I tried to find any mention of what's going on with my BR in previous forums, but didn't see anything helpful. So here's what's going on, I would appreciate any advice...
My hens are all over a year old. I have 7 and one of them, Millie, is a Barred Rock. No one else is having the same problems.
Millie had been one of my best layers last fall and winter. Then, late this spring her eggs started to get really big, so big that I often couldn't fit them into a regular egg carton. Because they were so big they seemed a little thin-shelled. I made sure there was extra egg shell available for her to eat. In the past month or so I have noticed some soft-shelled eggs broken in my coop. Sometimes they are in the nesting box, but most often they are in the coop itself. I can't tell who has laid the soft eggs, but I do notice that I don't have any typical Millie Eggs anymore.
Yesterday I noticed that her butt seemed a bit dirty. Today I picked her up and checked it out. She seemed to have caked on egg yolk/white on her feathers near her vent. The vent wasn't blocked, it was just dirty and kind of caked up around it. I got a wet towel and got most of it off. Poor thing had to put up with me holding her upside down and washing her bum!
Anyway, I am wondering if all of these things add up to a diagnosis of what's going on with Millie. I don't think she's so old that she's stopped laying. She hasn't even molted yet. While I was washing her butt I didn't notice any worms or bugs or anything, plus everyone else in the group is laying fine.
Oh Knowledgeable Ones, please give me your thoughts. Thank you.
My hens are all over a year old. I have 7 and one of them, Millie, is a Barred Rock. No one else is having the same problems.
Millie had been one of my best layers last fall and winter. Then, late this spring her eggs started to get really big, so big that I often couldn't fit them into a regular egg carton. Because they were so big they seemed a little thin-shelled. I made sure there was extra egg shell available for her to eat. In the past month or so I have noticed some soft-shelled eggs broken in my coop. Sometimes they are in the nesting box, but most often they are in the coop itself. I can't tell who has laid the soft eggs, but I do notice that I don't have any typical Millie Eggs anymore.
Yesterday I noticed that her butt seemed a bit dirty. Today I picked her up and checked it out. She seemed to have caked on egg yolk/white on her feathers near her vent. The vent wasn't blocked, it was just dirty and kind of caked up around it. I got a wet towel and got most of it off. Poor thing had to put up with me holding her upside down and washing her bum!
Anyway, I am wondering if all of these things add up to a diagnosis of what's going on with Millie. I don't think she's so old that she's stopped laying. She hasn't even molted yet. While I was washing her butt I didn't notice any worms or bugs or anything, plus everyone else in the group is laying fine.
Oh Knowledgeable Ones, please give me your thoughts. Thank you.
