WARNING - This turned out to be much longer than you may want to read but I wanted to get as much info out as I could think of...
Not sure if I'm over-thinking this but here are the facts (quite possible all unrelated but I am putting anything that may possible be relevant):
* I have 4 brown egg layers and 1 EE who lays creamy-pinkish eggs (all are 7 mos. old and have been laying 4-6 weeks regularly in their nest boxes)
* EE eggs were the only ones that would get a little dirty - pooh ended up building up and drying on her backside until it was unsightly and dry
* My Brahma got attacked by a dog 1-1/2 wks ago and had to be separated for 5 days while she recovered (I chased the dog away after seeing it with the Brahma but have no idea if it chased any of the other chickens before catching the Brahma - the others were in hiding when I heard the distressed cries)
* The day after the attack the unattacked chickens were kept in their run all day and the EE's egg was out in the run all covered in egg white-like goo but was perfectly fine after the goo was cleaned off (this was the first time her egg was layed outside of the nest box)
* The next few days she produced some eggs in the nest box, but they proceeded to get paler and paler until they were almost white. Then, there were a couple of days with no eggs, followed by her last egg layed on Friday which was slightly rough, very pale and layed in the middle of my yard (not under a bush or anything)
* Regardless of whether she has layed an egg on any given day, she spends a lot of time on other chickens' eggs or in an empty nest box chattering when she emerges like she just layed her own egg . She doesn't spend ALL day in the nest box, but probably a total of a couple of hours each day
* Yesterday, I sat her in a warm bath for about 30 minutes, massaged her tummy (didn't feel like there was an egg in there from my inexperienced hand) and I washed off all of the nasty build-up on her backside
* Still no egg today, so I checked her vent to see if there was anything seeping from it or if it was bulging but it looks normal compared to the other hens
* She eats (layer pellets with oyster shell available), drinks (I have recently added vitamins in water to help the injured bird), and free-ranges like a healthy chicken - she's least aggressive in scrounging for treats but always manages to get some
* Should I be worried that her egg laying has changed after 4 weeks of 5-6 perfect eggs from her each week? (Note: she has never layed a shell-less egg and while the shells are paler, they are always hard)
* She doesn't really seem to fit the broody descriptions, I'm not seeing signs of parasites (though I realize they probably can't always be detected), I keep the coop very clean and they free-range during the day
* While she could be having eggs somewhere in the yard or eating her eggs, I doubt both of those scenarios as I've searched yard repeatedly (besides, why would she hang out in the nest box if she was laying in the yard?) and she doesn't eat the other hens' eggs that she sits on (plus my last chicken to begin laying dropped her first couple from the roost and none of the chickens ate those broken eggs)
* The egg weirdness all seemed to begin after the dog attacked the other bird...could this have been traumatic enough to have caused this? Can 7 mo. old EE be "partially" broody? Do I just need to get a life and not worry about this?
Thanks!
Not sure if I'm over-thinking this but here are the facts (quite possible all unrelated but I am putting anything that may possible be relevant):
* I have 4 brown egg layers and 1 EE who lays creamy-pinkish eggs (all are 7 mos. old and have been laying 4-6 weeks regularly in their nest boxes)
* EE eggs were the only ones that would get a little dirty - pooh ended up building up and drying on her backside until it was unsightly and dry
* My Brahma got attacked by a dog 1-1/2 wks ago and had to be separated for 5 days while she recovered (I chased the dog away after seeing it with the Brahma but have no idea if it chased any of the other chickens before catching the Brahma - the others were in hiding when I heard the distressed cries)
* The day after the attack the unattacked chickens were kept in their run all day and the EE's egg was out in the run all covered in egg white-like goo but was perfectly fine after the goo was cleaned off (this was the first time her egg was layed outside of the nest box)
* The next few days she produced some eggs in the nest box, but they proceeded to get paler and paler until they were almost white. Then, there were a couple of days with no eggs, followed by her last egg layed on Friday which was slightly rough, very pale and layed in the middle of my yard (not under a bush or anything)
* Regardless of whether she has layed an egg on any given day, she spends a lot of time on other chickens' eggs or in an empty nest box chattering when she emerges like she just layed her own egg . She doesn't spend ALL day in the nest box, but probably a total of a couple of hours each day
* Yesterday, I sat her in a warm bath for about 30 minutes, massaged her tummy (didn't feel like there was an egg in there from my inexperienced hand) and I washed off all of the nasty build-up on her backside
* Still no egg today, so I checked her vent to see if there was anything seeping from it or if it was bulging but it looks normal compared to the other hens
* She eats (layer pellets with oyster shell available), drinks (I have recently added vitamins in water to help the injured bird), and free-ranges like a healthy chicken - she's least aggressive in scrounging for treats but always manages to get some
* Should I be worried that her egg laying has changed after 4 weeks of 5-6 perfect eggs from her each week? (Note: she has never layed a shell-less egg and while the shells are paler, they are always hard)
* She doesn't really seem to fit the broody descriptions, I'm not seeing signs of parasites (though I realize they probably can't always be detected), I keep the coop very clean and they free-range during the day
* While she could be having eggs somewhere in the yard or eating her eggs, I doubt both of those scenarios as I've searched yard repeatedly (besides, why would she hang out in the nest box if she was laying in the yard?) and she doesn't eat the other hens' eggs that she sits on (plus my last chicken to begin laying dropped her first couple from the roost and none of the chickens ate those broken eggs)
* The egg weirdness all seemed to begin after the dog attacked the other bird...could this have been traumatic enough to have caused this? Can 7 mo. old EE be "partially" broody? Do I just need to get a life and not worry about this?
Thanks!
