Hen passed blood clot & weird egg membrane

[Tailwise]

Hey all. Yesterday my hopes of having a quiet Christmas were dashed when I woke up to find a blood trail under my silkie Pluisje's vent. She had laid an egg a few hours earlier, and I found a pingpong-ball sized blob of clotted blood and mucus sitting near her. When I took her to the bathroom to clean her up, she passed some wet poop and a small sack (it has the consistency of an egg membrane? It was covered in so much wet poop and urates it took me a while to realize it was a sack) containing something that looked like egg white with some blood in it.

She's behaved perfectly normally since - eating and drinking a lot, 'talking', going back and forth between wandering around and sitting down on an egg for longer periods of time (she's nearing the end of this egg laying cycle and this is usually how she starts the road to being broody) - all the regular end-of-egg-cycle behavior I know and expect from this chicken. Her poop is normal, and I haven't seen any blood since yesterday morning. (She also groomed herself so effectively you can't even see any hint of the old blood on her feathers anymore, which is how I know I haven't missed anything.)

I've already been in contact with the avian hospital here, but they're closed for all but emergencies during the holiday. They determined that since she's behaving like nothing's wrong, we're okay to wait for the scheduled checkup two weeks from now.

So my question: has anyone ever seen anything like this before? I know chicken reproductive tracts can produce some really funky stuff and I'm trying not to worry prematurely, but it's tough - this girl is my baby.

Attaching some pictures of the weird... sack... thing. The blood was just a round blob of mucus and coagulated blood, not much to see there.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Oh wow, that’s not something you see every day. @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Eggcessive]

I would offer a human calcium citrate tablet with vitamin D orally daily for up to 7 days.

 

[Tailwise]

I would offer a human calcium citrate tablet with vitamin D orally daily for up to 7 days.

Thank you! I have been wondering if it's a vitamin D or calcium problem - it's been quite dark up here and we currently have a keep-inside order due to the avian flu, so she's not been getting a lot of sunlight. Her 'regular' egg was thin-shelled, too.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, I'd give the extra calcium and see if that helps.

 

[Tailwise]

Unfortunately because of Christmas I can't pick up any pills right now. Will supplement with vitamin D3 and oyster shell for now, pick up the calcium on Thursday.

Thanks again. You're the first folks online not to yell 'lash egg' (this did not look like a lash egg)

 

[Tailwise]

I felt up her belly today and it seemed slightly distended, so - freaking out - I called the vet for an emergency consult.

She laid a perfectly normal (if slightly elongated) egg ten minutes later without much effort and now seems much less distended. She did a big poop about half an hour later, with no hint of blood, after which her belly felt completely normal.

I may be a little jumpy at the moment.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is good that she passed the egg. Some emergency substitutes for calcium are Tums, plain Greek yogurt and cheese. Actually, a ground up or pulverized egg shell is equivalent to a calcium tablet. That could be added to some scrambled egg. Yolk, tuna and salmon are good sources of vitamin D 3.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Unfortunately because of Christmas I can't pick up any pills right now. Will supplement with vitamin D3 and oyster shell for now, pick up the calcium on Thursday.

Thanks again. You're the first folks online not to yell 'lash egg' (this did not look like a lash egg)

No, it's not "Lash Egg". Not yet anyway.
Could be this is a glitch and it is corrected with providing the extra Calcium.

What I believe we are looking at in this instance is several membranes (soft shells) along with Albumen (Egg Whites), immature Ovum (Yolk) and some follicle (the reddish tint). Could be some blood mixed in due to irritation of the Oviduct or even a tiny ruptured blood vessel.

The "Follicle" is like the red blood vessel type sheath that covers the Ovum (Yolk). Sometimes that whole Follicle can detatch and then what you find almost looks like a bloody eyeball (sorry, I think it looks like that).
So...
No, not Lash, not yet. Not to say that she may have something else going on. If she begins to lay normal hard shelled eggs after a couple of days with you giving the extra Calcium and she has no further issues - great!
If she continues to have issues or you see something like this consistently. If she were mine, I would give a round of antibiotics (Amoxicillin) to help with any infection. Keep her eating/drinking well, provide oyster shell free choice. Extra Calcium Citrate +D3 when she seems to be in crisis.

I don't know if you can see similarities or not. I didn't find the photos/reference I had in mind. I took your photo and added a screenshot from one video so you can hopefully understand what I'm trying to describe.
Video is linked below along with another video that describes the reproductive system - it also covers Follicles which is interesting. Well worth watching.

Hope this all makes sense.

Oh, the first video, likely you do need to have it played back on youtube, it's a video that shows necropsy findings so it may be rated for over 18.

 

[Tailwise]

No, it's not "Lash Egg". Not yet anyway.
Could be this is a glitch and it is corrected with providing the extra Calcium.

What I believe we are looking at in this instance is several membranes (soft shells) along with Albumen (Egg Whites), immature Ovum (Yolk) and some follicle (the reddish tint). Could be some blood mixed in due to irritation of the Oviduct or even a tiny ruptured blood vessel.

The "Follicle" is like the red blood vessel type sheath that covers the Ovum (Yolk). Sometimes that whole Follicle can detatch and then what you find almost looks like a bloody eyeball (sorry, I think it looks like that).
So...
No, not Lash, not yet. Not to say that she may have something else going on. If she begins to lay normal hard shelled eggs after a couple of days with you giving the extra Calcium and she has no further issues - great!
If she continues to have issues or you see something like this consistently. If she were mine, I would give a round of antibiotics (Amoxicillin) to help with any infection. Keep her eating/drinking well, provide oyster shell free choice. Extra Calcium Citrate +D3 when she seems to be in crisis.

I don't know if you can see similarities or not. I didn't find the photos/reference I had in mind. I took your photo and added a screenshot from one video so you can hopefully understand what I'm trying to describe.
Video is linked below along with another video that describes the reproductive system - it also covers Follicles which is interesting. Well worth watching.

Hope this all makes sense.


View attachment 4014067
Oh, the first video, likely you do need to have it played back on youtube, it's a video that shows necropsy findings so it may be rated for over 18.

I do see the similarities - thank you! This is really interesting (even if I worry about her). Lines up with my suspicion something tore off in her reproductive tract and got egg-wrapped on the way down, which would explain the blood clot.

I made sure she got oyster shell and much more exposure to sunlight after it happened. Tossed in a Vitamin D3 + calcium phosphate pill I had lying around right after getting my first response about it on this thread, yesterday. Today (two days later) she laid a hard-shelled egg again. She otherwise continues to behave normally and seems on her way to being broody.

I will start giving her calcium citrate supplements once I can get some tomorrow. My hope is she'll remain normal/stable and hopefully broody/not laying until I can get her to the vet in two weeks. Am considering inquiring after an implant to stop her laying for a few months. She's 3 and a half years old and this isn't the first egg-laying cycle where she's had trouble with calcium near the end of it, just the most dramatic. I'd rather have a living pet than a dead layer.