Becca_M
In the Brooder
- Aug 15, 2018
- 3
- 17
- 27
Good morning, All!
I was hoping somebody might have some insight to a situation I'm experiencing with one of my chickens. It's sort of a long story, so I'll post a short version after the long version in case you don't want/need all the details.
Long version:
We have two chickens: Chickie (a silver laced wyandotte) and Choco (a gold laced wyandotte).
Chickie came to us as kind of an accidental rescue situation. Her prior owners (our neighbors) were super nice people, and I think really cared about her, but didn't do the best job caring for her. The biggest issue was that they had no chicken coop and their yard was not fenced in. They started with several chickens, and in very short order, were down to just one, as the others had been picked off by predators. So we asked if we could take her in, after we got a coop set up and got a friend for her (since she was now a solo chicken, which I know is not good for them). She was spending most of her time in our yard anyway, and we'd grown pretty fond of her. We didn't want her to get eaten.
So we get our coop built. It seems pretty sturdy (though, I'm constantly checking and testing and making changes to make it safer for them). And then we got Choco to be Chickie's new friend. Choco came to us from a craigslist post - her owners had a lot of chickens, but had to move and couldn't take them so were looking to rehome them. Because Chickie had never been in a coop before, we thought it would be better to put Choco in the coop and get her acclimated to her new home and to Chickie before we put Chickie in the coop. So we do all that, we introduce them eventually, they sort things out, and now they are best of friends (Chickie is top-hen)!
All this time, Chickie has been going to her usual roosting spot at her old home to sleep (on the neighbor's property). Once she and Choco started getting along, she suddenly didn't want to go back to the neighbor's property without her. We've been putting Choco in the coop at night so she can't follow Chickie to the neighbor's property. Chickie decided two nights ago to roost in our yard, near the coop. So we figured "well, this is probably it! Let's put her in the coop with Choco for the night and see how it goes." So we scooped her up and put her in. And guys, it was kind of heartbreaking. She basically did the chicken equivalent of crying herself to sleep.
But we kept her in, and she eventually settled down (I slept in a tent next to the coop to make sure) and seemed fine in the morning.
Except she laid a shell-less! She's been laying only for a few weeks, but so far, they've all been perfect. Nice shell, no weirdness at all. We put her in the coop again last night. She didn't protest as much, but was still not super thrilled about it. But she settled down much faster than the night before. Well, I went out early this morning to let her out, and there are two eggs in the coop, both without shells. Choco is also laying, but her eggs are a bit bigger than Chickie's, and she has a preferred nesting spot in the coop, and that's not where these eggs were. I think Chickie laid two shell-less eggs! And the other weird thing is she normally lays mid morning - closer to 10-11 AM. These were there when I opened the coop up at 7 AM.
Short Version:
We took in our neighbor's chicken, who had never before had access to a coop. She's been laying eggs normally up 'til now. Two nights ago, we put her in the coop for the first time, and yesterday and today, I've found shell-less eggs in the coop. Yesterday was one egg. Today it was two eggs, both shell-less.
My Question:
So my question is: how worried should I be about this? What's causing it? Is it just that she's stressed out about being put in the coop at night, since she's not used to that? Is it a light factor? Are we putting her in too early (we've been putting them both in at dusk (between 7 and 8 PM usually) to prevent Chickie from leading Choco over to the neighbor's property. Is it not enough calcium? We give them a calcium enriched mash, but they free range all day, and I think prefer to forage for bugs and whatnot. Choco had a few strange eggs when we first brought her home, but then they returned to normal, so I'm hoping it's just stress related and as soon as she gets used to the coop, it'll go back to normal. Looking for any advice at all! Thanks!
I was hoping somebody might have some insight to a situation I'm experiencing with one of my chickens. It's sort of a long story, so I'll post a short version after the long version in case you don't want/need all the details.
Long version:
We have two chickens: Chickie (a silver laced wyandotte) and Choco (a gold laced wyandotte).
Chickie came to us as kind of an accidental rescue situation. Her prior owners (our neighbors) were super nice people, and I think really cared about her, but didn't do the best job caring for her. The biggest issue was that they had no chicken coop and their yard was not fenced in. They started with several chickens, and in very short order, were down to just one, as the others had been picked off by predators. So we asked if we could take her in, after we got a coop set up and got a friend for her (since she was now a solo chicken, which I know is not good for them). She was spending most of her time in our yard anyway, and we'd grown pretty fond of her. We didn't want her to get eaten.
So we get our coop built. It seems pretty sturdy (though, I'm constantly checking and testing and making changes to make it safer for them). And then we got Choco to be Chickie's new friend. Choco came to us from a craigslist post - her owners had a lot of chickens, but had to move and couldn't take them so were looking to rehome them. Because Chickie had never been in a coop before, we thought it would be better to put Choco in the coop and get her acclimated to her new home and to Chickie before we put Chickie in the coop. So we do all that, we introduce them eventually, they sort things out, and now they are best of friends (Chickie is top-hen)!
All this time, Chickie has been going to her usual roosting spot at her old home to sleep (on the neighbor's property). Once she and Choco started getting along, she suddenly didn't want to go back to the neighbor's property without her. We've been putting Choco in the coop at night so she can't follow Chickie to the neighbor's property. Chickie decided two nights ago to roost in our yard, near the coop. So we figured "well, this is probably it! Let's put her in the coop with Choco for the night and see how it goes." So we scooped her up and put her in. And guys, it was kind of heartbreaking. She basically did the chicken equivalent of crying herself to sleep.
But we kept her in, and she eventually settled down (I slept in a tent next to the coop to make sure) and seemed fine in the morning. Except she laid a shell-less! She's been laying only for a few weeks, but so far, they've all been perfect. Nice shell, no weirdness at all. We put her in the coop again last night. She didn't protest as much, but was still not super thrilled about it. But she settled down much faster than the night before. Well, I went out early this morning to let her out, and there are two eggs in the coop, both without shells. Choco is also laying, but her eggs are a bit bigger than Chickie's, and she has a preferred nesting spot in the coop, and that's not where these eggs were. I think Chickie laid two shell-less eggs! And the other weird thing is she normally lays mid morning - closer to 10-11 AM. These were there when I opened the coop up at 7 AM.
Short Version:
We took in our neighbor's chicken, who had never before had access to a coop. She's been laying eggs normally up 'til now. Two nights ago, we put her in the coop for the first time, and yesterday and today, I've found shell-less eggs in the coop. Yesterday was one egg. Today it was two eggs, both shell-less.
My Question:
So my question is: how worried should I be about this? What's causing it? Is it just that she's stressed out about being put in the coop at night, since she's not used to that? Is it a light factor? Are we putting her in too early (we've been putting them both in at dusk (between 7 and 8 PM usually) to prevent Chickie from leading Choco over to the neighbor's property. Is it not enough calcium? We give them a calcium enriched mash, but they free range all day, and I think prefer to forage for bugs and whatnot. Choco had a few strange eggs when we first brought her home, but then they returned to normal, so I'm hoping it's just stress related and as soon as she gets used to the coop, it'll go back to normal. Looking for any advice at all! Thanks!
