pastypascoe
In the Brooder
- Mar 21, 2020
- 15
- 35
- 49
Hi everyone, sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much context as possible! Our chicken story is unconventional as a hen turned up in our garden and was never claimed by anyone (if you can name her breed from the photo I would love to know!). She is a sweet girl and we felt she needed a companion. We found someone giving away a speckled sussex and the previous owners said she is about 2 years old and that they were getting rid of her because the coop dynamics had gotten weird, but that is all the information they were forthcoming with so I don't know her history well. The "red" hen has no health issues and lays well, the following refers to the speckled sussex.
We got her in January when it was still a bit chilly and so neither of the girls were laying. When the temperature improved she laid one beautiful egg and since then has periodically laid fart eggs. We put this down to the change in environment and our other girl being rather unfriendly towards her. They mostly now get on fine but the fart eggs followed by occasional normal eggs has been going on for some time, she also spends sometimes hours trying to lay but doesn't, and twice now I have seen her lay a normal sized soft shelled egg which she immediately eats. Last night at 11 pm after she had been asleep some time I heard her banging on the coop and went to see her, she was desperate to get out so I let her and she again laid one of these soft eggs which she ate. I am not sure if it is related, but for lack of a better description she sometimes also has "audible" diarrhea/poops.
We feed them high quality chicken grains and supplement with fruit and veg (they are both very picky and really only like their grains and a few fruit, I suspect they were not introduced young enough to other foods), they are free range and love to scratch for worms etc. On the advice of a retired vet friend I have started supplementing the water with calcium gluconate and plan to buy oyster shells. Otherwise both girls have good shiny feathers, are active, and seem in good health. Given my inexperience I am very open to any suggestions as to the way I care for the girls (including feeds etc) but especially would like to know what might be wrong with my speckled
sussex
We got her in January when it was still a bit chilly and so neither of the girls were laying. When the temperature improved she laid one beautiful egg and since then has periodically laid fart eggs. We put this down to the change in environment and our other girl being rather unfriendly towards her. They mostly now get on fine but the fart eggs followed by occasional normal eggs has been going on for some time, she also spends sometimes hours trying to lay but doesn't, and twice now I have seen her lay a normal sized soft shelled egg which she immediately eats. Last night at 11 pm after she had been asleep some time I heard her banging on the coop and went to see her, she was desperate to get out so I let her and she again laid one of these soft eggs which she ate. I am not sure if it is related, but for lack of a better description she sometimes also has "audible" diarrhea/poops.
We feed them high quality chicken grains and supplement with fruit and veg (they are both very picky and really only like their grains and a few fruit, I suspect they were not introduced young enough to other foods), they are free range and love to scratch for worms etc. On the advice of a retired vet friend I have started supplementing the water with calcium gluconate and plan to buy oyster shells. Otherwise both girls have good shiny feathers, are active, and seem in good health. Given my inexperience I am very open to any suggestions as to the way I care for the girls (including feeds etc) but especially would like to know what might be wrong with my speckled
