newbie with a ?sick? chicken???

[wanderseek]

Hello all. My little black hen Goldie is acting strangely as of about an hour ago. She was hanging around the water spigot and we noticed she kept drinking and drinking out of the pot the catches the water for the cat and dog. (It was cleaned and refilled with fresh, cold water just a bit earlier.) She's walking around slowly, and sorta hiding out under the peony bushes. She comes out to chug from the water pot again, and I thought best to run her off from the water. All 22 chickens have been free ranging around in the yard for a couple of hours, had some lettuce and a small cup of fully cooked plain rice. No one else is acting any differently than usual. Goldie's crop looks full and sloshing like a water balloon is in there, since she's been drinking and drinking. One time since the heavy drinking started, I saw her poop what looked like clear water! Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Becky

 

[wanderseek]

UPDATE: Just went and investigated the area around the water pot after husband had already done so. Found a weird, soft, "shelless?" egg there! Wow! Does that mean this is her first egg? We've been getting eggs for a few weeks now, but never knew who was laying them. So cool! I still am concerned and hope she's okay. ?????

Becky

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Do you suppose that it could have been her first egg and she was in a "hard labor" and that caused her to want to drink so much water?
Hope she's okay now. Do you have her on layer feed? I always keep crushed oyster shells available in a plastic open-topped box for extra calcium needs.