I have a 2 year old EE who has not been the healthiest chicken from the word go. She has always had a weak calcium gene and has laid odd eggs for forever. Soft shell, no shell, egg within an egg (three in a row), it has never been good for her. If we get an actual egg that is almost decent there is always that one soft spot. I almost always feed Molly's eggs back to the girls because they are so soft shelled.
She is the sweetest thing though. She is the one that runs up to me when I go outside, well she did until I started picking her up all the time to check on her condition the last couple of days.
I don't have a rooster and there won't be any passing of bad genes so I will let her live and play as long as she's happy.
She is also one that always has a messy rear. I don't mean a little poop on there. I mean a track of poop from her vent, all the way down her feathers. It is probably because most of her eggs come out in parts, a little shell, a little egg white, the yolk... very seldom a nice, neat little package.
I have been bathing her periodically but I hate to bother her if she doesn't need to be cleaned for any reason other than the aesthetics.
A couple of days ago I noticed her crop was enlarged and she was drinking a LOT of water. I felt her crop and it was balloon like, full of air and squishy but there was no sour smell and no lump of stuff in there. I decided to watch her and see what it did. My girls freerange so I was wondering if she had just picked up something odd and needed time to work it through. Last night it hadn't resolved so I was going to bring her in today, bathe her and start treating with yogurt and olive oil to watch her and see how she was doing but her crop is down today and she seems fine.
After chasing her around the last couple of days to play "feel the crop" I hate to bring her in and bathe her and blow dry her but I don't want her to get an irritated bum from the poop.
Thoughts? Is she okay poopy or is she like a rabbit and the skin will get irritated and painful?
She is the sweetest thing though. She is the one that runs up to me when I go outside, well she did until I started picking her up all the time to check on her condition the last couple of days.
She is also one that always has a messy rear. I don't mean a little poop on there. I mean a track of poop from her vent, all the way down her feathers. It is probably because most of her eggs come out in parts, a little shell, a little egg white, the yolk... very seldom a nice, neat little package.
I have been bathing her periodically but I hate to bother her if she doesn't need to be cleaned for any reason other than the aesthetics.
A couple of days ago I noticed her crop was enlarged and she was drinking a LOT of water. I felt her crop and it was balloon like, full of air and squishy but there was no sour smell and no lump of stuff in there. I decided to watch her and see what it did. My girls freerange so I was wondering if she had just picked up something odd and needed time to work it through. Last night it hadn't resolved so I was going to bring her in today, bathe her and start treating with yogurt and olive oil to watch her and see how she was doing but her crop is down today and she seems fine.
After chasing her around the last couple of days to play "feel the crop" I hate to bring her in and bathe her and blow dry her but I don't want her to get an irritated bum from the poop.
Thoughts? Is she okay poopy or is she like a rabbit and the skin will get irritated and painful?
