Hen can't balance after laying egg.

[sally90]

Hi the last few days my frizzle hen has developed a problem, every time she lays an egg she acts as though she cant get her balance and struggles to walk around/stand up stumbling and falling all over, almost like she's drunk. She is 18 months old and has been laying for the last 8-10 months. She has never had this problem before and at first I thought it was something she ate but have come to realise it's seems to happen straight after laying and then continues throughout the day but after she has been to bed the next morning she is fine and normal until she lays again.(she lays every other day normally)None of my other chickens have this problem (I have 5).Also apart from being unbalanced she eats and drinks normally and tries to keep up with the others going about there business! Any help or info on this would be much appreciated. Many thanks sally.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some hens can experience a temporary paralysis during and after laying an egg. There is also a condition called cage layer fatigue or osteomalacia, where they have a calcium deficiency during peak egg laying cycles, and suffer weakness in the legs. Is she getting layer feed with some additional calcium such as crushed egg shells or oyster shell to take when she wants it? Many hens will ignore oyster shell, but love crushed egg shells, at least mine will. http://articles.extension.org/pages/67822/cage-layer-fatigue