Pullet stopped laying - now weird poop *Picture*

[HeatherBelle]

Our one year old easter egger pullet, Veruca, hasn't laid an egg in 9 days - however, she hasn't acted off at all. She is active, eats and drinks like normal. She nests in the nesting box every day, but isn't laying. Since her behavior hasn't changed, and I've checked her vent, we figured she is just taking a break. Then today I noticed the poop that has an end to it that is the same color of her eggs...not sure if that is even relevant, but I figured I'd ask the forums because you all are such an amazing wealth of knowledge! Sorry for the gross picture!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thankfully I can't tell what exactly you are seeing with the poop. Poop changes based on many factors, the biggest is water intake since poop is both liquid and solid waste all in one package. The white is the equivalent to urine.

I generally judge my chickens health by their behavior. If they are acting normal they usually are fine. All the Easter eggers I have owned will take breaks from laying. They are good up front, but than they become more sporadic the longer they have been laying.

Producing blue based eggs is said to be biologically draining as the hen uses bilirubin, a component of blood to produce the color of them. So I assume the breaks are to build up her reserves after laying for a while.

 

[HeatherBelle]

Thank you for the reply! That was what I'd read and was going off of, in terms of EEs taking more breaks than other chickens - the green poo just seemed odd. lol She definitely seems to want to lay, like I said, she goes to the nesting boxes every day. She's a funny chicken, so unless she begins really adjusting her behavior we'll assume she's ok and just wants to be a free-loading slacker again. ;-)

 

[HeatherBelle]

She finally laid an egg today! It's a perfect, blue egg.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's gorgeous.

 

[Ljc01]

very pretty egg.

 

[Kyanite]

Glad she's fine. And yes, that is indeed a gorgeous egg!