# help--strange thing found in my chicken coop



## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

i have 8 hens locked up with a roo when i picked eggs tonight i found what looks like a piece of dog poop but it is colored like chicken meat--its about 3 1/2 inches long a kinda curled like a piece of poo--it is kinda textured like a piece of chicken--does this sound like a prolaps? i dont know anything about those. everybody looks healthy and bright eyed. i am going to go disecct it. if it is a prolapse how long does it take for the chicken to start showing signs?


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## bigfoot2you (Oct 3, 2007)

Maybe a soft shelled egg with the yolk gone?


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

no i know what those look like--i googled prolapse but it didnt say if a prolapse just comes out.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

i just disected it--it felt just like a piece of chicken and looked like it with some fatty substance around part of it and one end seemed to be hollow with a whitish substance on the inside which i squezzed out--part of it seemed drier than the other part. oh and i did find it where they lay their eggs


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

radioative mutations?:hrm:


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Dried poo, more than likely or a soft egg that dried out before you found it. If a hen had prolapsed you would have no doubt that she was in serious trouble before finding pieces of her insides laying about. She'd have a huge bloody mass hanging out her backside.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

as long as it isnt a prolapse. thanks for helping. it is odd but i check the eggs quite often --i have had chickens for ten years and have never seen anything like this i guess its gonna remain a mystery.


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## salmonslayer91 (Oct 10, 2010)

im placing my bets on a communist plot plane and simple LOL


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## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

chem trails.....where is my tin foil LOL


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

Nickie,salmon,mommagoose---------i came on here worried about my chickens but i guess its nice to know you can make fun of people with an honest worry.


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## obleo+6 (Jul 21, 2008)

mare, 

you're not going to believe this, but after reading your dilemma yesterday and trying to imagine what it was, guess what I found this morning in MY coop! Yeppers, the same thing. I had one hen up on the roost and she was shaking her head as if trying to stay awake. 

She is a fussy one and won't let you hold her but she just sat there and I stroked her back and picked her up and put her in the separate cage for a while to see what was up...sure enough, I went back about an hour later and she had one of those "things" in the cage. I talked to her and she was her ol anxious self wanting to get out and do her chicken thing outside with the other hens. She's fine now.

I have never had this happen and twice in one day! Really weird. 

So...does ANYONE know what this is? It looks like a very long soft shell egg, tube like...one of them had a yolk, sorta, attached to it. I've just never seen this before and I've had hens for a few years or so.

My curiosity is getting the better of me.

Thanks


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

Just sounds like an incomplete egg process.


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

A cross b/t the egg-laying process & the poo-making process. Both use the same exit. The timing mechanism of either one or both processes got messed up. That's what I'd bet it is.


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## obleo+6 (Jul 21, 2008)

Okay, today I found a soft shell egg on the roost platform...my trail of thoughts yesterday was: Oh my gravy, I've got mutant ninja chickens laying mutant ninja eggs!

Thanks guys...guess it's nothing to worry about after all. But it's still just weird...lol


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I'm wondering if there was some sort of necrotic tissue in the intestinal or reproductive plumbing that sloughed off?


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## Cara (May 9, 2002)

I had that happen once many years ago and someone on here said it was an oviduct infection leftover. The hen had an infection and filled up with remains of an egg and discharge and pus type stuff and it kind of hardened then she laid it as if it were an egg. The hen was fine afterwards.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

tinknal said:


> I'm wondering if there was some sort of necrotic tissue in the intestinal or reproductive plumbing that sloughed off?


hmmmmmmm interesting, it was definately some kind of tissue instead of poo and didnt seem at all like an egg. everybody was fine yesterday and i actually got more eggs than i had been getting too. so i was wondering if it was blocking the eggs from coming out. thanks tinknal


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

Cara said:


> I had that happen once many years ago and someone on here said it was an oviduct infection leftover. The hen had an infection and filled up with remains of an egg and discharge and pus type stuff and it kind of hardened then she laid it as if it were an egg. The hen was fine afterwards.


was it a long piece versus an egg shaped piece? the one i found had nothing resembling a shell, and was long and almost seemed to have some chicken fat on one end (ya know the fat from when you butcher) curious--thanks Cara


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## TooManyHobbies! (Mar 27, 2011)

Chickens will occasionally have problems with the egg laying process. There isn't much you can do about it, except check their diet. Eggs can be laid that are weird shaped, have bits of tissue in them that shouldn't be, are double shelled, have no shell, and all kinds of other things. You don't see it every day, but sometimes you'll get a chicken with repeat problems. Other times, people keep birds for decades and see little of this type of thing. 

Don't stress over it. Just give it to the dogs if you have any.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

obleo+6 said:


> Okay, today I found a soft shell egg on the roost platform...my trail of thoughts yesterday was: Oh my gravy, I've got mutant ninja chickens laying mutant ninja eggs!
> 
> Thanks guys...guess it's nothing to worry about after all. But it's still just weird...lol


i would give your chickens some oyster shell--it'll harden their shell right up.
a question i have though is if they get too much oyster shell will that cause problems? i just threw a bunch of grit an oyster shell in with the feed and i think i read somewhere that it should be in separate containers or in a pile on the floor. does some of these issue stem from getting too much oyster shell?


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

TooManyHobbies! said:


> Chickens will occasionally have problems with the egg laying process. There isn't much you can do about it, except check their diet. Eggs can be laid that are weird shaped, have bits of tissue in them that shouldn't be, are double shelled, have no shell, and all kinds of other things. You don't see it every day, but sometimes you'll get a chicken with repeat problems. Other times, people keep birds for decades and see little of this type of thing.
> 
> Don't stress over it. Just give it to the dogs if you have any.


thanks for the input--see my above post please


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## TooManyHobbies! (Mar 27, 2011)

Though I don't have chickens, ducks, etc. now, I did for a long time. I always left a container of oyster shell and grit for them, free choice. They ate what they wanted, and left the rest. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having problems from too much of either of these. Too little? Most definitely a problem...


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

They won't eat too much oyster shell, so it isn't an issue. They will eat around it if they don't want it.

Grit and shell should be in separate containers, though, so next time.....


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

oregon woodsmok said:


> They won't eat too much oyster shell, so it isn't an issue. They will eat around it if they don't want it.
> 
> Grit and shell should be in separate containers, though, so next time.....


will do, thanks


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

I am continuously amazed at what I learn about chickens. My own and those here on the boards. Every once and awhile we get a "shell-less" egg. I find that my older hens tend to lay more of the thinner-shelled eggs, lighter colored eggs and ones with odd shapes. 

BTW... we give free-choice oyster shells in a separate container. 26 layers go through about 2 - 3 cups of oyster shell a week. Less if they're free-ranging a lot.


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