Hubby and I have 5 young hens we purchased back in April - Three Barred Rocks, 1 Red Cochin and 1 Mille Fleur.
One (or two) of the hens just started laying two weeks ago, not every day, but fairly regularly. It's one of the Barred Rock girls and I'm pretty sure which one - we call her Stripe. She's definitely a very outgoing gal, very talkative and quite friendly. She laid a monster egg yesterday with a rough feeling thinnish shell that when we broke it, it was covered in a rubbery membrane almost like another shell. The yolk was a single yolk and about as big as the ones we've been getting from her (and possibly another of the girls) in their small eggs. We had another egg today as well. Hubby said it was normal sized. All the girls acted fine, were outside of their house etc.
I went outside after I got home to let them out to munch on the grass, bugs, worms, leaves etc and Stripe didn't come out. She was hanging out in the corner where the eggs are normally laid in the house and acted "off". By off I mean she didn't act alarmed when I reached for her or try to run away. I checked for eggs under her, none, I checked her vent which was clean and not red/swollen. No crust or feces on her down around her vent but she did seem to strain and had a pale yolkish looking poo that was sort of watery. I felt her abdomen for any lumps/bumps as you'd expect in an egg bound hen but found none. Hubby put her on the perch with the other hens and two Roo's we have (also young birds) and she didn't resist.
I checked on her a very short time ago and she's still on the perch, has the watery'ish pale yolk'ish looking poo under her with some white tinges in it that you'd see in a normal poo. Again, her vent is normal looking, no swelling, no redness and no poo on her feathers. Her wings were slightly down but she wasn't breathing hard or seeming to struggle.
Help. It's been ages since I've had chickens, but we do have parrots. I had an egg bound finch once but you could SEE she was egg bound. This sort of happened suddenly as she was fine last night, all day today until early this evening as the sun started to go down.
They're fed layer crumbles, cracked corn, oyster shells, and leftover parrot veggies. They're also allowed free range grass, leaves, bugs, worms, etc.
One (or two) of the hens just started laying two weeks ago, not every day, but fairly regularly. It's one of the Barred Rock girls and I'm pretty sure which one - we call her Stripe. She's definitely a very outgoing gal, very talkative and quite friendly. She laid a monster egg yesterday with a rough feeling thinnish shell that when we broke it, it was covered in a rubbery membrane almost like another shell. The yolk was a single yolk and about as big as the ones we've been getting from her (and possibly another of the girls) in their small eggs. We had another egg today as well. Hubby said it was normal sized. All the girls acted fine, were outside of their house etc.
I went outside after I got home to let them out to munch on the grass, bugs, worms, leaves etc and Stripe didn't come out. She was hanging out in the corner where the eggs are normally laid in the house and acted "off". By off I mean she didn't act alarmed when I reached for her or try to run away. I checked for eggs under her, none, I checked her vent which was clean and not red/swollen. No crust or feces on her down around her vent but she did seem to strain and had a pale yolkish looking poo that was sort of watery. I felt her abdomen for any lumps/bumps as you'd expect in an egg bound hen but found none. Hubby put her on the perch with the other hens and two Roo's we have (also young birds) and she didn't resist.
I checked on her a very short time ago and she's still on the perch, has the watery'ish pale yolk'ish looking poo under her with some white tinges in it that you'd see in a normal poo. Again, her vent is normal looking, no swelling, no redness and no poo on her feathers. Her wings were slightly down but she wasn't breathing hard or seeming to struggle.
Help. It's been ages since I've had chickens, but we do have parrots. I had an egg bound finch once but you could SEE she was egg bound. This sort of happened suddenly as she was fine last night, all day today until early this evening as the sun started to go down.
They're fed layer crumbles, cracked corn, oyster shells, and leftover parrot veggies. They're also allowed free range grass, leaves, bugs, worms, etc.
