Broken soft shelled egg hanging out of vent

[elmwood]

Hi,

I say soft shelled egg, but it was more like a very fat and long worm 6", yellow in colour full of yolk. Yesterday it was white, and a sticky clear fluid oozed out of our pekins vent followed by the soft shell which look like a latex glove finger, for want of a better description.

Both yesterday and today, I have carefully removed the length of matter. However, today the end came apart and the yolk ran everywhere. After cleaning her vent area up, she passed more of this rubbery thin material again with loads of yolk running out of her. Despite all this she has been moving around normally, albeit the "matter" was dragging behind her.....Bless.....she is eating and drinking normally. They all free range, and there is plenty of sand'n' grit around as the garden looks like a builders yard at the moment.

Should I be taking her to the vets?
If yolk is left in her, will it cause a bacterial infection and possibly peritonitis?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[foxy]

It sounds like she is passing it, albeit not in the best fashion! You might want to help things along by adding limestone powder to her layers pellets this is a highly soluble form of calcium, so will be absorbed and utilised quickly by the body. The difference with oyster shell is that the shell is more of a sustained release over a longer period of time. Calcium also helps a hens pelvic muscles contract so this will help her expel her eggs.
As well as the limestone powder add a little codliver oil to her feed, again this contains useful nutrients to help with laying.

You could consider giving her a nice warm saline bath to relax her muscles, this may help her expel any more eggy stuff!

Luckily it sounds like she has probably got rid of most of the egg contents, and the next thing to watch out for is any more soft eggs backing up, as a soft egg is quite difficult to pass.
Make sure she is on a balanced diet, absolutely no treats, corn etc...this will help avoid any further problems.

If she looks unwell, particulary feeling hot with a swollen abdomen or "waddling" then I would take her straight to a vet.

hope this helps!

 

[elmwood]

Many thanks Foxy,

Limestone powder? Where do I get that from? all this advice is very re-assuring. Am at home all day tomorrow, so will be watching her carefully. She doesn't feel hot under her tummy, but her natural walk is very awkward, think she is pigeon toed. She is always up for a bath, and will add cod liver oil.

Thankyou again, Sharron

 

[elmwood]

Me again,

Have looked around for limestone powder, if I can't get the horsey one from our local horse merchants, will this one from this company plus a shop in town be ok?

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eflytesofancy%2eco%2euk%2fchickenhouses%2fPoultry%2dFeeds%2dGrit%2ehtml&WD=limestone&PN=Net%2dTex_Mineral_Powder%2ehtml%23aNTX4389#aNTX4389

 

[ncotb]

Try your local feed merchant first, it is more than likely they will have the limestone (never known mine not to have it in stock), but if not go for the one on your link - hope all goes well 17

 

[elmwood]

Thanks- got the limestone flour from the feed merchants. Have added 3 x 5ml teaspoons to the bowl of food along with some olive oil, as forgot to get cod liver oil for now.

on the packaging it says 30ml for ponies, 60 ml for horses. not really sure how much to give my girls?

Thankfully, No soft shells or stringy things so far today, and Nutmeg seems happy enough foraging with the gang.


Many thanks Sharron

 

[victorias poultry]

Glad Nutmeg is alright, I have had a few of the ex batts pass similar things with no ill effect.

 

[elmwood]

Thankyou all,

VP- it is a little disconcerting to say the least......

Nutmeg has laid a perfectly formed egg today and she let us know at the top of her voice!..Hug relief for us all.

Don't think the girls like the limestone flour, or maybe i'm adding far too much.....their food now looks very chalky.. :roll:

 

[elmwood]

Just an update-

Nutmeg has since passed two perfectly formed eggs these past few days. However, today she was sat in the middle of the grass asleep. (two weeks ago, we lost another chicken, who also gave up and sat in the middle of the lawn).
Nutmeg had the most enormous matter trailing from her vent. Took her to the vets. After discussion and examination, she has perotinitis. She has been given Baytril.

Upon returning home, She had picked herself up and was having a dustbath. So will carefully monitor her and give her the baytril for a week, and fingers crossed we will be third time lucky.....as the thought of losing yet another little lady, saddens me terribly.