strange eggs....then dead chicken....and now strange eggs again....

[Renthorin]

About 4 weeks ago I started finding one egg every day or so that looked like a deflated basket ball. Usually in the nest but sometimes on the coop floor.

There were also eggs that looked like an egg and a half. Think of an egg then graft another half egg on top of that.

So..one day I let them all out to run the yard (its' fenced) and went to dinner. Came home an hour later and one was dead. No sign of trauma, she wasn't torn up.

I felt her chest and she was HOT. It was in the low 80's that day and the yard is mostly shaded. None of the others that I grabbed were more than barely warm.

She was missing what I thought were a lot of breast feathers but they don't look like they were plucked. Maybe they just don't have a lot on the breast? She is an Australorpe (sp)

So...she died...and the strange deflated eggs stopped. I wonder if she was egg bound?

So the last two days I've been finding more of the deflated eggs and I think they are from the one that lays on the ground. It's possible they are being stepped on as I never see it. Today I found another 1.5 egg in the box.

Is something going on that I need to medicate?

thanks,

Will

 

[Lacrystol]

Do you have any oyster shells? Try giving them some, what kind of feed are they getting? Sounds like they are lacking calcium...

 

[Renthorin]

they have a huge bowl of oyster shells always available. I give them their own egg shells back too, after being crushed up so they don't recognize them.

I feed mostly layer pellets but supplement with "Cardinal mix" bird seed and scratch to get them where I want them to be. They free range most of the day so they get grass and bugs too.

It seems that lately egg production has been down too. Maybe it's the heat?

Will