What did my hen expel?

[Chickflick29]

Hi all! A bit concerned for my young hen.. about 2 days ago, she seemed like she wasn’t feeling too well. Spent the morning laying in her run, and wasn’t as active as usual. I separated her and she seemed to start moving around more throughout the day, and was acting back to normal by the next morning so I returned her to her friends. She started laying mid-last month, and was usually producing an egg every other day. She hasn’t layed in the last 2 days, since the day she became less energetic. Then, this morning, I went into their coop and found what looks like maybe a malformed egg in the droppings on the floor. I’m pretty positive it’s from her - one of her friends is a serama and this is much too big, and the other is not laying yet. Does anyone know what this is (pic included)? Is this a soft-shell egg? I’d like to make sure I help her the best I can and keep her feeling well.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like a membrane with a tail.

If she's not feeling well, I'd give her 300mg Calcium Citrate+D3 now, then once daily for a week, see if she's able to expel more material or an egg.

Just pull down on her wattles to open the beak, pop the pill into the beak, let go of the wattles and let her swallow.

What do you feed, including treats and do you provide oyster shell free choice?

 

[Chickflick29]

Looks like a membrane with a tail.

If she's not feeling well, I'd give her 300mg Calcium Citrate+D3 now, then once daily for a week, see if she's able to expel more material or an egg.

Just pull down on her wattles to open the beak, pop the pill into the beak, let go of the wattles and let her swallow.

What do you feed, including treats and do you provide oyster shell free choice?

Poor girl, thank you so much for the info!

I feed layer crumbles (usually Kalmbach, although recently it has been Purina Organic Layer because my normal supplier was closed when I needed feed), free choice oyster shell, and scratch/mealworms/zucchini/tomatoes/watermelon/scrambled eggs as treats. I’ve also started giving Poultry Cell and a water-soluble calcium supplement (Calcium Plus) 3 days ago per the supplements’ dosage instructions to help them out as we struggle through this SoTX heat and humidity. Hopefully that will help her feel better and avoid more egg debacles..

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’ve also started giving Poultry Cell and a water-soluble calcium supplement (Calcium Plus) 3 days ago per the supplements’ dosage instructions to help them out as we struggle through this SoTX heat and humidity.

Be sure to provide Plain Fresh Water in addition to any water you give that may have supplements in it.

 

[Chickflick29]

Update on this thread: my hen laid 2 perfectly normal eggs after this, then stopped laying for a week or two. She’s been in a cycle of not laying but acting completely fine otherwise for a week or more, looking lethargic for a day or two, and then I find a shell-less egg expelled in the coop beneath her usual spot on the roosting bar. She then returns to normal energy levels, and this repeats. In addition to feed and treats listed previously, I’ve been supplementing since my original post with water-soluble calcium supplement (regular water is also offered), a few doses of vet-prescribed oral calcium supplement, and poultry booster multivitamin mixed into scrambled eggs (crushed shells are also offered back to her).

This doesn’t seem to be helping, and then yesterday I found the mystery ‘excretion’ in the picture I’ve attached at the floor of the coop underneath her. Does anyone know what this is? Another odd egg malformation? It’s firm, almost feels like a very thick rubber band.

 

[Eggcessive]

The last thing looks more like lash material from salpingitis (inflammation of the oviduct.) Here is some reading about it:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, the last one looks like Lash.

 

[Chickflick29]

Oh no!!! That’s some unfortunate news, especially for a 7-month old hen.. I already have Baytril on the way, but it won’t arrive for a while.

I know it depends on what the root cause of the infection is, but do you recommend isolating her from her friends? Besides the few bouts of lethargy, she is completely fine; I’m not sure if it’s contagious - or if that would stress her out more and cause further issues.

Unfortunately I’ve had a very rough two months with my chickens this year and am already a few thousand dollars down from taking two other hens to the vet multiple times (unrelated issues, tumors and cancer were the verdicts for them), so I’m not able to support taking another right now.

We love our flock so dearly, and I’m trying to do what’s best. Any help trying to get her through Salpingitis is greatly appreciated.