What's up with my Americana?

[dakotachicken]

Hi all, really worried about one of the Americana's in my flock... Sloppy bum and not good egg when she lays. Yesterday I found a long string of a green shell in the coop. Not the first time I've seen this in recent weeks. We had the same thing happen to one of our Rhode Island Reds last summer, she became lethargic, sloppy bum problems laying, wasn't eating, etc and she ended up dying. It was awful. Want to figure out what this is so we can help the Americana and so it doesn't keep happening in our flock.
Thanks so much for your time and help and for reading this post.

 

[bloonskiller911]

NEVER HEARD OF THIS, HOPE YOU FIND OUT

 

[speckledhen]

If you found the crushed shell, the egg may have been so fragile, it broke inside her. She could possibly develop a reproductive infection, if that is the case. When that has happened, I do penicillin injections for 3 days to offset any infection setting up, because if it does, you have little chance of saving her. Egg material combines with liquid infection to form a cheesy mass in the oviduct. This stuff is not always easy to diagnose since we can't see what is going on in there.

Watch her for a few days and see if she lays an egg. If she does, she's probably okay. If she starts acting lethargic or her abdomen starts bloating up, you may have a problem. I have had this happen a couple of times and did the penicillin. I had to pull the crushed length of shell out of the hen in question and started her on the antibiotic to offset any infection.

 

[dakotachicken]

Thanks, speckledhen, for the reply. Great information, I will definitely keep an eye on her egg production. Thanks!