Hello,
We've got a 3 year old Orpington who is very small compared to the other girls and lowest on the chicken hierarchy. She's had about 3 months of laying shell-less eggs every 2 weeks. But normal-ish eggs the rest of the time (a bit thinner with some calcium deposits). It seemed cyclical.
Yesterday - I went to mow the grass in their area, and partner was sitting with them in the run as they get scared. This girl, Opal, ran into the coop and into the nesting box. After we finished their area, I checked on her and she was in the box, eating a completely shell-less egg - no membrane. Just the yolk and white. I didn't take a pic until I threw the rest away - the white was like a jelly. Usually the egg is egg shaped and has the membrane, but nothing this time.
She seemed perky when eating the egg, but once I took it away, she laid down and took a 2 hour nap/trance. We assumed since we were finishing the rest of the yard she may still have been scared and the egg might have been hard to pass she just needed some rest. She came out later and ate a big dinner, still a bit dozy. But pretty excited for food. This morning she's back in the box and dozing.
Should we be checking for a membrane stuck in there? She hasn't shown any distress signs other than the napping.
She also is recuperating from 2 bumbles.
Other girls are (fingers crossed) pretty normal.
Thanks!
We've got a 3 year old Orpington who is very small compared to the other girls and lowest on the chicken hierarchy. She's had about 3 months of laying shell-less eggs every 2 weeks. But normal-ish eggs the rest of the time (a bit thinner with some calcium deposits). It seemed cyclical.
Yesterday - I went to mow the grass in their area, and partner was sitting with them in the run as they get scared. This girl, Opal, ran into the coop and into the nesting box. After we finished their area, I checked on her and she was in the box, eating a completely shell-less egg - no membrane. Just the yolk and white. I didn't take a pic until I threw the rest away - the white was like a jelly. Usually the egg is egg shaped and has the membrane, but nothing this time.
She seemed perky when eating the egg, but once I took it away, she laid down and took a 2 hour nap/trance. We assumed since we were finishing the rest of the yard she may still have been scared and the egg might have been hard to pass she just needed some rest. She came out later and ate a big dinner, still a bit dozy. But pretty excited for food. This morning she's back in the box and dozing.
Should we be checking for a membrane stuck in there? She hasn't shown any distress signs other than the napping.
She also is recuperating from 2 bumbles.
Other girls are (fingers crossed) pretty normal.
Thanks!
