Help please! Hen acting strange.

[ascott11]

Hi everyone!

My 16 week old hen just started laying eggs two days ago. She laid an egg Friday and Saturday. In addition to the one she laid yesterday (Saturday) she also laid a soft shell egg while she was settling for the night. I don’t think she realized she laid the egg as she was just on her roosting bar.

Today I’ve noticed that she was hanging around the coop when she’s usually one of the first to go out to free range. I thought maybe she needed to lay since she was hanging around the coop and eventually went into the nesting box. She was in there for awhile and started to make a lot of noise so I thought she laid an egg, but she didn’t. She’s been panting all day but it is about 90 degrees here. I brought her inside because I was afraid she was egg bound so I checked inside her vent and didn’t feel anything. After I did this, I noticed some clear drops of liquid leaking from her vent. She usually will gobble up blueberries and blackberries but she hasn’t really eaten much when I offer them to her. The poop I’ve seen her drop today has been more on the liquid side. Her vent looks normal, but it’s been contracting as she pants.

Do you know if anything is wrong with her? If there is something do you know what it could be?


UPDATE: I just walked outside after posting this and she is laying in the dirt taking a dust bath/napping and is no longer panting. I’m still not sure if I should be worried though!

 

[Birdie mom]

it may just be the heat making her lazy. keep an eye on her to make sure she is doing OK. fingers crossed she will be fine.

 

[robinfox]

Hi everyone!

My 16 week old hen just started laying eggs two days ago. She laid an egg Friday and Saturday. In addition to the one she laid yesterday (Saturday) she also laid a soft shell egg while she was settling for the night. I don’t think she realized she laid the egg as she was just on her roosting bar.

Today I’ve noticed that she was hanging around the coop when she’s usually one of the first to go out to free range. I thought maybe she needed to lay since she was hanging around the coop and eventually went into the nesting box. She was in there for awhile and started to make a lot of noise so I thought she laid an egg, but she didn’t. She’s been panting all day but it is about 90 degrees here. I brought her inside because I was afraid she was egg bound so I checked inside her vent and didn’t feel anything. After I did this, I noticed some clear drops of liquid leaking from her vent. She usually will gobble up blueberries and blackberries but she hasn’t really eaten much when I offer them to her. The poop I’ve seen her drop today has been more on the liquid side. Her vent looks normal, but it’s been contracting as she pants.

Do you know if anything is wrong with her? If there is something do you know what it could be?


UPDATE: I just walked outside after posting this and she is laying in the dirt taking a dust bath/napping and is no longer panting. I’m still not sure if I should be worried though!

Yes, I think she will be okay Make sure she has enough grit calcium and laying protein to make eggs every day. Otherwise the shell will not be formed. She needs water too, if you suspect heat stroke, try giving her a cool bath hope she goes back to normal

 

[Birdie mom]

Yes, I think she will be okay Make sure she has enough grit calcium and laying protein to make eggs every day. Otherwise the shell will not be formed. She needs water too, if you suspect heat stroke, try giving her a cool bath hope she goes back to normal

maybe not a cool bath, changing the temperature from hot to cold suddenly might do more harm than good, bringing her inside and giving her cool water to drink would help. If her temperature goes up really high and her life is in danger, a cool bath may be the only option,

 

[ascott11]

She seems much better now! She ate some blueberries and came running when she saw me picking blackberries off of the bush (those are her absolute favorite!) we also had a storm today so she may have been rattled from that plus the heat. It was just so weird to see her not running out of the coop like she usually would do. I JUST switched to a layer feed with oyster shell in it too since she started laying earlier than I expected! I’m hoping that will help her as well. I have 3 different waterers out in the yard plus the one in their coop but they never seem to go to them!