We have a speckled Sussex who hasn't laid yet (have kept her in pen enough to check to see if she is laying in hiding places but no eggs in nest box) and I noticed today that she looks like a chick does when pasted up (which she was as a chick and we had to keep cleaning her before it cleared up).
We lost our austrolorp to a predator last week and she was the queen and leader of the 3. now Alice, the Sussex, is one of 2 and her last companion, a SLW, is making it clear who will be boss from now on. as they adjust to new order and being one of only 2 we wonder if her laying has been delayed due to the stress or if she has coccyx. she is bright and clear eyed, good feathers, shiny and full. Eating well...everything good but no egg and weird feces situation. we saw a more liquid poop (bit more watery than the icky every-tenth-one smelly one) recently.
We will research coccyx but is this an emergency?
also, thanks to those who responded about the austrolorp, Gertrude. We are still sad and in reply to some thoughts of posters: yes, we are rethinking and shifting the degree to which they roam free. they are in the pen more and we are gong to make a bigger fenced area and look into adding some friends once we recover from Gertrude's loss a bit more. not sure we want to introduce hens in approaching winter or brood chicks in Nov....
We lost our austrolorp to a predator last week and she was the queen and leader of the 3. now Alice, the Sussex, is one of 2 and her last companion, a SLW, is making it clear who will be boss from now on. as they adjust to new order and being one of only 2 we wonder if her laying has been delayed due to the stress or if she has coccyx. she is bright and clear eyed, good feathers, shiny and full. Eating well...everything good but no egg and weird feces situation. we saw a more liquid poop (bit more watery than the icky every-tenth-one smelly one) recently.
We will research coccyx but is this an emergency?
also, thanks to those who responded about the austrolorp, Gertrude. We are still sad and in reply to some thoughts of posters: yes, we are rethinking and shifting the degree to which they roam free. they are in the pen more and we are gong to make a bigger fenced area and look into adding some friends once we recover from Gertrude's loss a bit more. not sure we want to introduce hens in approaching winter or brood chicks in Nov....
