Egg bound?

[Blueberry7]

We are new to chickens and have 7 hens that are around 20 weeks. Two have started laying daily. We had a third egg two days ago. It was HUGE and did not belong to the two that had been laying. The shell was a bit inconsistent. No third egg the next day. Again today, no third egg but I did have a hen that was just not acting herself. She was not running around, tended to stand in place, had runny poop. I wonder if she is the hen with the enormous egg and I wonder if she is egg bound? I gave her an epsom salt sits bath and calcium paste from one of our gel caps. She seemed more chipper after that. We isolated her in an old dog pen with plenty of bedding, food, water, and a place to nest/bed down. Any advice?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

New layers can act off, but it's always a good idea to keep watch on them. If she was pooping, then she was not egg bound.
It's good the bath perked her up, it won't hurt to see that she is drinking plenty of water, have a source of calcium free choice like oyster shell and is eating.

Let us know how she is.

 

[Blueberry7]

Thanks for the support!

She was eating, drinking, and more active when we left her last night. I’m hoping for improvement today!

 

[Blueberry7]

She was acting much better today....in and out of the nesting box with the other laying hens all afternoon and she was squawking up a storm. I think she’ll be okay. May be that giant first egg was a fluke?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She was acting much better today....in and out of the nesting box with the other laying hens all afternoon and she was squawking up a storm. I think she’ll be okay. May be that giant first egg was a fluke?

I'm glad she is doing better.
It can take a while for new layers to work out the "kinks". It's always a good idea to keep watch on her. I had one that started with double yolkers, but now she lays a "normal" egg.

 

[Blueberry7]

Finally got this from her today. Not sure what was going on, but she sure did get a lot out today. There was also soft shell remnants and egg white nearby in the dropping pan. The normal egg we did get had an extra layer of calcium deposited all over it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I can only guess, but it looks like she had a soft shell or shell less egg that she was trying to get out. Finally with the hard shell egg she was able to push it on out.

If you haven't done so, offer oyster shell free choice for added calcium. If you give a lot of "treats" then cut back on those to be no more than 5-10% of daily intake depending on the protein content of your feed.

 

[Blueberry7]

Thanks for the input! They have oyster shell next to feed. No treats offered.