- Oct 21, 2013
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Hi all,
I have (2) new hampshire reds and (1) barred rock. They have been together all their lives and will be one year old in May 2014. I have a fenced in garden where their coop is and I allow them to free-range during the day there. I feed them layer pellets and assorted veggies as well.
One of my NHRs (Amelia) has been smaller from the start, the runt of the group if you will. She was the last to start laying, she started at the beginning of December I believe. In the past week, she started getting snippy. She would run over and peck at the barred rock for no reason. The other NHR is at the top of the pecking order and would peck back at Amelia. They all lay in the same box and a few times I found several NHR feathers, still clumped together, in the layer box. I also opened the box once (oops!) while the larger NHR was laying to find Amelia sticking her head in and screeching at the other hen. I figured this was just her testing the pecking order now that she has started laying, as I hav eheard of similar issues.
On 12/23 my husband went out at the end of the night to check for eggs and found Amelia sleeping alone in the laying box (until that time they've all piled in the other nesting box). There was also some .... version of an egg in the laying box. It had absolutely no shell, not round shaped at all. Like a membrane with a spot of yellow in the middle.
After that, we kept an eye on them - there wasn't any more pecking and when we looked the next few nights, Amelia was sleeping with the other hens again.
Today I came home and found her curled up in a random spot in the yard, her head against the fence. They only nap under our raspberry bush, or in the coop so this was abnormal. Usually when they see me look out the window, they all get up and look at me, but Amelia couldn't care less. My husband said she had been acting lethargic all day and was always napping.
I went out and she didn't come running to the gate with the other hens. She barely ate any seeds out of my hands as well. She moves really slowly and just sat on my lap with her eyes closed for about 10 minutes, which is weird because Amelia is our skittish hen and usually won't allow us to pet her more than a few times.
I took the waterer out of the coop and she ended up drinking a bunch of water which was good... when they all hopped in for bed (she did hop back in the coop herself, albeit a little less graceful than normal) she went right back upstairs to the waterer and stood there drinking.
I am hoping it is a mix of being cold (today is in the 30s here in CT) and possibly dehydrated? I know it is normal for chickens to stop laying over the winter so I am hoping the shell-less egg is unrelated to her behavior.
Any advice, thoughts? Any thing I should look for?
I have (2) new hampshire reds and (1) barred rock. They have been together all their lives and will be one year old in May 2014. I have a fenced in garden where their coop is and I allow them to free-range during the day there. I feed them layer pellets and assorted veggies as well.
One of my NHRs (Amelia) has been smaller from the start, the runt of the group if you will. She was the last to start laying, she started at the beginning of December I believe. In the past week, she started getting snippy. She would run over and peck at the barred rock for no reason. The other NHR is at the top of the pecking order and would peck back at Amelia. They all lay in the same box and a few times I found several NHR feathers, still clumped together, in the layer box. I also opened the box once (oops!) while the larger NHR was laying to find Amelia sticking her head in and screeching at the other hen. I figured this was just her testing the pecking order now that she has started laying, as I hav eheard of similar issues.
On 12/23 my husband went out at the end of the night to check for eggs and found Amelia sleeping alone in the laying box (until that time they've all piled in the other nesting box). There was also some .... version of an egg in the laying box. It had absolutely no shell, not round shaped at all. Like a membrane with a spot of yellow in the middle.
After that, we kept an eye on them - there wasn't any more pecking and when we looked the next few nights, Amelia was sleeping with the other hens again.
Today I came home and found her curled up in a random spot in the yard, her head against the fence. They only nap under our raspberry bush, or in the coop so this was abnormal. Usually when they see me look out the window, they all get up and look at me, but Amelia couldn't care less. My husband said she had been acting lethargic all day and was always napping.
I went out and she didn't come running to the gate with the other hens. She barely ate any seeds out of my hands as well. She moves really slowly and just sat on my lap with her eyes closed for about 10 minutes, which is weird because Amelia is our skittish hen and usually won't allow us to pet her more than a few times.
I took the waterer out of the coop and she ended up drinking a bunch of water which was good... when they all hopped in for bed (she did hop back in the coop herself, albeit a little less graceful than normal) she went right back upstairs to the waterer and stood there drinking.
I am hoping it is a mix of being cold (today is in the 30s here in CT) and possibly dehydrated? I know it is normal for chickens to stop laying over the winter so I am hoping the shell-less egg is unrelated to her behavior.
Any advice, thoughts? Any thing I should look for?
