What to do if you think your hen had an egg break inside of her? In short, take her to the vet. Up until last week I was unaware that this could happen and that it could also lead to serious infection and death. It must have been mentioned in one of the books I read before we got our birds but maybe I skimmed that part. Try to imagine my shock then when I let the flock out one morning and noticed that one of them was acting strangely and had golden yolk streaming out of her vent. It’s yet another case of how keeping backyard hens is more complicated and sometimes angst-ridden than you originally thought it would be.
Initially it doesn’t seem like a broken egg could be very dangerous but it can lead to a condition called Egg Peritonitis. This happens when egg matter isn’t able to leave the body and causes bacterial infection inside the hen. Internal infection is just as serious in hens as it is in people so not treating it is the last thing you want to do. If you suspect that this has happened to one of your girls too, then she will need immediate attention if you want to avoid any further complications.
Miracel keeping her distance and looking pretty miserable
It was our lead hen, Miracel, who had the egg break. She’s our most prolific layer and with her nearly daily production of eggs I can only guess that her system had a malfunction. She seemed perfectly normal one day then the next she was like another bird. Instead of keeping the other girls in line and scrambling to get the best pickings from the food dish she kept her distance and looked a bit off. Her feathers were fluffed up, her wings were drooping, and she seemed to retreat inside herself. It was only after my second visit of the morning that I realised that the poor girl had yolk running from her bum and I started looking in the coop for more clues as to what had happened. Sure enough, under her perch I found pieces of very rubbery textured egg shell covered in goo.
I learned about internally broken eggs and Egg Peritonitis after another chicken owner replied to a post about Miracel on my Facebook page for Lovely Greens. My gut wrenched when another person said that they had a hen die from it just last year and that it was relatively common. After the demise of poor Geraldine I just didn’t want us to have to go through another ‘death in the family’ so soon after the last. Though some people might think me a bit nuts, I rounded Miracel up into a cat carrier and drove her up to Bride to visit Jane Callow’s veterinary practice. She’s the only vet on the island that I know has experience with farm animals. You can tell immediately upon arrival because her practice is on the family farm and there are sheep in the pastures and cats and chickens free ranging everywhere else.
What other vet office do you know has cats sleeping in the shelves? 🙂
When it was Miracel’s turn to be treated the first thing we did was close the windows, just in case. It’s a good thing we did because as soon as she was given the chance, our half-wild game hen took off and started flying around the room looking for an escape. I caught her against one of the windows and for the rest of the inspection had to hold her wings down or we’d have been playing catch the flying chicken all evening. The first thing the vet did was inspect her vent and let me know that she couldn’t feel any broken egg shell inside. After two long-acting doses of antibiotics we were on our way with the instructions to get back in touch if she doesn’t improve within four days. In paying up I was surprised to see that the bill amounted to a little over £10, so nothing that was going to break the bank.
Miracel feeling healthy and hungry this morning – she really liked the shredded carrots I put out for her
You’ll be happy to hear that Miracel is much better and nearly fully recovered. We don’t think she’s laid an egg since the ‘incident’ but she’s not droopy and hiding by herself any more and her energy levels are up. I’m just glad that we caught the issue when we did and that we had a professional who could give us advice and treatment. We’re still keeping a close eye on our little white hen and making sure she’s getting plenty of treats but I think she’s going to be just fine.
Rachel says
Thank you so much for sharing this. My hen Gwen had exactly the same symptoms yesterday and I found your blog and it gave me hope that I could save her. So I instantly whipped her off to the vet. She’s on antibiotics now and has perked up. Fingers crossed. My vet bill was a LOT higher than yours and some people may see me as a mad chicken lady to go to the effort and expense but these chickens capture our hearts, don’t they?
lovelygreens says
There’s no shame in showing kindness to the people and animals in our lives. I hope Gwen feels better soon!
Carlota says
It’s my understanding that giving them a calcium supplement will have them making stronger shells on their eggs. Layer pellets have calcium but additionally, crush very small, empty egg shells and after baking them to kill bacteria, feed them back to them.
Alexanderalexanderov says
Even rarely to happened, at least to know how to react and how to deal in this case,
Thank you
hassan mujtaba says
hi.. i suspect my hen, who has been with us for more than 3 years, has egg break inside her. please suggest me some remedial measures i could take so that i could save her.. please suggest.. plzzz
flowerlady says
It must be the time of year or something,we just had something similar with one of our chickens.She was off and not laying,did't lay for a few days and then when she did the egg was squashed with the inside grey and solid and very smelly. Fortunately the egg didn't break
Leigh says
I never heard of this, but it sounds like a good thing to know about. Seems most of my learning comes in the middle of the crisis. Glad everything turned out okay and I love the shot of the vet's office.
Sue Garrett says
Not mad at all – it's good to know how much you care. Glad she is on the mend.
Sunnybrook Farm says
I had not heard of this but have probably lost hens due to it. I suspect that it happens to a hen that is having problems with thin shells. I had one like that and I saw it lay a broken soft shell egg one day and I think she died a few months later so maybe that is what got her.
CJ says
Poor Miracel, hope she is fully better soon. What good value your vet is! Worth every penny I think.
Fran says
I am glad that Miracel is now well, an egg breaking inside is a new one on me. I love the picture of the cats on the vet's shelves, very obviously an animal love which would fill me with confidence xxx
magratmadcat says
Ah, I'm so glad she pulled round! I had a lovely rescue chook who went through the same thing, and luckily she too came out of it ok after a visit to the vets. They're bloody worth a trip to the vets, anyway, they're such lovely little creatures!
awholeplotoflove says
I'm hoping to keep some chickens next year & have read about this in some books I had bought. I'm glad your chicken has recovered. ( I have also started to research vets much to the horror of my partner)
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Keeping hens is a great companion hobby to gardening…aside from the eggs, think of all the chicken manure you'll have for your plants. Win win situation 🙂
icebear says
This can also happen in pet cage birds. I used to breed and hand raise cockatiels and was always on the lookout for these things. Never happened to any of my girls, thank goodness.
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Oh dear…and it must have been far more difficult for a vet to examine such small birds.
Jo says
I didn't know that could happen. I hope she's back to normal again very soon. Our vet charges over £20 just as soon as you step foot in the door without adding on for anything which needs doing, so you did very well there.
Dewberry says
Yes, I didn't know it too. It's almost as a chicken miscarriage.
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
If we'd have gone to our usual vet we take the cats to I'm sure it would have been more expensive. I think I was charged something like £8 for the consultation and £4-5 for the injections at Jane Callows. Nice place too!
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
I hadn't thought of it like that before Dewberry, but yes you're right!