Why did this happen and should I be worried?

[amd87]

I let my chickens out this morning and noticed right away that there was what looked like mucous and poop stuck to the bottom of one of my hens. I picked her up and noticed a long shell like piece hanging out of her. I pinched the end of it and the bottom broke. It is hollow. I grabbed gently close to her vent(I could see she was ‘pushing’) and slowly pulled. The rest popped out, the same color as her normal eggs. Why did her egg develop like this? She laid a normal egg yesterday morning.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Looks like soft shell material. What do you feed? How old is she and how long has she been laying?

 

[azygous]

It may be that your hen narrowly escaped egg binding from two eggs trying to come down the oviduct at the same time. One can be a normal egg, but due to there being just enough calcium to make a shell on one egg, the other egg is thin shelled and often gets stuck.

If your hen is resuming normal behavior, then it's likely this is the end of the crisis. But if she's behaving as if she's still trying to expel something, then there still could be leftover egg material inside.

To be safe, I would suggest giving her a calcium tablet today and tomorrow to facilitate pushing out any remaining egg material. Use calcium citrate if you can, but Tums will also work, just more slowly.

 

[amd87]

Looks like soft shell material. What do you feed? How old is she and how long has she been laying?

It definitely felt like soft shell material and the blue top looks like her normal egg color.
She is 7 months and a he’s been laying for just a couple weeks.
Layer feed, scraps, and they free range all day.

 

[amd87]

It may be that your hen narrowly escaped egg binding from two eggs trying to come down the oviduct at the same time. One can be a normal egg, but due to there being just enough calcium to make a shell on one egg, the other egg is thin shelled and often gets stuck.

If your hen is resuming normal behavior, then it's likely this is the end of the crisis. But if she's behaving as if she's still trying to expel something, then there still could be leftover egg material inside.

To be safe, I would suggest giving her a calcium tablet today and tomorrow to facilitate pushing out any remaining egg material. Use calcium citrate if you can, but Tums will also work, just more slowly.

She was slow moving and wouldn’t eat her treat this morning, which is when I noticed something wrong. Once I tugged it out and put her down, she went running back with the rest and seems fine now. I’m going to watch her tho, because her bottom is fairly dirty now because of it hanging poop clinging to it. I need to be sure she gets it cleaned off. Or should I go ahead and put her in a bucket of warm water?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

She is 7 months and a he’s been laying for just a couple weeks.

It’s not uncommon for new layers to have “glitches” but I would follow @azygous advice just the same.

 

[azygous]

Go ahead and wash her butt. It will let you see if she continues to dribble fluid from her vent which would indicate she's still trying to eliminate material. No need to submerge her. Just back her up to a basin of warm soapy water and clean her off and pat her or blow her dry.

 

[azygous]

This time of year, if you're in the northern hemisphere, chickens may not get adequate sunlight to absorb calcium. Make sure she gets to sunbathe in actual sunlight. The vitamin D is essential.