Here's the back story:
This morning when I opened the coop, my normally peppy Silkie hen wasn't so peppy. She had a slight head wobble and seemed as though she couldn't see to hop down the one step to get out of the coop. So, I picked her up and sat her on the ground and made plans to give her crest a trim (she just finished molting, so it's larger than it has been in a while). I came back a little while later to find her in the same spot, then went back inside to get a few thing done. Later, I bring out some kitchen scraps and find her laying on her belly with her feet stretched out behind her. When I picked her up to examine her, I found some clear fluid oozing from her vent. She'd lost complete control of her legs and couldn't hold her head still enough to take water on her own. So, I brought her inside and gave her a soak in the tub. She managed to push out what looked like some scrambled yolk and a few bits of egg shell. A few baths later, I was satisfied nothing else was going to come out. She immediately seemed better after her last soak. I wrapped her in a towel and put her in my laundry room to dry off. When I checked on her a few hours later she was standing and could drink on her own again. She was also dry, so back to the coop she went. Which wasn't all that long ago.
When I put her down on the coop floor, she gobbled down some food, got water and high tailed it to the nest box. That's where she laid this monstrosity:
I did NOT drop it, and the hen that laid this has never had any issues before. My Silkies are fed flock raiser with oyster shell on the side. I also feed their eggshells back in my kitchen scraps. Their roost is maybe 5" off the ground, so I don't think a fall would have done it. My rooster is pretty gentlemanly as well. The only thing different is I have a broody who just hatched chicks yesterday, and she didn't appear too particularly flustered when Ellie Mae (they layer of said egg) stopped by her box to investigate the peeping. I just have no idea. Has anyone else ever had anything like this happen? I'm pretty worried about her, even though she seems perfectly fine now!
This morning when I opened the coop, my normally peppy Silkie hen wasn't so peppy. She had a slight head wobble and seemed as though she couldn't see to hop down the one step to get out of the coop. So, I picked her up and sat her on the ground and made plans to give her crest a trim (she just finished molting, so it's larger than it has been in a while). I came back a little while later to find her in the same spot, then went back inside to get a few thing done. Later, I bring out some kitchen scraps and find her laying on her belly with her feet stretched out behind her. When I picked her up to examine her, I found some clear fluid oozing from her vent. She'd lost complete control of her legs and couldn't hold her head still enough to take water on her own. So, I brought her inside and gave her a soak in the tub. She managed to push out what looked like some scrambled yolk and a few bits of egg shell. A few baths later, I was satisfied nothing else was going to come out. She immediately seemed better after her last soak. I wrapped her in a towel and put her in my laundry room to dry off. When I checked on her a few hours later she was standing and could drink on her own again. She was also dry, so back to the coop she went. Which wasn't all that long ago.
When I put her down on the coop floor, she gobbled down some food, got water and high tailed it to the nest box. That's where she laid this monstrosity:
I did NOT drop it, and the hen that laid this has never had any issues before. My Silkies are fed flock raiser with oyster shell on the side. I also feed their eggshells back in my kitchen scraps. Their roost is maybe 5" off the ground, so I don't think a fall would have done it. My rooster is pretty gentlemanly as well. The only thing different is I have a broody who just hatched chicks yesterday, and she didn't appear too particularly flustered when Ellie Mae (they layer of said egg) stopped by her box to investigate the peeping. I just have no idea. Has anyone else ever had anything like this happen? I'm pretty worried about her, even though she seems perfectly fine now!
