My Wyandotte must of been born with this or caught it at a very early age. I knew that she had never laid an egg. Today I found out why as we thought it was best to cull her before she would develop an infection, which I'm very shocked she didn't.
When we opened her up, my 1 year old hen had about 20 full sized egg yolks then all other different sizes down to the tiny dot egg/embryo. Her yolks were pretty tough and did not break until we cut them open with a sharp knife.
She never had an extended abdomen, poop/ate well and she was in the nest box daily thinking she was laying an egg. When I picked her up today right before we processed her, she weighed a lot. It was shocking for a smaller hen. I guess that explains all the full sized yolks.
I almost rehomed her, but at was going back and fourth about it since I had this suspicion about her condition. I've never really knew anything about it until a few weeks ago wondering what was up with her not laying a single egg.
What surprised me the most, is the yolks were being reabsorbed back into her body and not once had she gotten an infection.
A couple of questions though, is this condition contagious? And can we eat her since there was never a bacteria infection?
My husband and I processed her together this morning, cleaned her up and put her in the fridge. She's a nice sized bird and looks better then any store bought chicken.
I have another hen that lays calcium deposits inside the egg white in big clumps, but we feed her eggs hard boiled back to the hens. I'll have to keep my eye on her, so she doesn't get sick and an extended belly. She laid 2 eggs within a 24 hour period just this week. One in the afternoon, then overnight on the roost. Her eggs are pretty distinct looking. Plus she laid one the next day. She's a very nice hen, which keeps her around. My Wyandotte was a nasty feather picker.
When we opened her up, my 1 year old hen had about 20 full sized egg yolks then all other different sizes down to the tiny dot egg/embryo. Her yolks were pretty tough and did not break until we cut them open with a sharp knife.
She never had an extended abdomen, poop/ate well and she was in the nest box daily thinking she was laying an egg. When I picked her up today right before we processed her, she weighed a lot. It was shocking for a smaller hen. I guess that explains all the full sized yolks.
I almost rehomed her, but at was going back and fourth about it since I had this suspicion about her condition. I've never really knew anything about it until a few weeks ago wondering what was up with her not laying a single egg.
What surprised me the most, is the yolks were being reabsorbed back into her body and not once had she gotten an infection.
A couple of questions though, is this condition contagious? And can we eat her since there was never a bacteria infection?
My husband and I processed her together this morning, cleaned her up and put her in the fridge. She's a nice sized bird and looks better then any store bought chicken.
I have another hen that lays calcium deposits inside the egg white in big clumps, but we feed her eggs hard boiled back to the hens. I'll have to keep my eye on her, so she doesn't get sick and an extended belly. She laid 2 eggs within a 24 hour period just this week. One in the afternoon, then overnight on the roost. Her eggs are pretty distinct looking. Plus she laid one the next day. She's a very nice hen, which keeps her around. My Wyandotte was a nasty feather picker.
