Chicken pooped an egg yolk, and mucussy (egg white?) poops.

[azygous]

Yolk is a germ growing medium. They use it in labs to grow cultures. When an egg breaks inside a hen, as evidenced by yolk coming out of the vent, I always suggest an antibiotic as a preventative. Broad spectrum antibiotics such as amoxicillin need to be prescribed by a vet. The antibiotics for sale over the counter are usually for respiratory illness and aren't really effective for reproductive infection.

There is no need to crush a pill to dose a chicken. The pill slips right down their gullet with no choking. We choke down pills because we need to chew before swallowing. Have you ever seen a chicken with teeth? Don't need 'em.

You need to give a calcium tablet each day for about a week to encourage contractions to push out all remaining egg material. This also will restore blood calcium levels that were low and caused this egg issue in the first place.

 

[gotenks12]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive @Chicken_Obsesser

Thank you all for the help all of that advice was spot on.

For the sake of anyone else reading this looking for info:

I got her to her vet. She initially didn't think antibiotics were necessary, just some NSAIDs for inflamation. But she offered to do an X-ray, and found some shell fragments still inside her, so she did give me an antibiotic prescription to be safe.

She was totally onboard with continuing the calcium pills for a little while, and after that making sure she gets enough oyster shells or whatever additive. I didn't realize how important calcium was especially for older chickens like mine (she's 8)

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Perfect! I'm so glad we could help! Keep us posted on her status!

 

[azygous]

Here's a fun fact. Calcium does far more than make egg shells. It also keeps the hen's heart beating. The reason I and many BYCers keep a bottle of calcium citrate in the run is because a hen having trouble passing an egg can be low on blood calcium, and the citrate form works fastest.

When calcium levels in the shell gland are low, the hen's body draws heavily on blood calcium to make the shell. This can deprive her heart of the calcium it requires to keep beating. Giving a calcium tablet immediately upon noticing a hen in distress can not only help her pass the stubborn egg, but it can keep her from having a heart attack.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Wow, I did not know that.