I need some help solving an egg mystery...
My Silver Salmon Marans seems to not be laying, and I can't figure out what is going on. Here is her history:
Day 1, March 21 - she laid her very first egg, in the nesting box like a good girl!
Day 2 - she spent time in the nesting box, then came out singing her egg song loud and clear - but no egg. Maybe what I thought was her egg song was actually alarm, maybe something scared her?
Day 3 - We noticed in the afternoon that she was lacklustre, spending lots of time just standing instead of actively pecking like the rest of the flock, and her stance was wider than usual. I guessed she might be egg bound. I grabbed some lube and a glove and was walking toward her when she half-squatted in the garden bed and laid her egg. I went over to get it, and noticed that the egg was very rough and whitish, and stuck to it was the broken membrane of another egg. Immediately after laying the egg, she returned to her normal self. That night on the roost she passed the rest of the membrane, and the yolk and white. I'm guessing that the egg from day 2 got stalled of some reason, and day 3's egg didn't make it to the shell gland.
Day 4 - no egg... and no egg since! She seems healthy - eating, drinking, pooping, no external parasites. Her abdomen feels normal. They free range during the day over the backyard of our half-acre property, and I wondered if maybe she'd decided to lay somewhere in the yard - but I looked around pretty thoroughly today as I was hiding Easter eggs for the kids, and couldn't find anything.
So I'm wondering if there's something else I should be investigating? I could try locking her up for a day or two, but that would be stressful for her. Is it possible that something inside was damaged with the egg mishap of days 2 and 3, and now she just won't lay anymore?
My Silver Salmon Marans seems to not be laying, and I can't figure out what is going on. Here is her history:
Day 1, March 21 - she laid her very first egg, in the nesting box like a good girl!
Day 2 - she spent time in the nesting box, then came out singing her egg song loud and clear - but no egg. Maybe what I thought was her egg song was actually alarm, maybe something scared her?
Day 3 - We noticed in the afternoon that she was lacklustre, spending lots of time just standing instead of actively pecking like the rest of the flock, and her stance was wider than usual. I guessed she might be egg bound. I grabbed some lube and a glove and was walking toward her when she half-squatted in the garden bed and laid her egg. I went over to get it, and noticed that the egg was very rough and whitish, and stuck to it was the broken membrane of another egg. Immediately after laying the egg, she returned to her normal self. That night on the roost she passed the rest of the membrane, and the yolk and white. I'm guessing that the egg from day 2 got stalled of some reason, and day 3's egg didn't make it to the shell gland.
Day 4 - no egg... and no egg since! She seems healthy - eating, drinking, pooping, no external parasites. Her abdomen feels normal. They free range during the day over the backyard of our half-acre property, and I wondered if maybe she'd decided to lay somewhere in the yard - but I looked around pretty thoroughly today as I was hiding Easter eggs for the kids, and couldn't find anything.
So I'm wondering if there's something else I should be investigating? I could try locking her up for a day or two, but that would be stressful for her. Is it possible that something inside was damaged with the egg mishap of days 2 and 3, and now she just won't lay anymore?