This might sound like a silly question, but here goes....
I have a hen, and she is 1 year old. She was always a sporadic layer, and now after a long unexplained sabbatical has resumed laying again.
I am delighted, of course, but we have a small issue. She has laid two eggs now, a few days apart, and both times they had poop on them. Not a little streak of poop, but a huge chunk of it, stuck to the side of the egg as if it had been smeared on with a knife.
Now....YES, I can clean them. And YES, I can deal with it. But I'm wondering why this is happening, and only with her?
Our nest boxes are squeaky clean, as is the coop floor - I replace the hay regularly and have inspected the nest but there is no poop in there other than what is stuck to the egg.
The hen herself is clean to look at - she is not one of those girls who has a dirty butt.
The weather is not wet here at the moment so it's definitely not mud she trampled in. Their run does have some poop in it of course, but it gets raked out regularly and it doesn't look like it was transferred from her feet.
She, along with everyone else, has been wormed and is strong and healthy.
And interestingly enough - she is one of those girls who likes to snaffle all the plastic eggs and hide them under her whilst she is laying - and NONE of those have poop on them - just the real one she laid.
So what gives? I know eggs and poop come from 'the same place' but I didn't think hens could do both at once? Any ideas?
- Krista
I have a hen, and she is 1 year old. She was always a sporadic layer, and now after a long unexplained sabbatical has resumed laying again.
I am delighted, of course, but we have a small issue. She has laid two eggs now, a few days apart, and both times they had poop on them. Not a little streak of poop, but a huge chunk of it, stuck to the side of the egg as if it had been smeared on with a knife.
Now....YES, I can clean them. And YES, I can deal with it. But I'm wondering why this is happening, and only with her?
Our nest boxes are squeaky clean, as is the coop floor - I replace the hay regularly and have inspected the nest but there is no poop in there other than what is stuck to the egg.
The hen herself is clean to look at - she is not one of those girls who has a dirty butt.
The weather is not wet here at the moment so it's definitely not mud she trampled in. Their run does have some poop in it of course, but it gets raked out regularly and it doesn't look like it was transferred from her feet.
She, along with everyone else, has been wormed and is strong and healthy.
And interestingly enough - she is one of those girls who likes to snaffle all the plastic eggs and hide them under her whilst she is laying - and NONE of those have poop on them - just the real one she laid.
So what gives? I know eggs and poop come from 'the same place' but I didn't think hens could do both at once? Any ideas?
- Krista
