I have a much loved Easter Egger hen who lays VERY big pink-toned eggs, and for the longest time I always wondered, how does she do it? She's really not built to do such, and her walking is kinda duck-like, but it is only today that her egg-laying conditions have just been too worrisome.
In the past couple weeks, her eggs have been so hard for her to spit out that they come out rugged, mountainous, and lumpy looking. Yesterday, her egg even had deep scratch marks going down it as if the egg was being scraped up by whatever was in her vent. Her vent itself has always been sooo dirty and disgusting looking ever since she began laying late Summer. . . But today, I noticed her standing up in her nesting box, ready to lay an egg. I left her be as she was hunched and her vent was open, and came back 3 hours later. She was still there and still hunched, with a lot of viscous, nasty looking fluid coming out of her vent. I carefully picked her up, and put her next to the waterer. She drank and drank and drank, and finally a long, thin strip of crushed up egg shell came out of her, a long with some more watery stuff.
An hour later, she was feeling a little better, but obviously not happy. For the first few months, I was amazed at how big of eggs she laid (they were as big as my other hen's double yolkers!! But they weren't double yolkers. . . I'd be scared to see what one would like look from her. . . ) but now I think that they are just FAR too big for her to handle!
Is there a way I could perhaps change her diet or something to downsize the size of eggs she lays? Is this possible, or is she just going to have to go through this again sometime?
In the past couple weeks, her eggs have been so hard for her to spit out that they come out rugged, mountainous, and lumpy looking. Yesterday, her egg even had deep scratch marks going down it as if the egg was being scraped up by whatever was in her vent. Her vent itself has always been sooo dirty and disgusting looking ever since she began laying late Summer. . . But today, I noticed her standing up in her nesting box, ready to lay an egg. I left her be as she was hunched and her vent was open, and came back 3 hours later. She was still there and still hunched, with a lot of viscous, nasty looking fluid coming out of her vent. I carefully picked her up, and put her next to the waterer. She drank and drank and drank, and finally a long, thin strip of crushed up egg shell came out of her, a long with some more watery stuff.
An hour later, she was feeling a little better, but obviously not happy. For the first few months, I was amazed at how big of eggs she laid (they were as big as my other hen's double yolkers!! But they weren't double yolkers. . . I'd be scared to see what one would like look from her. . . ) but now I think that they are just FAR too big for her to handle!
Is there a way I could perhaps change her diet or something to downsize the size of eggs she lays? Is this possible, or is she just going to have to go through this again sometime?
