Fayoumi - egg bound? UPDATE dead :( some questions...

[warmfuzzyfeelings]

Thank you. It is great to talk to someone else who has fayoumis. And thanks for the advice you gave - we did put up a wooden partition so the nesting box is more private which hopefully will please the two remaining ones. They should be laying by now and I don't know why they aren't, but I hope that helps. I'll be checking more thoroughly to see if they hide eggs anywhere too. I've also learned from this episode that live yogurt is good for them and apple cider vinegar in the water is beneficial, so they will be better off for that too.

I tried dusting them with DE last night in case of mites, which they resented terribly and it caused a great deal of squawking and flapping. Mrs Doyle shouted at me and it may have been that which finished her off... but if she was going to die anyway maybe it was better that she went more quickly... I'll never know. My hubby did check her for mites before he buried her and there were no signs of them, also her crop was fine and he said she didn't feel as though she had any eggs in her.

I'm beginning to realise how quirky they are compared to other breeds. My friend who came to check on Mrs Doyle was very bemused by them and asked me why on earth we'd chosen that particular breed. But what makes them challenging is what makes them characters, and I'm glad we've got them. I read a description of them as "precocious escape artists" which sums them up, lol. We had to put a large net over their run, as even though their wings are clipped they can still go pretty high! They like to fly into our faces when startled.

How strange that your rooster died so suddenly.

 

[warmfuzzyfeelings]

I have just been looking at pictures of poo and pictures of hens with coccidiosis. Mrs Doyle had the hunched, wings down look of a bird with coccidiosis (although I'm sure many chicken ailments make them look like this!). Her poos were white and runny the day before she died, and I can't remember what they were like the two days before that when she looked unwell. But I'm wondering if what I saw as blood in the nesting box was in fact a bloody poo. If it was, and if it was coccisiosis, would she have then done none-bloody poos afterwards, or would all of her poos had blood in them? There was no trace anywhere else, just that one time on the first day of her unwellness.

The other girls look like they're thriving although one of them is doing browny yellow sticky poos which look like cecal poos but of course now I'm worrying!

 

[brandieleec]

Hi all,
I know this is an old thread, but I am having problems with my Egyptian Fayoumi and her eggs. She is 2 yrs old and last year was an excellent layer. When she started again this spring we had a couple normal eggs then she started having trouble. I thought she was dying because she would hardly move and her head would just droop, so I brought her in to see if I could get some water in her while we did some research. I thought I could feel an egg shape but it wasn't hard so I wasn't sure until she ended up laying a shell-less egg in my hand. Since then we made sure she had more calcium and had a few normal eggs, but now her eggs are huge for her and it takes her forever to lay them. This time it's been over a week and she still hasn't laid it, but she is not the typical "eggbound" hen. She functions like normal. Last time she finally laid it after days of warm water soaking and massaging her vent area. This time it's been even longer. I feel so bad for her! Is there anything we can do to try to make the eggs not grow so big? Or to slow or stop her egg production?
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Brandie