Is my hen ok? 2 eggs at once?!

[britinpa]

Yes. Those will work wonderfully!

Thank you!

 

[britinpa]

Yes. Those will work wonderfully!

I think I have two (out of 8) that aren't laying yet, but I'm sure it's the little brown (asian black) that I have, who is smaller than the others that laid the soft shells. I have just managed to shut her in the coop on her own and after playing with the tablet, after a short while she swallowed it on her own. Shall I just give one to her for the next couple of days? It's hard for me to keep track of who lays what and when.

 

[azygous]

Right now, your hen is behaving normally. The loud vocals are normally what we hear from a hen that feels acute pressure inside that she identifies as the need to lay an egg.

Where your hen departs from the normal is in having two eggs at the same time come down the oviduct. This is why you're going to give her one of those calcium citrate 600mg tablets each day until she has been laying just one normal egg per day, and not two.

If you do this, the calcium should reset her cycle so that she's only releasing one egg. Then she won't need the daily calcium after that.

 

[britinpa]

I usually have no idea which pullet has layed what egg and when. Sometimes by the time I open their hatch, there might be one or two eggs already there, then the others just get laid throughout the day. Some days we get 4 eggs, some days we have had 6. It's a bit all over the place at the moment. I guess I will just keep an eye on this little girl for any issues - she doesn't seem sick or anything, just not growing as fast as the rest. I just don't want to overdose on the calcium citrate, if I'm not able to catch her in the act of laying.

 

[azygous]

To overdose on calcium, it would have to be given in large amounts over a long period, say, years. It would produce kidney stones and curtail kidney function. There is no such danger giving calcium citrate for say, a week or two or even three or four weeks. Nothing will happen.

It would be like you binging on nothing but dairy for a month to the exclusion of all other foods. Nothing would happen except you wouldn't like the results when you eventually get on your bathroom scale.

 

[britinpa]

Thank you - that's very helpful. I will continue to give them and keep an eye on her.

 

[chickity-chick]

Right now, your hen is behaving normally. The loud vocals are normally what we hear from a hen that feels acute pressure inside that she identifies as the need to lay an egg.

Where your hen departs from the normal is in having two eggs at the same time come down the oviduct. This is why you're going to give her one of those calcium citrate 600mg tablets each day until she has been laying just one normal egg per day, and not two.

If you do this, the calcium should reset her cycle so that she's only releasing one egg. Then she won't need the daily calcium after that.

Ok thank you so much again! Im so sorry that I have so many questions! I just want to make sure I do everything correctly! Thank you so much!!

 

[chickity-chick]

Yes. Those will work wonderfully!

Hi you guys ok so now I’m really worried again. I was giving her the medicine tonight and I unwrapped her from the towel set her down and she took two steps and then went to poop and water liquid shot out of her butt and it was a lot of it, there was maybe a tiny bit of liquid brown poop with it. Then she went walking around sneezing a ton- now I am set to go to the store Tuesday so I’m still giving her tums mixed with water in a syringe so perhaps I got some in her nose but I am most concerned with the poop incident. She also laid another soft shelled egg- it was not as soft as last time today but skipped laying yesterday. I thought that they only pooped liquid when they are over heated but it’s really cold out. It was not a cecal poop it was like almost pure watery clear liquid with a dash of brown. I’m concerned any advice or idea as to what’s going on?
@azygous

 

[azygous]

Remember what I told you about how to tell if your chicken is not feeling well? Poop is a minor detail compared to behavior.

You should get worried when you see your hen behaving with those symptoms I listed. However, projectile poop needs to be looked at.

Is she dripping any fluids from her vent? Is there any indication she's straining to push an egg out? Watch for that.

Glad you were able to match a thin-shell egg up to this hen. It tells us she needs continuing calcium still. If you go out, get some of this.

Continue to give her one per day and monitor her eggs. As long as she's on this calcium therapy, she likely won't have any stuck eggs, at least.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

How does her crop feel?