how do you know if she is egg bound???

[TheOldHen]

First time "Urban Farmer" and have a hen 20 weeks old. She acted strange this afternoon. Didn't come running for afternoon treat, and very very easy to pick up. I don't know if she is sick or egg bound. Seeing first time raising chickens, i have not had an egg yet from my hens----so don't know what to look for. After much reading, her tail feathers are drooping, and she isn't "running away when i went to pick her up. I picked her up and put her in her "home" to see if she would go in the nesting box---but she made 3 attempts to roost and finally made it up there. So any help to let me know if she just maybe eat something back today or is she egg bound>>>

 

[so lucky]

She doesn't sound like she feels good. Do you have any reason to think she would be trying to lay an egg? If you don't know the signs of being ready to lay, the most easily recognizable are: very red comb and wattles, spending time in the nest box (rearranging it, trying it out), friendlier to the humans; not only squatting when you start to pick her up or touch her back, but coming around, nosy, not being as skittish, showing interest in other chickens when they go in the nest to lay. Most chickens do not get egg-bound, so being ill from other reasons would be more likely. Watch her tomorrow; see if she acts injured, check her poo (there is a great chart on this forum on what normal poo looks like, just use the search feature to find it), see if she eats with the others. You could try giving her easy to digest food like yogurt and scrambled eggs if she seems to have a digestion issue. Check for mites, check for impacted crop; her crop should be empty in the morning. If it is hard and full, it is likely impacted. I think feeding olive oil is recommended for impacted crop. Also massaging the crop. Maybe one of the more experienced folks here could advise you on whether to get an antibiotic if she has some type of infection. Hope you have a good outcome.