Odd egg laying

[onmelissa]

I was working on the new coop this morning and my three older hens were scratching around close by. I noticed "cinnamon" standing funny and pushing a little. Sure enough, she stood there and laid an egg right in the middle of the yard. Then she immediately pecked it open and they all ate it.
What??!! Has anyone else experienced this? Sometimes all three of them are piled up in the nesting box trying to do their thing, but we've never had an egg laid anywhere but the nest.


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[onmelissa]

Anyone have any ideas? This girl hasn't laid an egg since that day and she's acting a little off...she seems to be looking for a place to lay but not wanting the nest for some reason. She gets in the nest box and gets right back out.

 

[onmelissa]

I'm really hoping that someone can give me some input on this. She hasn't laid in two weeks and her comb is droopy. She is also unable to fly and she is kind of waddling.
Any ideas?

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Have you checked her for egg binding? There are quite a few threads on here for that. Have you wormed your girls? Is it really hot by you?

 

[BayBay Peepers]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=egg+binding

 

[onmelissa]

I thought that she might be egg bound last week so I have her a warm bath and I stuck my pinky finger a tiny bit into her vent, but I didn't feel an anything and I don't really know what I'm doing or how far I should have to reach.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Have you tried gently pressing around her abdomen and maybe a bit lower? See if theres any signs of swelling. How's her weight as far as you can tell?

 

[onmelissa]

Her weight seems pretty stable. She is eating and roaming with her two besties, but she's just not quite herself. Her poop is normal.
Her abdomen does feel a little swollen to me.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I would definitely check the egg binding threads. I myself don't have much experience here beyond warm baths so hopefully others will start to chime in. I've heard of crushing a calcium pill and feeding it to the hen to help slide it out. I did try that once, but it wasn't for the egg being stuck it was because her poor little bum was prolapsing.

 

[onmelissa]

I've been reading through the threads. I just gave her a scrabbled yolk with a crushed tums so we'll see. I might try the bath, too.
She doesn't seem to have the usual symptoms though. Don't they get pretty sick when egg bound? And she hasn't been on the nest at all.
But what else could it be??