Mine was doin the same thing the first few times, Erin. I let her go til she had it but she was in pain, I could tell. It took about 4 hours, then she clucked and bagucked in pain. First time I ever heard her actually cluuuuuuuuck! But it was more of a "Omigosh, this HURTS and whats happening" type of cluck than anythin.
I then fed her olive oil soaked bread her second morning and I think it helped her ALOT. After I did that, she acted like it wasnt quite so difficult, and doesnt cry quite as much now, altho she does pace quite a bit.
She must have thought she needed it, cuz usually she hates anything with olive oil in it, but she gobbled it like she was lookin for it. She kept lookin for SOME kind of food, but everything she had wasnt it, so maybe there is somethin in the wild they eat that helps, nuts or somethin with natural oils. I didnt want to overdo it, so I have only done it twice this week. Also, things with natural oils would be sunflower seeds (UNsalted), flaxseed, etc. I dont want to give you wrong advice, cuz these are my first chickens, but it did seem to help her and make her more like her old self. Those first two days, she was very listless, etc, afterwards, like she was totally exhausted.
I was so worried bout the poor lil thing. Make sure and dont use vegetable oil or anything like that, only the natural good stuff, like virgin cold pressed olive oil.
After Mom had her heart attack, thats all we cook with anymore, so we always have it on hand.
Jill
