Molly's strange egg

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Dean&Laura

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Last night, we came home to find our 'First lady', Molly sick.

She was egg bound. She had an egg that was all ready to come out but she wasn't able to lay it. She was droopy, closing her eyes, fluffed out and sick looking.

We did our usual technique of bathing her in warm water to help her pass the egg but she still wasn't ready to pass it.
We took her out and when we were drying her, we felt the egg and realized it was actually REALLY soft inside her, the shell was denting under the slight pressure.

We read on the net that we could massage the vent and possibly pass the egg for her if she couldn't manage it. We lubed up her vent and after half an hour of gentle massage and vent manipulation she passed the egg.

The egg was without shell but only membrane and colourless with the yolk and white visible through the skin. She remained a bit poorly afterwards but after a night settled down quietly on a warm towel in isolation she perked right up.

What on earth was this egg?? It was in the right position to be laid but had no shell!

Can anyone help? We really don't want it to happen again as it made her so unhappy and sick. :(
 
If this only one off it is nothing to worry about.Somtimes it just happend.For hen is much harder to lay egg like this than normal hard shelled egg.
look up soft shelled eggs and you wil find out more.
 
Do you give them grit for small birds with added calcium and minerals, Dean and Laura? I give mine a special small-grained type with extras in, which may help with making shells. I give the chickens Nettex Total Poultry Solutions Mineral Powder with Probiotics and Seaweed, which is powder you can add dry to their food or grit, although I sprinkle it on a warm mash for my hens. If she has been laying for a while maybe her calcium levels are getting a bit low, although the balance of minerals in the diet is complicated and just adding calcium supplement doesn't always result in it being properly absorbed, its best to go for a broader spectrum supplement if you are going to give one, I think. Maybe a ths time of the year she's feeling a bit low, - aren't we all!
Poor girl, you did well with the obstetrics on such a tiny bird, its hard enough with chickens!
 
Molly is extremely patient and wasn't much in the mood to put up a fight. ;)

We give her oyster shell and provide sand to bathe and to eat. We also give them cucumber, budgie seed (they prefer it to canary) Millet, and meal worms.

I hope it was just a fluke, but it scared the life out of us. She laid a fragile shelled egg today, but it had a shell at least! ;)
 
Hi Dean&Laura. We had a Bluebell hybrid that regularly laid soft shelled eggs. Someone suggested it was due to the lack of sunlight and things certainly did improve in the Spring with more sunlight. But she seemed predisposed to laying soft eggs (some shell but always incomplete) even with the correct diet. All the others in that coop were fine.
 
Maybe as an emergency some limestone powder or calcium liquid recommended for cage birds to raise her calcium levels quickly.
 
thanks everyone for your kind words and support. She's fighting fit again (thank god!) and has produced a good solid egg now.

She does have occasional laying problems but she is our constant layer so we'd expect it. We've mixed oyster shell with their normal food so they eat it by accident. :)
 
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