Is my hen sick? Do i need to switch her food or add something?

[New Chick In The Backyard]

I have a ISA Brown hen named Belina and I bought her almost two months ago. She laid her first egg yesterday. It was a humongous brown egg. Certainly bigger than regular white large store bought eggs. Seems like she was kind of hiding out in the coop instead of coming out into the run for a few days before that. Today I picked her up and couldn't believe how sharp her breast bone was with not much meat surrounding it. I think she has lost weight. I heard this is a good way to tell if they r maintaining or losing weight. Is this normal for having laid the first egg? I just switched her to a high 22% protein pellet a couple weeks ago. It's in the plans to buy oyster shell; my neighbor keeps telling me to give her eggshell. I have plans to bake it and give her some. Any any ideas or advice? I had to pull her daily scratch because I found out it's not good to give so much and it's only a small part of the diet and even tho she's free range and was even given extra grit the corn scratch was undigested in her stool pretty badly. I'm worried about her. She's such a sweet docile easy going hen. Thank you for your time.

 

[sourland]

Is she eating enough of the new feed?

 

[New Chick In The Backyard]

I dont know. She likes the chick starter better and is always trying to steal it from the others. I like to put both out in the run in the day. I need to pay more attention. Thank you.

 

[New Chick In The Backyard]

Anyone? There wasn't a second egg today. Is that normal? Thank u.

 

[kcan2]

Does she have any oyster shells available? They really need some calcium in the production of their eggs. Also, it's normal that they dont lay everyday, especially at first when they are working the kinks out. I'm not sure about why she would seem so underweight, though...hopefully someone else with experience will have input!

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I have a ISA Brown hen named Belina and I bought her almost two months ago. She laid her first egg yesterday. It was a humongous brown egg. Certainly bigger than regular white large store bought eggs. Seems like she was kind of hiding out in the coop instead of coming out into the run for a few days before that. Today I picked her up and couldn't believe how sharp her breast bone was with not much meat surrounding it. I think she has lost weight. I heard this is a good way to tell if they r maintaining or losing weight. Is this normal for having laid the first egg? I just switched her to a high 22% protein pellet a couple weeks ago. It's in the plans to buy oyster shell; my neighbor keeps telling me to give her eggshell. I have plans to bake it and give her some. Any any ideas or advice? I had to pull her daily scratch because I found out it's not good to give so much and it's only a small part of the diet and even tho she's free range and was even given extra grit the corn scratch was undigested in her stool pretty badly. I'm worried about her. She's such a sweet docile easy going hen. Thank you for your time.

Baking her egg shells is a great idea! My girls love their egg shells. I just put them in the oven and turn it on to 350° and as soon as it gets to 350 degrees I shut off the oven. Then I crush them up and scatter them on the ground.The chick starter is probably good for her, it’s higher in protein, so as long as she has oyster shell or egg shells the chick starter should work especially if she is undernourished. I would guess that is why she is preferring that over the other food.