Egg bound silkie or am I being paranoid?

[AChickenBoi]

My first egg layer, Shadow, has been acting strange for most of the day. She is like this, where she will hide out in the coop and screech at me if I go near her. That’s what she does when she lays an egg, and she did that today, laid the egg and everything. But she was awfully immobile most of the day (I picked her up and brought her to a pile of seed for her to eat. She was acting ok then), she wasn’t as defensive with me, and often fluffed herself up. I’m really not sure how to deal with it, and I hope she’s just having one of those days. Before, she did lay an egg, so I’m not sure. I really hope I’m just being paranoid, with it being a very uncommon occurrence. I plan on checking on her tomorrow, as it’s 8:00 where I am and I have school the next day. In the case she is egg bound, what should I do exactly? Warm-tepid bath first? What kind of lubricant/jelly should I use? As I don’t even have examination gloves to properly check her vent.

Update: I was being paranoid. Shadow answered my confusion and questions by taking a dump on the patio, before swiftly going up into the coop.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she might be going broody, or wanting to sit on and hatch some eggs. That is common in silkies. Is she hanging out in a nest box for most of the time? Broody hens will sit on anything, even air. If you put an egg in front of her, will she pull it under her?

 

[AChickenBoi]

It sounds like she might be going broody, or wanting to sit on and hatch some eggs. That is common in silkies. Is she hanging out in a nest box for most of the time? Broody hens will sit on anything, even air. If you put an egg in front of her, will she pull it under her?

I don’t remember showing her egg to her earlier today, but she had no problem with me taking it from her. Funny-ish enough, she doesn’t like sitting in nest boxes. Shadow likes to sit on the platform following the 2nd ‘floor’ of the coop. I do place her in the nests, but she will walk out of them after a little while and back to her spot in the middle of the platform. If she’s still acting off tomorrow, I’ll show her one of the collected eggs that I receive nearly every morning. I really hope she’s just going broody, I don’t want to lose that little angel of mine (

 

[Eggcessive]

Look around in case she is hiding her eggs somewhere in a pile. I once had a tiny bantam OEG who had collected over a dozen eggs under a nest box. I could not believe that she had hidden so many eggs. Hopefully, she is not sick, but make sure that she is drinking and eating.

 

[AChickenBoi]

Look around in case she is hiding her eggs somewhere in a pile. I once had a tiny bantam OEG who had collected over a dozen eggs under a nest box. I could not believe that she had hidden so many eggs. Hopefully, she is not sick, but make sure that she is drinking and eating.

That is the first thing I do tomorrow after I finish my morning routine. There’s not much to hide, as I cleaned out their nesting boxes. If you’d like, I can post a picture(s) of the coop tomorrow, the nest boxes, and Shadow herself. Im sure once I know for sure she’s trying to squeeze one out, I’m immediately going to give her something to help her and run her a bath. She could have also been stressed out, as my dad was mowing the lawn (causing my barred rock hen to run out the gate, into the neighborhood and give me a heart attack). But I don’t know for sure, as I’m still pretty new to raising chickens.