egg bound question

[attilathehen]

I have a 2 year old Polish hen who we think has been egg bound. All of our other birds have started laying again (after a winter break), but she has yet to star up. She was displaying several odd behaviors, opening her beak as if to crow, but not making any sound. Keeping her tail at half mast. Pausing in the middle of the yard to strain, without expelling waste or laying an egg. She was also ruffling her feathers a lot. She had a pretty dirty bottom, so we cleaned her up, and noticed her vent seemed swollen. We gave her a warm bath in epsom salts... nothing happened. We couldn't be sure she was egg bound, and kept an eye on her. Her abdomen seemed a bit swollen, but I wasn't convinced it was an egg. Aside from the quirky behavior, she didn't seem too distressed. Most accounts make it seem like an egg bound chicken will be very obviously distressed. I've been getting increasingly worried though, so this morning we gave her another bath. This time we gently probed a finger up her vent, and felt what may have been an egg, although it was pretty far in there, past the second finger knuckle. We put some lubrication up there, dried all her feathers, and let her back out into the yard. This time she bee-lined for the nest box. (She has been avoiding it until now.) She came out, crowed a bit (no egg, I checked), and then headed back in. I'm not sure what happened next, as I didn't stand guard... but I went back out about 15 minutes later, she was out of the nest box, drinking water and eating (like she normally does after laying)... and we found an egg in the box! The egg is shaped like hers normally are, but her eggs are normally white, and this one is a creamy pinky brown. Very light, but not white. It doesn't look like any of our other bird's eggs, we're pretty sure they all had already laid this morning, and it seems unlikely that somebody snuck in there and laid it while I wasn't watching... but I'm curious. Do birds that lay white eggs ever occasionally lay darker eggs? I know brown eggs can darken, but can white eggs darken? I wonder if being egg bound, and having an egg stuck in there for so long caused it to somehow darken? Her white eggs are normally kind of pearly, with a faint pinkish glow... so it seems plausible. But her eggs are normally so white (as most Polish hens eggs are white). Just curious what others might think. Thanks for any insight. Here is hoping whatever ailed her has been resolved.

 

[sourland]

At the beginning of a laying cycle, a hen's eggs tend to be darker in color than at the end of a cycle. If her eggs had a pinkish cast last year, it is possible that her first eggs this season might be somewhat darker pink. Hopefully any laying issues have been resolved.