Anonymous Chicken
Crowing
Hello,
We have a special needs RIR pullet who is having a very hard time laying eggs. All of the pullets (RIR) that we bought her with started laying at four months, but she started laying at eight months. (She's also smaller than the other pullets.) She's laid two eggs so far. The first one was a few days before Christmas, and was very hard for her to pass (it took several hours). Yesterday we found her crouched beneath a tree in our yard, and brought her inside. Her balance was extremely off, she couldn't walk, and she was breathing very heavily (her breathing was audible, but it's hard to describe what it sounded like), and she kept hanging/tilting her head in strange positions. Her crop felt a bit squishy and she was regurgitating slightly. She mostly kept her eyes closed. In the morning, we found an egg with a very thin shell in her crate (I suspect it broke once she laid it). She is much better today; most of her balance is back, she ate some scrambled egg, and she has more of her behavioral quirks back. I think it would be best if I tried to bring her out of lay, but I wasn't sure of the best way to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help her?
Thank you!
We have a special needs RIR pullet who is having a very hard time laying eggs. All of the pullets (RIR) that we bought her with started laying at four months, but she started laying at eight months. (She's also smaller than the other pullets.) She's laid two eggs so far. The first one was a few days before Christmas, and was very hard for her to pass (it took several hours). Yesterday we found her crouched beneath a tree in our yard, and brought her inside. Her balance was extremely off, she couldn't walk, and she was breathing very heavily (her breathing was audible, but it's hard to describe what it sounded like), and she kept hanging/tilting her head in strange positions. Her crop felt a bit squishy and she was regurgitating slightly. She mostly kept her eyes closed. In the morning, we found an egg with a very thin shell in her crate (I suspect it broke once she laid it). She is much better today; most of her balance is back, she ate some scrambled egg, and she has more of her behavioral quirks back. I think it would be best if I tried to bring her out of lay, but I wasn't sure of the best way to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help her?
Thank you!
