Not again 😣

[Maddcatter]

I don't know what happened, truthfully I forgot to count the eggs yesterday, my fault I know I should be keeping track
But I'm pretty confident that Sprightly did not lay a proper egg

I looked in the nestbox and found yolk and egg whites in the nest
I thought, well, maybe they ate an egg....
But I dug around and found View attachment 3488793View attachment 3488794
This, circular piece of shell. The egg yolk was still warm, and no one sat on it, so it was freshly laid.
I don't know what happened exactly, but I think Sprightly's shell was messed up, super brittle, broke and they ate it. If there was a formed shell at all, which based on this neat piece of shell, I'm doubtful of.
Her vent looks okay, I can't feel anything left there and she seems okay. But yeah, I'm really not sure what she laid.

Out of curiosity, did you check at a normal time for her to have laid an egg?
Maybe she just got startled while the shell was being made and so she laid an egg with out a complete shell?
(I say, hopefully...)

 

[BelovedBirds]

Will she go back and sit on the eggs if you let her decide?

No, only at night time when I put her in.
When she's out she doesn't go in to sit on them yet

 

[BelovedBirds]

Out of curiosity, did you check at a normal time for her to have laid an egg?
Maybe she just got startled while the shell was being made and so she laid an egg with out a complete shell?
(I say, hopefully...)

It was actually quite late for her to lay, usually it would be at 4-5 am that they lay (when they don't have trouble...)
But this egg yolk was warm at almost 9 am
I believe she laid it just before I went outside, I don't think anything would have startled her but I can't say for sure

 

[Canadian Wind]

You *did* say that Dougie loves to eat eggs... Could it just be that? That she ate one of the eggs?

That shell looked too rounded, to me... And thick. Looked more like some sort of seashell. Or someone's artificial fingernail (gross).

 

[BelovedBirds]

You *did* say that Dougie loves to eat eggs... Could it just be that? That she ate one of the eggs?

That shell looked too rounded, to me... And thick. Looked more like some sort of seashell. Or someone's artificial fingernail (gross).

Its definitely not a nail, lol!
It was definitely egg shell, the thing is I saw this when Dougie laid a soft shell a while ago, above where the air cell should be, the piece of circular membrane came off, leaving a hole. She later passed a tiny circular piece of membrane which fitted. Somehow it detached. This was just like that, except made of shell
It was bizarre
If they'd broken an egg and ate the shell (possible though not something they typically do) I don't see how they'd leave a perfect round piece of shell... unless the egg was very brittle, or partially soft shell.....
It's very, very strange.

 

[BelovedBirds]

In other news, Sprightly was VERY happy last night, laid a relatively normal egg, and sat on her nest again. She left it beautifully covered with hay, too

And this morning she's in a very good mood! Did a little bit of free ranging, ate some treats, and was very excited about me refilling the pool. This is the happiest she's been in a decent while

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully, this means she is getting in the broody mood.

 

[BelovedBirds]

She's gone from behaving normally and happily, to acting very odd, in a matter of half an hour or so.

Went out to spend a bit of time with them before bed, she seemed okay, I was content. Did some jobs in the pen, from behind me, I hear a mad rustle of feathers and see Sprightly running towards me, having tripped and fallen on her wings in the panic, I go investigate and see nothing, no cat, no fox, didn't even see a rat through the wire. Nothing there, it seemed
She is spooked none the less and Dougie is now standing tall and yelling. I go back to Sprightly and stroke her gently and she is literally shaking, she hides her face in my coat

She calms down, seems okay, but is still shaking. She starts standing a little odd, upper half lower to the ground (not touching) lower half up more (no, not flirting with Dougie or anything)
She is still trembling slightly, visibly, I can see her tail feathers and some of her body shaking.
As I put her to bed, I realise her bill is very hot, so are her legs.
After putting them to bed, I come back outside to check on them again
Sprightly has her tail level/occasionally pointing down, and slight trembling. She is also now panting with her mouth open (not heavily).

There is not a mark on her, I'm certain nothing hurt her, and it isn't hot outside, it's pleasantly cool, Dougie is fine

I'm a fair bit worried now, but my parents are very against me bringing her inside so I don't know what to do
Any thoughts?
@Miss Lydia @New duck mommy 2021

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since your parents don't want her inside there isn't much you can do but make sure they are safe and hopefully sleeping. There is no telling what might have upset her. Maybe an owl flew through the yard? That would sure get mine worked up,

 

[BelovedBirds]

Since your parents don't want her inside there isn't much you can do but make sure they are safe and hopefully sleeping. There is no telling what might have upset her. Maybe an owl flew through the yard? That would sure get mine worked up,

She's panting really hard now
Couldn't be an owl, she was behind the coop, the walkway behind it is narrow and covered so had to be something on all fours, if there was even anything there