Hello!
I’ve been having egg laying issues with one of my modern game bantam hens. She is two years old, and laid perfectly fine, fertile eggs last year.
This year, she’s been problematic. When I turned on my light during the winter to get light hours to the needed amount for egg laying, she was the first to get what I call an “egg butt”, where their bottom swells and you can tell they have an egg to lay. But she stayed that way for two weeks, and I thought maybe she was just gaining weight. But then I started to be able to feel t actual egg, not just a lump. I could feel the hard ball right at her cloaca, but she would not lay it. Finally, she laid a soft shelled egg, which was weird as the lump was hard. Then she continued laying at odd intervals, and every time I would find the egg cracked. I assumed she was eating them after I caught her pecking at another hens egg. Then, I found her with egg yolk all over her bottom and stomach, but she had a broken egg in the nest box she was sitting in, so I thought it was just from the yolk on the ground. Then today, I caught her laying, and watched to see if I could get the egg before she broke it, and I was shocked when I saw what she laid, and DIDN’T break open.
The egg was cracked around the middle, but had sealed over/repaired inside of her, due to the calcium ridge over the cracked area, but one spot wasn’t sealed and smashed in as it passed through her vent. (Pictures of egg below)
Is this a certain condition? Why is this occurring? Is there anything I can do to fix it?
She was switched to a new feed 7 months ago, and is on a mixed show bird feed (I can’t give ingredients, it’s a specific mixture within the family) but it is 18% protein, and has oyster shell mixed in. She roams loose all day (It’s breeding season, and since she isn’t laying eggs she’s not being separated from the roosters like the other hens), and hasn’t been acting strange or different in any other ways.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
I’ve been having egg laying issues with one of my modern game bantam hens. She is two years old, and laid perfectly fine, fertile eggs last year.
This year, she’s been problematic. When I turned on my light during the winter to get light hours to the needed amount for egg laying, she was the first to get what I call an “egg butt”, where their bottom swells and you can tell they have an egg to lay. But she stayed that way for two weeks, and I thought maybe she was just gaining weight. But then I started to be able to feel t actual egg, not just a lump. I could feel the hard ball right at her cloaca, but she would not lay it. Finally, she laid a soft shelled egg, which was weird as the lump was hard. Then she continued laying at odd intervals, and every time I would find the egg cracked. I assumed she was eating them after I caught her pecking at another hens egg. Then, I found her with egg yolk all over her bottom and stomach, but she had a broken egg in the nest box she was sitting in, so I thought it was just from the yolk on the ground. Then today, I caught her laying, and watched to see if I could get the egg before she broke it, and I was shocked when I saw what she laid, and DIDN’T break open.
The egg was cracked around the middle, but had sealed over/repaired inside of her, due to the calcium ridge over the cracked area, but one spot wasn’t sealed and smashed in as it passed through her vent. (Pictures of egg below)
Is this a certain condition? Why is this occurring? Is there anything I can do to fix it?
She was switched to a new feed 7 months ago, and is on a mixed show bird feed (I can’t give ingredients, it’s a specific mixture within the family) but it is 18% protein, and has oyster shell mixed in. She roams loose all day (It’s breeding season, and since she isn’t laying eggs she’s not being separated from the roosters like the other hens), and hasn’t been acting strange or different in any other ways.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
