Slight egg bind?

[Northern Flights]

One of my now 18 week old Bovans suddenly became very lethargic this afternoon after 2 hours she presented an egg, right out in the open.

It should be noted that today was the first day in the 2 weeks I've had them when she did not return to the hutch after breakfast and produce an egg. The egg she ultimately produced in the afternoon had a powdery dusting on it and some mottled coloration, but it was thick shelled and only slightly larger than usual. She continued to act very sluggish so I picked her up and put her in the coop to rest and she perched in the doorway for about a half hour or so, snoozing.

Then all of a sudden she appeared at the gate to the run and again laid an egg, although once I got close I noticed this one was very thin shelled but still of a normal-ish size, but the other hens quickly pounced and tore it apart! Lucy, the supposedly gravely ill chicken, even joined in on this mad feeding frenzy. I cleaned up what I could of the egg as I do not want them acquiring too much of a taste for that sort of thing, but meantime Lucy was pretty much back to moving about, scratching for bugs and generally being very much like Lucy the happy-go-lucky chicken again.

My question is: was she egg-bound, albeit very briefly? Could her late laying today have caused her to push tomorrow's egg out premature, so to speak? Should I be looking for reasons this occurred?

Many thanks

 

[micstrachan]

I’m not sure, but it sounds like a possibility. She is already laying daily at 18 weeks? Maybe her system is still sorting itself out.

 

[Northern Flights]

I’m not sure, but it sounds like a possibility. She is already laying daily at 18 weeks? Maybe her system is still sorting itself out.

I now understand hens typically do not lay many eggs at 16 weeks of age, but Lucy did. Started a bit erratic, and small, but within 3 or 4 days of her arrival here at the boneless chicken ranch she was laying a decent size egg every morning - except for today. I am worried her frenetic production is causing issues? Even at 18 weeks the other hens are only recently just catching up to her.

I am told it is fairly normal for Bovans to produce eggs, even before 16 weeks. I am now getting a good, large egg out of each of them and only once or twice I had to threaten to bus in replacement chickens if production didn't improve. They are on 18% layer pellets full time now and I only give them grower crumble as a treat. Lots of oyster shells available, as is fresh water.

I hope she is just sorting the routine out.

 

[Northern Flights]

A quick update: clearly I was feeding too much grower crumble (22%) and her eggs simply got too big, too soon. I have since completely nixed the grower feed and that has stopped them laying any more planet sized objects. At least she did not suffer too badly from my ignorance and saved the rest a similar fate. Valuable lesson learned, likely just in time.