Hi, All,
I posted last week that one of my Aracauna (actually an EE, I think) had been acting really weird, sort of hunched up, seemingly straining to lay an egg or something, and I had been wondering whether or not she was eggbound. We have (had) 8 chickens total, and everyone else looks and acts normal and healthy...just this one little hen had an issue.
I took her inside the night I posted and gave her a warm bath for awhile (probably an hour total time), and let her rest inside. She continued to act the same way. She was eating and everything, so my husband and I just put her back with the others and checked on her every day.
I saw her late last night (they were in the roost) and she was acting normal (for her)...no changes. This morning when I checked on them before work, though, there she was, curled up under the bottom rung of the roost, head tucked under...dead. There was a single pale egg with a soft shell next to her.
I got the chickens from my mother-in-law, who raised them as chicks. All are a year old. I'm getting 5-6 eggs per day from the 8 girls (or 7 girls and 1 unmanly roo, if that's possible...MIL swears one of the EE is a roo). I work outside the home so am not there to watch who lays what, but I get two blue-green eggs every day, occasionally 3, and the rest are brown.
I guess I'm wondering what could have happened to this poor little hen. Granted, she acted this way at my MIL's, too, but MIL had 48 chickens, so individuals don't necessarily get the attention they need. I don't even think MIL noticed she was acting funny.
Could this have been her first egg, and it just did her in? Do eggs lose calcium if they're stuck in process for a long time (like a couple of weeks)? Are they that much harder to pass than regular hard-shelled eggs?
My chickens all eat layer pellets, have fresh water and grit, and get kitchen scraps and grass a few times per week (just veggies and crushed egg shells, no meat or butter, etc.).
Thanks...
I posted last week that one of my Aracauna (actually an EE, I think) had been acting really weird, sort of hunched up, seemingly straining to lay an egg or something, and I had been wondering whether or not she was eggbound. We have (had) 8 chickens total, and everyone else looks and acts normal and healthy...just this one little hen had an issue.
I took her inside the night I posted and gave her a warm bath for awhile (probably an hour total time), and let her rest inside. She continued to act the same way. She was eating and everything, so my husband and I just put her back with the others and checked on her every day.
I saw her late last night (they were in the roost) and she was acting normal (for her)...no changes. This morning when I checked on them before work, though, there she was, curled up under the bottom rung of the roost, head tucked under...dead. There was a single pale egg with a soft shell next to her.
I got the chickens from my mother-in-law, who raised them as chicks. All are a year old. I'm getting 5-6 eggs per day from the 8 girls (or 7 girls and 1 unmanly roo, if that's possible...MIL swears one of the EE is a roo). I work outside the home so am not there to watch who lays what, but I get two blue-green eggs every day, occasionally 3, and the rest are brown.
I guess I'm wondering what could have happened to this poor little hen. Granted, she acted this way at my MIL's, too, but MIL had 48 chickens, so individuals don't necessarily get the attention they need. I don't even think MIL noticed she was acting funny.
Could this have been her first egg, and it just did her in? Do eggs lose calcium if they're stuck in process for a long time (like a couple of weeks)? Are they that much harder to pass than regular hard-shelled eggs?
My chickens all eat layer pellets, have fresh water and grit, and get kitchen scraps and grass a few times per week (just veggies and crushed egg shells, no meat or butter, etc.).
Thanks...
