Hi Everyone,
Preface to say, we're in New Zealand - in the middle of spring, about April weather/temps for northern hemisphere folks.
We had a scare last night - realized before putting the girls to bed our black orpington (1 of 5 chickens, 1 yr old) was acting standoffish and hadn't eaten (was drinking), was a bit lower to the ground, and eyes dazed; her crop was empty/mush, so in she came.
The day before, she spent a very long time in a nesting box. Our other orpingtons are blues and are larger than she is, she's quite svelt comparatively. She typically takes longer in the box than they do.
We got a bit of food into her (yogurt, scrambled egg, mealworms), she forced out a few stringy thin poops, and in about 30 minutes wings out, wide eyed, with much fanfare, out plopped an egg.
She had a voracious appetite after that and went to bed. Her comb is and has been bright red.
She's out this morning. Was acting normal. But has been in the box for 3 hours already, almost pancake in the box.
We thought last night that it must have been a difficult egg to pass, but now I'm wondering if there's either another egg that's was built up because she couldn't pass the last one, or if she's starting to go broody and this has been precursor?
She already eats oystershell, but is there anything we can do to tell or help her along if the eggs are being difficult long term?
Also to say, she was treated last Friday with a single drop of invermectin/panacur on the back of her neck, along with the other girls. Some of the girls were having some feather loss from lice, and we found a single red mite, so decided to treat.
Preface to say, we're in New Zealand - in the middle of spring, about April weather/temps for northern hemisphere folks.
We had a scare last night - realized before putting the girls to bed our black orpington (1 of 5 chickens, 1 yr old) was acting standoffish and hadn't eaten (was drinking), was a bit lower to the ground, and eyes dazed; her crop was empty/mush, so in she came.
The day before, she spent a very long time in a nesting box. Our other orpingtons are blues and are larger than she is, she's quite svelt comparatively. She typically takes longer in the box than they do.
We got a bit of food into her (yogurt, scrambled egg, mealworms), she forced out a few stringy thin poops, and in about 30 minutes wings out, wide eyed, with much fanfare, out plopped an egg.
She had a voracious appetite after that and went to bed. Her comb is and has been bright red.
She's out this morning. Was acting normal. But has been in the box for 3 hours already, almost pancake in the box.
We thought last night that it must have been a difficult egg to pass, but now I'm wondering if there's either another egg that's was built up because she couldn't pass the last one, or if she's starting to go broody and this has been precursor?
She already eats oystershell, but is there anything we can do to tell or help her along if the eggs are being difficult long term?
Also to say, she was treated last Friday with a single drop of invermectin/panacur on the back of her neck, along with the other girls. Some of the girls were having some feather loss from lice, and we found a single red mite, so decided to treat.
