What's wrong with my hen! HELP PLEASE, SHE COULD DIE AND I CAN'T TELL!

khatar

Songster
8 Years
May 14, 2011
346
4
109
San Diego, CA
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I have a 3 year old gold star hen who is going through a lot of troubles,
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first was when another hen pecked her eye multiple times leading to an infection which meant losing that eye. Now I have a one eyed chicken walking around. Ever since she lost her eye she's acted a bit strangely:cd, but now something is really wrong with her. For the past week or so whenever she tried to lay an egg nothing would come, she would cackle as if she had laid an egg, but there was no egg! Yesterday I tried to see if I could feel eggs inside her because I have heard of internal laying, but she completely normal! I went out this morning to let the chickens out of the coop, then went in to clean some poop when I found a huge yolk along with poop where my gold star had been sitting. The yolk was healthy looking but without any egg-white shell or membrane, just yolk! The yolk also had a bit of blood in it. It was not fertilized because the only rooster I have is 2 and a half months old. I think the yolk was pushed out with the poop, and there could be much more to come. I also noticed that sometimes she seems tired in the morning and goes over to sleep in a bush, when she does this she will not eat. My very young pullet and cockerel would go snuggle up against her when she did this, yet they weren't anywhere near related, not even the same breed! I don't know if she was tired from pain or what, I just hope she's not dying because she is very nice and I've known her since she was a chick.
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PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I would try first, soaking her in some warm water to maybe try to help her pass the shell(could be hard or soft).
Try crushing up some Tums to boost her calcium as well.
You may actually have to give her an exam internally to see if you feel shell.
I would also give her some antibiotics(PenG Procaine) to fight internal infection.
There is a description on here somewhere on how to do an internal exam. Do a search for something like, "Egg broke inside hen" and see if you can't get some better ideas.
Sure hope she's OK.
 
One of my girls became very lethargic after passing a shell-less egg like this. She continued to drink water, but was not eating well. I isolated her so the others would not pick on her. After many hours scanning the BYC forum, I decided that this was probably an internal laying problem and she had probably developed an infection. Based on information that others had posted, I used a nutritional supplement (Nutri-Drench Poultry) and a calcium drench (Goats Prefer). Because she was still drinking, I added vitamins and electrolytes to her water. She didn't want solid food, but would accept yogurt and fruit/oat baby food. I gave her amoxicillin for five days (I found the appropriate dosage based on her approximate weight.) After 6 days she looked much better and was beginning to eat solid food. She is now back to normal in terms of her behavior, but has not started laying again. After the trauma to her system, it's possible she will no longer lay -- this doesn't matter to me as she's a pretty bird and looks great roaming my yard!

I very much appreciate all the great advice posted here on the forum!
 

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