Something strange happened...should I be worried?

[Trish1974]

I have a 7 month old Golden Comet that started laying on Sept. 15 and has laid a perfect egg EVERY single day since. By perfect I mean large, thick shell, no deformities other than some excess calcium spots on the shell. This morning when I woke them up to feed and water them I turned on the lights and she was in the nest box, which is not unusual, but when I let them out an hour later I noticed she had not laid an egg, which IS unusual for her. Just now I was cleaning the coop and came across a shattered egg or egg yolk that had a thin light tan membrane around it and was sandwiched between several layers of poop. It was directly under where she roosted last night.

She is acting normal so far. The only diet change is less grass/grazing thanks to the time of year, and since Thanksgiving they've been getting a little leftover turkey once a day.

Is this just a fluke? Could this be egg peritonitis or egg bound? If so what can I do or what other signs should I look for? She is very tame and can be handled easily so if there is any examination I should do on her please let me know!

Thanks in advance.

 

[sourland]

My gut says it's just a fluke, but keep a close eye on her for the next little bit.

 

[Wyatt0224]

I've had a similar thing happen with one or two of my hens. Nothing bad that I could tell ever happened to them as they're still alive and acting normal. Just keep a close eye on her and see if she lays an egg tomorrow.

 

[chickenlady70]

Your chicken simply didn't have enough calcium to put a shell on the egg some ouster shell can help with this problem. If your bird was egg bound she wouldn't lay an egg at all. And when she did it would be very small

 

[JennaMW14]

My gut says it's just a fluke, but keep a close eye on her for the next little bit.

I've had a similar thing happen with one or two of my hens. Nothing bad that I could tell ever happened to them as they're still alive and acting normal. Just keep a close eye on her and see if she lays an egg tomorrow.

Agree

 

[Trish1974]

Thanks everyone! As of roost-time she was still acting normal and looked fine. I will definitely keep a close eye on her.

 

[Trish1974]

All was well with my girl until just now. After the egg incident I originally posted about, she laid a normal egg the next day and yesterday. Just now I went out to the coop to turn the lights out and my Golden Comet was in the nest box and there was another shell-less egg laying a few inches from her. She had laid a normal egg this morning almost 12 hours ago. What could possibly going on with her since this is happening again?

Edited: What is concerning me the most is how can she be producing multiple eggs (shell-less though) in less than a 24 hour period?

 

[Wyatt0224]

If she's in the nesting box again she might have to lay another egg even if she already laid a shell-less egg. If she's a new layer then it might be her body doing this to expel all of the shell-less eggs. The last part is a complete guess as I didn't have this problem as severe as you are.

 

[Trish1974]

I went ahead and turned out the coop lights, leaving her in the nest box. I didn't want to throw off the other pullets' systems by having the light on 2 hours longer than what they are used to. I cleaned up the blob mess and it looked more like the egg white part; no sign of a yolk or any kind of membrane.

 

[chickens really]

Are you providing Oyster Shell?.....Also First layers will lay strange eggs till their bodies get into sync and they mature....


Cheers!