First time posting here, but desperate to get information and answers. Our beloved Redstar, Goldie, who is a champion layer, has been exhibiting very strange behaviors recently.
One minute she's her usual, active self - very food motivated and always running/scratching. She's eating and drinking okay, so all good there.
Then out of nowhere, she takes a very long pause or break and stands immobile, while her eyes pin rapidly. She starts to pant and lifts her wings from her body, and might just take a seat wherever she is, or go retreat to a far corner. She seems to me in those moments to appear really fatigued.
Then after a few minutes, she'll go back to 'normal' and repeat the process. I've noticed it happens more in the afternoon. I started observing this about three weeks ago and it's continued since then with each day varying slightly as to how many times she may do this.
She almost never misses a day laying and lately she's been irregular - missing two or three days in a week which is unusual for her.
She's also been laying very strange slab -shaped eggs. I read this could be a sign of stress or disease, but no way to find out what illness she might have - Can't find anything unusual in her droppings.
We do have a bully in our flock who particularly picks on her, but not sure why this would all be happening now, as it's gone on for a long while. She's the only Redstar in our flock, with three other Easter Eggers.
She's 18 months old and possibly getting ready for a first molt? But no signs as far as I can see of that.
Could she be exhausted from laying so much? I'm worried she could be sick with something that's slowing her down. Seems from researching online that there are so many things it could be -- I don't know how to tell for sure without a vet and tests.
That's why I'm inquiring here -- Maybe this has happened to someone else before and they know what it might be? Has anyone else ever observed anything like this?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
One minute she's her usual, active self - very food motivated and always running/scratching. She's eating and drinking okay, so all good there.
Then out of nowhere, she takes a very long pause or break and stands immobile, while her eyes pin rapidly. She starts to pant and lifts her wings from her body, and might just take a seat wherever she is, or go retreat to a far corner. She seems to me in those moments to appear really fatigued.
Then after a few minutes, she'll go back to 'normal' and repeat the process. I've noticed it happens more in the afternoon. I started observing this about three weeks ago and it's continued since then with each day varying slightly as to how many times she may do this.
She almost never misses a day laying and lately she's been irregular - missing two or three days in a week which is unusual for her.
She's also been laying very strange slab -shaped eggs. I read this could be a sign of stress or disease, but no way to find out what illness she might have - Can't find anything unusual in her droppings.
We do have a bully in our flock who particularly picks on her, but not sure why this would all be happening now, as it's gone on for a long while. She's the only Redstar in our flock, with three other Easter Eggers.
She's 18 months old and possibly getting ready for a first molt? But no signs as far as I can see of that.
Could she be exhausted from laying so much? I'm worried she could be sick with something that's slowing her down. Seems from researching online that there are so many things it could be -- I don't know how to tell for sure without a vet and tests.
That's why I'm inquiring here -- Maybe this has happened to someone else before and they know what it might be? Has anyone else ever observed anything like this?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
