We have one hen who's a bit older than all the other hens. She's our only Ameraucana chicken, so we can tell when she's laying, and we figure she's pretty much done laying since it's been over a month since she's laid an egg (which was very small in size) and she rarely lays at all anymore. We've gotten maybe a dozen or so eggs from her over the past year. However, she's been waddling around like a penguin recently, but is it possible she's actually egg bound or is it something else?
She's been sitting in a nesting box a lot for the past two or three days, but today she's been hanging outside with the other chickens, but not moving as much, mostly just sitting down in the shade. Last night, she also wasn't able to hop up into the boxes or onto the roost and instead was laying down on the floor when we locked the flock up for the night. Her vent isn't blocked, and it does look like she's recently had some runny poop recently. She's been eating and will sort of come out when we throw out some treats for the chickens. We recently integrated our new batch of chicks so we've switched her food from chicken food to chick food for a few weeks and back to chicken.
I guess my question is is it possible she's egg bound or could she just be constipated or is it something else? I feel like it wouldn't be likely she's egg bound considering her age and the fact that she's only been laying unusually small eggs when she does lay, but I'm not sure.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
She's been sitting in a nesting box a lot for the past two or three days, but today she's been hanging outside with the other chickens, but not moving as much, mostly just sitting down in the shade. Last night, she also wasn't able to hop up into the boxes or onto the roost and instead was laying down on the floor when we locked the flock up for the night. Her vent isn't blocked, and it does look like she's recently had some runny poop recently. She's been eating and will sort of come out when we throw out some treats for the chickens. We recently integrated our new batch of chicks so we've switched her food from chicken food to chick food for a few weeks and back to chicken.
I guess my question is is it possible she's egg bound or could she just be constipated or is it something else? I feel like it wouldn't be likely she's egg bound considering her age and the fact that she's only been laying unusually small eggs when she does lay, but I'm not sure.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
