What the heck is this weird blob!?!??

[chickstagram]

My 1.5 year old ameraucana just laid this strange alien thing!!!!!!!

It’s been REALLY hot here in the desert (40 deg C) and we haven’t seen her lay any eggs in a few weeks. Heck, the last eggs we saw her lay had no shells.

This weird thing feels kind of rubbery to the touch. I’m too afraid to smell it.

What could this be…. and should we be worried??

 

[nuthatched]

It's called a lash egg, it usually a sign of reproduction illness or infection. You can try antibiotics in case it's an infection but it it something else but by the time you see an lash egg, it's usually too late, I'm sorry.
edit for quote:

 

[nuthatched]

I'm no expert, but I'll tell you all I know. The laying of a lash egg is a symptom of a further problem, usually an infection of E. coli . The infection can be treated with injections of amoxicillin or other antibiotics, depending on what the infection is. Not sure on exact dosages. Once a hen has laid a lash egg she will most likely never lay again, even if she recovers.

 

[chickstagram]

Thank you. Doing more research now.

 

[chickstagram]

I’ll keep you all posted to her condition and our strategies as we go along.

To give more detail,

- Almond is about 1.5 years old.
- She laid shell-less eggs starting about 2 months ago. She stopped laying about a week ago.
- She’s the omega of the flock. She’s underweight and dead last in the pecking order.
- She’s kind of ratty… a lot of her feathers are broken
- She’s our most beloved. She often sleeps indoors with the kids.

 

[Chickeria]

I can't be of any help but I cross my fingers for your dear Almond - I hope there is a possibility you can help her

 

[Eggcessive]

Salpingitis is very common, and you may have other chickens with this condition, and never know until the chicken is butchered or a necropsy is performed. She may live for a couple of years, or she could go downhill soon and die. Most of us never see lash eggs since the chickens may eat them before we ever see them. Antibiotics such as Fish Mox amoxicillin, clavamox, or the banned for chickens Baytril all have been used to treat infection in hopes of extending life of hens with lash eggs and salpingitis. Many people refuse to use antibiotics, and most are banned for chickens anyway. This is to prevent antibiotic resistant bacteria. How you chose to treat it is up to you. Hopefully, she will continue to live happily. I would give her probiotics in her diet if she doesn’t have a feed that already contains them. Plain greek yogurt in small amounts, cottage cheese, and commercial probiotic products such as Probios, Gro2Max, and Fortiflora by Purina Proplan are some common ones.

 

[chickstagram]

Hi everyone,

I’m just chiming in with an update on Almondina.

She hasn’t laid another lash egg, thankfully. Unless what Eggcessively said is true, and one of them ate it. Hope not!

And yikes, I hope the rest of my girls don’t have one of those lash eggs too! Eek!

It’s about 44°C/111°F outside. We squirt all them down with a hose every couple hours (more in the highest temps of the day) and put out ample water and a little wading pool for them to do their “toe-dips”. Since Dina is the runt/omega of the flock, we always worry about her getting last dibs on food and water. She usually has to wait for the other ladies.

Treatment:

We’ve started to pipette-feed Almondina the following:

- beat egg
- yogurt
- 1/2 tsp reishi mushroom
- garlic clove

All mixed up in a cup (about 400 grams) and pipetted.

I have safeguard but haven’t yet put that in her regimen. I’ll do that soon.

She did lay a small shell-less egg yesterday. I’ll attach the photo. I’d say it’s about 70% regular egg size.

She hasn’t lifted herself up in penguin-stance, as is a symptom of salpingitis/lash egg, so that feels pretty good.

 

[chickstagram]

Do you think this counts as her “standing up like a penguin”? I read that salpicitis can make a girl stand tall to alleviate pressure of a lash egg?

She’s kind of stood this way a long time though.

Also, I have 250 ppm colloidal silver. What dosage do you recommend?

Oh and she’s been molt-y. Her new feathers have been growing in glossy and beautiful. I’m surprised, we’ve tried a whole bunch of times to get her to molt this last year but it wasn’t that successful. Now she has more new glossy feathers than I’ve seen since she was little!

 

[Chickeria]

Hi chickstagram, how is your sweet Almondina doing in the meanwhile?
I have seen once a hen 'standing like a pengiun' and it looked different than Almondina on your picture - more 'steep', her tail kind of directed to the ground, but as I mentioned I saw it only once and perhaps there are different forms of that condition.