went to put the chickens up this evening about an hour after I'd let them out. It was just when I was getting her into their run that I saw her puff up. She was squatting, puffed up and her wings are tipped down. A few minutes later she looked like she was going to poop and literally a whole egg white blob came out. I checked her again about an hour later and she has pasty whitish stuff that has ran down her butt feathers.

Last week there was a naked egg laid I the nesting box and another day there was a really thin membrane all dried out in there. I thought maybe it was from the guineas as thy haven't started laying yet, but now I'm wondering if it was her. We have 3 BRs in the one coop and we only had 2 eggs from there today so it is likely she didn't lay. We also had an egg, I think it was last week, my husband dropped it accidently and it had a ton of small tan colored masses in it. I'm also wondering if this was hers. Nobody has been looking unwell so I wasn't worrying about it and figured it was a fluke.

She is about 11 months old and started laying in January. She is fed Purina layer pellets, free ranges a few hours almost every evening.

I have slacked off in giving them oystershell, but all their egg shells have been nice and thick so I didn't think they were needing it.

I am going to check her in the morning before work, at least clean her up if she needs it. What could cause her to lay eggs without a shell or even a membrane? What should I try doing for her? What could help determine if this is a reproductive issue / infection / fluke?

I didn't grab any photos of here, but she's puffed up, walking awkwardly, winfs tipped down. She she was happily eating and I watcher her drink while she was out of the coop.

Thanks!

 

[2ndTink]

Any ideas or suggestions on what to do or look for?

 

[AprilsZoo]

I didn't notice Blue looking off until I went to put the chickens up this evening about an hour after I'd let them out. It was just when I was getting her into their run that I saw her puff up. She was squatting, puffed up and her wings are tipped down. A few minutes later she looked like she was going to poop and literally a whole egg white blob came out. I checked her again about an hour later and she has pasty whitish stuff that has ran down her butt feathers.

Last week there was a naked egg laid I the nesting box and another day there was a really thin membrane all dried out in there. I thought maybe it was from the guineas as thy haven't started laying yet, but now I'm wondering if it was her. We have 3 BRs in the one coop and we only had 2 eggs from there today so it is likely she didn't lay. We also had an egg, I think it was last week, my husband dropped it accidently and it had a ton of small tan colored masses in it. I'm also wondering if this was hers. Nobody has been looking unwell so I wasn't worrying about it and figured it was a fluke.

She is about 11 months old and started laying in January. She is fed Purina layer pellets, free ranges a few hours almost every evening.

I have slacked off in giving them oystershell, but all their egg shells have been nice and thick so I didn't think they were needing it.

I am going to check her in the morning before work, at least clean her up if she needs it. What could cause her to lay eggs without a shell or even a membrane? What should I try doing for her? What could help determine if this is a reproductive issue / infection / fluke?

I didn't grab any photos of here, but she's puffed up, walking awkwardly, winfs tipped down. She she was happily eating and I watcher her drink while she was out of the coop.

Thanks!

Their eggshells have likely been good until now precisely because they had the oyster shell available. They really only need a few nibbles here & there, so it may not seem like they’re eating it, but they are almost surely consuming some.

So for your pullet, I can’t say why she is suddenly laying completely shell-less & yolk-less eggs (you didn’t say if the one your husband dropped had a yolk or not), or why there was a strange membrane-only object in the nest. But I can tell you that you should put the oyster shell back out for them all. As far as the little troublemaker in your post, she needs a more immediate calcium boost ASAP. It is very difficult laying a shell-less egg; calcium is needed to make the muscles in her reproductive tract contract properly to keep things moving along & out the right end (so to speak).

You can use any regular, human OTC calcium supplement. Calcium Citrate (brand name: Caltrate) is the most easily absorbed, but other supplements such as OsCal, or even just Tums (yes, the antacid) will work also. It’s ok if it contains vitamin D3.

If you use a supplement like Caltrate or OsCal, give her 1 whole tablet the first day, and then 1/2 tablet each day after for at least 3 add’l days or until she lays a hard-shelled, normal egg.
If you use Tums, you’ll give 2 tablets the first day then 1 tab each day, & so forth as above.

Many people give the tablets directly “to the beak” but I prefer to crush the tablets then dissolve them in a teaspoon or two of water. Then I mix the water into a very small amount of feed to make a wet mash (no more than a tablespoon or whatever amt you are certain they’ll consume completely).

Hopefully, she’ll be back to normal quickly. If you have a wire dog cage, placing the pullet inside with a “nest” of old towels, or straw (put the cage in the run so she’s still with her peeps ) will allow you to monitor when she has laid and what she has laid. And it will also let you know if you have more than one gal laying odd eggs.

Good luck. Do keep us posted on her progress.

 

[AprilsZoo]

Oh, I meant to mention that the tan bits in the egg your husband dropped were possibly, or maybe probably, bits of tissue that can sometimes slough off from the oviduct. These particles are treated by the hen’s body as a yolk, get surrounded by white, membranes & eventually shell. Typically, such eggs are yolk-less. In and of itself, it’s nothing to lose sleep over, and happens to most hens at least once— production breeds are slightly more prone to have it occur more often.

 

[2ndTink]

@AprilsZoo thanks so much for the response! I was thinking of doing the calcium so thanks for confirming that. I'm not sure she's ever had oyster shell, I think I stopped putting that out a few months back, but I will definitely start it again, I saw a little feeder a few weeks back that would work great for it and of course thought of it, but didn't get it. They've gotten some egg shell off and on but not consistent there.

The weird egg did have a yolk and the shell was well formed, and I'm not sure why we had just a membrane laid.

I'll be back home for lunch and will get some calcium into her, I know we have tums, I'll have to check which calcium we have. I gave her a soak this morning, she wasn't too pleased with it, her abdomen was swollen, soft, and warm. After her soak she was moving normal, but maybe she was hiding it so I'd leaver her alone. I watched her for about 5 minutes but didn't see her poop in that time, then I had to leave because I was late for work.

Blue is our barred rock that isn't correctly colored, she's in my profile picture. She has a lot of extra white and even has white lacing on her neck feathers. She's definitely a production breed.

Thanks again!

 

[2ndTink]

I just looked up what I know we have for calcium at the house, would this be ok? There's a lot of other stuff in it. It is Jarrow's bone up. If not I'll stick to the tums for today and get some calcium citrate.

 

[2ndTink]

Blue was in the nesting box with Mosa and there was a crushed egg by the coop door, but if they had been hogging the box Compy may have laid the egg outside of the box and then it got crushed. I sprinkled some calcium on a little bit of chick starter mash and she ate that all down. Her butt is still clean since her soak this morning and she wasn't looking puffed up. After she ate her mash she went back into the nesting box.

 

[2ndTink]

Blue is looking fine tonight, I only saw her look a bit off for a moment then she was right back to looking normal. She is eating and drinking fine, free ranged for an hour or so and her crop was empty this morning.

I'll keep giving her calcium for a couple more days, she thought she was getting a treat and completely devoured it earlier so that was great! 2 eggs from that coop today from the 3 birds, I can't tell their eggs apart so I'm not sure if she laid or not.