Very early this morning (before I had gone out to the coop) one of my Orpies laid a soft shelled egg in the nest box. She has been having a problem with soft shelled eggs for a few weeks now (which we are currently addressing), so I was not surprised by this in itself. The interesting thing was that this time she made it to the nest box to lay it, whereas normally it slips out of her while she is on the roost. Anyway, after she laid the egg, she hopped out to do whatever she had scheduled for her morning, and Orpy Number 2 hopped in to lay her egg. When she did so, the egg burst, and I came in later on to find her standing in the nest box, with her chest covered in egg. I can't catch her. She is the head hen, and is as vicious as poison to boot! So she's on her own with this one I'm afraid. (If she were somewhat personable she would have gotten a bath, but I can't help her if she won't let me help her!) So.....Will she groom the egg out of her feathers in due course? Or am I going to have a sticky, egg smelling hen for the next few weeks? Worse - will the other chickens now see her as a potential yummy treat and try to eat her?! Sorry to write about such a trivial matter. If it were Summer I would pop the sprinklers on and let her play in them to wash it out, but it's cold here (Winter.) Thanks (as always!) - Krista
