Well put, quality rather than quantity. A life well lived.Although it is a cause of worry, it's not necessarily a short term one. It could be an "accident" and never happen again, or only happen again in a long time.
Many high production hens have difficulty laying but they can live with it for some time and I think it can vary a lot.
In my flock of six ex-batts, Vanille died of being egg bound after having lived all her life with those difficulties. She usually passed two eggs together, three in a row happened twice I believe. It took more than two years of laying before she died, and in all that time I think she laid "normally" no more than 20 times.
Blanche, an other of my hens, had a difficult period last year laying either two in a row or soft shelled every evening.It lasted for three months I think. Now she's doing okay although she still lays soft shell every now and then. Like Light, she sometimes screams when she lays and there's no doubt that it's from pain. It used to make me feel terrible but then she obviously is so much better once it's done and she just goes back to her crazy little self.
On the other hand Caramel had never shown any sign of having difficulty laying before she got seriously ill in May. I was also shocked, like you, that she was still laying then, even though she had eaten nothing at all for a whole week. Then she stopped laying and never laid again, even when she got better. And two months and a half later she died of egg yolk peritonitis, having too many shell-less eggs stuck in her.
So I'm not sure this sounds conforting but what I mean to say is that even though you will often read that once a hen has reproductive disorders she will die from it, it's more nuanced. I do hope and believe Light will recover fully, but I also want to say in case she doesn't that we never regretted keeping Vanille with us because in spite of her being in pain much of her time laying, she had a great fighting spirit and enjoyed every moment she was pain free.
Finally I think that with your flock you can unfortunately expect that at least one will eventually die from reproductive disorder- but then, every chicken has to die of something one day. I think with high production breeds it's best to set one's intention on giving them the best life rather than the longest, and hope that the best lasts.
I am speechless with my chickens.
how are the horses .
