Sick Layer, egg binding?

[Drosera]

I'm a first time chicken owner. I received 4 20-week old hens in April. For the most part, they seem well and happy, and produce plenty of eggs.

For the last couple of days, "Black", a sexlinks, has been acting strangely. We let them all roam for a time each day, and she's not very active like the others. She's not eating much at all that I can see. She seems to spend most of the time resting, standing up.

We have been short an egg for the last 3 days now. It's not the first time we have had missed eggs, but it doesn't usually last more than a day. We've noticed that Black is our most problematic layer, in that she skips a day sometimes, and often produces soft eggs.

Now I'm not saying it can't be something else altogether that is bothering her, but egg-binding just seems to fit to me. Whatever the case, I can't get her to a vet right now, and I'd like to know if there's anything I can do for her to make her more comfortable? I know with fish and reptiles, egg-binding can be manually resolved, but is this even possible for chickens?

Any ideas welcomed. Thanks.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I am assuming you are feeding a layer ration and setting out a separate bowl of oystershell for them (If not please do so)
Calcium transport and absorption is not simply dependent on how much calcium they take in but also on the ratio of phosphorus to calcium (a commercial feed will have the correct ratio) and also on D3 a deficiency of D3 is the most common reason (along with an imbalance of the calcium/phos ratio) for soft shelled eggs... ...you can give three drops of Polyvisol enfamil formulation (preferably unflavored >this is a childrens liquid vitamin supplement) once a day in beak for a week then taper off the next to resolve any D3 deficiency (and it will not harm if there is none).

 

[Drosera]

Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. I didn't get an email telling me someone had responded.

Thanks for the information. I'll keep it handy.

My chicken finally passed the egg about 1/2 hour after writing this post, and she slowly started getting better. Today she seems perfectly well.