Over the weekend we moved our three girls into a new coop and run. Yesterday when I got home from work I noticed that one of my Barred Rocks Pepper was acting mopey. Mopey chicken=a sick chicken in my book so I let her be but kept an eye on her. Just by looking at her I knew she didn't feel good but she also let me touch her which NEVER happens.
About an hour after I got home I checked on her and noticed that her back end was very red and swollen. She is regrowing her cushion so she's got a bare patch there. I immediately thought the other two girls had been picking at her so I went into the run to get a closer look. As I bent down, out came an egg. A huge egg. And it was soft shelled. I took it in the house and showed my daughter and hubby. What a perfect opportunity to learn about eggs as part of 4-H. So I let my daughter dissect it. There's what we found. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the egg in tact before the science lesson started.
The first layer was just membrane and albumen. Inside that was a full sized egg, soft-shelled but normal sized. We open that and found the normal stuff but the yoke was larger than normal.
You can see the two membranes and the punctured yoke. I did a little research and apparently this is rare and now one knows why it happens. I suspect it's because of the move into the new coop and run AND my daughters' friend was chasing the chickens a bit on Sunday. I used this as an great example of a) the egg laying process and b) a HUGE reason not to chase my chickens.
After we checked on the BR again, I caught her and put her in the coop. She immediately went into the nest box and was still there when the girls went to bed last night. I assume she's still there now, I haven't checked yet this morning.
Anyone have any idea how long it takes for recovery from something like this? I hope she's ok and perks back up soon.
About an hour after I got home I checked on her and noticed that her back end was very red and swollen. She is regrowing her cushion so she's got a bare patch there. I immediately thought the other two girls had been picking at her so I went into the run to get a closer look. As I bent down, out came an egg. A huge egg. And it was soft shelled. I took it in the house and showed my daughter and hubby. What a perfect opportunity to learn about eggs as part of 4-H. So I let my daughter dissect it. There's what we found. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the egg in tact before the science lesson started.
The first layer was just membrane and albumen. Inside that was a full sized egg, soft-shelled but normal sized. We open that and found the normal stuff but the yoke was larger than normal.
You can see the two membranes and the punctured yoke. I did a little research and apparently this is rare and now one knows why it happens. I suspect it's because of the move into the new coop and run AND my daughters' friend was chasing the chickens a bit on Sunday. I used this as an great example of a) the egg laying process and b) a HUGE reason not to chase my chickens.
After we checked on the BR again, I caught her and put her in the coop. She immediately went into the nest box and was still there when the girls went to bed last night. I assume she's still there now, I haven't checked yet this morning.
Anyone have any idea how long it takes for recovery from something like this? I hope she's ok and perks back up soon.
