- Nov 17, 2013
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This hen is about three years old. I have 14 hens (and one rooster) now but two hens died two weeks ago about one week apart. The first one that died has been skittish (Easter Egger) all her life and kept to herself. I didn't think she was sick, so I let her be. About a week later a second hen (Golden Buff) died but I hadn't noticed anything wrong with her. Now, I notice the following from this Golden Buff hen. About a week ago I noticed her backside was very red. No hens have been pecking her that I have noticed. She is eating and active. Last night we went into the coop to check her for mites. Under her was an egg that was without a shell (the shell was soft and lying beside it). It looked like an over easy egg ready to be cooked. (On a side note, the egg production overall has decreased. I was getting about a dozen a day from 16 hens. My 14 are now giving me 4-5 a day and only one is molting.) We see no evidence of mites or lice. We just went back into the hen house and looked her over again. Here are a few pictures. When we picked her up, egg yolk and a partial (very soft) shell came out. We then looked her over in the light. Still saw no mites or lice but I could be missing them as we have never dealt with them before. They have a very large coop where they "free range" in the dust and trees. About three weeks ago we were letting them free range in our yard, completely out of the coop. That is when we started noticing strange things. (Also, we had 17 hens then and one mysteriously disappeared so we put them back in the coop now. (We have seen a large owl in our woods and fox and coyote are nearby.) I am not sure if any of this extra information is relevant, but just in case. Also, we haven't been eating the eggs but are saving them. Are they ok to eat if we don't know what is going on? I haven't found anything that says diseases can be transmitted to human through eggs, but just want to be sure. Also, look below at the picture. There is a white/gray growth that I couldn't remove. Is this part of the problem?
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