Listless chicken and soft leathery green egg

[8xnoy]

I am a brand new chicken owner with 22 chicks and two grown Aracana egg-layers that a friend asked me to adopt at about the same time I got the chicks. Up until last night, the two hens were laying up a storm -- one to two eggs a day per chicken!

Last night I noticed on of the Aracanas -- Frida -- was sitting very still and allowed me to hold her, which is not normal for her. This morning she was still quietly sitting in the same corner, but had laid a soft, wrinkled leathery egg. I separated her from the others and checked her belly. Other than her listlessness (she is still sitting quielty and alone in her crate, I see no obvious symptoms. Her vent and feathers look normal. She's just extremely subdued.

Help please! I'm quite worried about her. Is this a possible disease or problem I must deal with right away? Any lists of possible problems of suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

it probably means she is absorbing her eggs
as it is stuck in the abdominal tract

It sounds like a egg still in the abdominal cavity.Some times vets can give the hen a shot of calcium and force the egg into the laying tract again.

you could make this wet mash and put 1000mg of calcium in it
take the pill in a tbsp and crush it before adding to the wet madh
do this twice a day for a week and see how she gets

other wise keep her happy and do feed the
wet mash probiotic to give her and the hens some good gut flora

wet mash probiotic
3 tbsp of dry crumbles
5-1/2 tbsp of milk any kind
1 tbsp of yoguart
mix good and feed one hen
if feeding all hens multiply the amt times the amt of hens
always clean the wet feeder after 20-30 minutes and restock dry crumbles

 

[threehorses]

Some parrot owners will feed Tums in a pinch for calcium, crushed up as Glenda has mentioned.

Then you need to figure out what caused the deficiency. If she's been laying for you, then she's going to need a good source of calcium. There are lots of theories on what that consists of.

But a good laying ration, some calcium grit as well as normal grit, help.

Don't feed your chickens a good deal of spinach for although it contains a good deal of calcium, it also contains oxylic acid which bids calcium from being used as well.

Note also that if you feed a lot of grains, the cal/phos balance will be off and birds can develop a calcium deficiency readily while laying. Scratch is a big culprit for this.