Maya chicken stopped laying, eating and stopping pecking others. Now...

[trufadog]

Maya the brown leghorn was our first layer (white eggs, so easy to spot) in March. This week, she stopped laying then stopped eating and pecking others. She was sitting by the waterer while the others were zooming around outside in the sun. We separated her and gave her epson salt baths and checked her vent but it wasn't a bound egg. Then we tried to vomit her but there was nothing to come out of her crop. Her eyes were clear, she was pooping and we figured we could return her to the group. We gave her droppers of nutrition (nutri drench) and all of a sudden she started feeling better. Running around (but a little slower) with the group. Pecking another, eating and drinking. Today, when I was cleaning out the poop hammock, I found a really huge shell-less egg. I can't tell if it was her white egg because it has no shell. It was whole but very poopy.

Any ideas? Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

She may have been egg bound with the shell-less egg, which apparently are much more difficult to pass. I would make sure that she is eating layer feed and has crushed oyster shell in a separate container, to take as she wants it. For a couple of days you could give her a human calcium tablet that contains vitamin D. Crush it in some egg or wet feed. Some hens have a problem with their shell glands forming a hard shell, but hopefully hers will harden. Soft eggs can easily break inside and be a setup for infection and other reproductive problems.

 

[trufadog]

She got better and we put her back in with the other girls. She still didn't start laying and it's been a month. We came back from vacation and she has a floppy comb and watery poop with yellow and some black small poop or bile. We think we have to put her down.