Sunkist the hen

[Nanamoma]

Hello, I had a strange thing happen to one of my hens. A few days ago on Saturday, my hen, Sunkist, laid a beautiful egg. She was then free ranging with her flock mates. All was fine. Then I noticed her stumbling like she was drunk /dizzy. I went to my computer and read that they can become intoxicated etc., which I was unsure how that would happen, so I begin to watch her closely. After a few hours she begin to be able to run pretty straight, but when she'd put her head down to peck, she'd wobble some. She progressively got better, but not all the way. At night, she, along with the others, went into the coop, but she was unable to go to the top roost like she normally did. Next morning, she was in a nesting box. She was not wanting to participate with the other hens. About mid-morning, I saw that she had come out of the coop for a bit, then she went back into the nesting box. A few hours later I saw her back out with the flock and she was doing much better. When I went into the coop, inside the nesting box she was in is what I found. Can anyone on this forum please let me know what this means. As of today, Monday she is acting like a healthy happy hen again. Please see photo. Egg yolk and white together, eggshell crumpled up and separate. Thanks

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[OrpingtonManiac]

@Wyorp Rock might know

 

[LaFleche]

She had problems passing an egg with a soft shell.

What exactly are you feeding them and do they have access to additional crushed oyster shells and granite grit at all times?

 

[Nanamoma]

My hens and rooster all get 16% lay mini pellets that are fortified with vitamins etc and some grit. They have crushed oystershell in their coop and is freely given to them. They will get some cracked corn in the mornings and afternoons when it's cold outside, but approximately 1 tlbp for each chicken. They free range from 7am until 5pm. They have woods to free range with abundant bugs. Not sure why her shell would be that soft. My main concern for Sunkist was her strange behavior with the dizzyness/drunkenness. Do you have any idea if the soft shell would cause behavior like that? Thank you for your reply

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Struggling with expelling a membrane rolled up like that along with a soft shelled egg, yes, that would account for strange behavior.

I'd give her 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet once daily for 5 days. Pull down on her wattles to open the beak, pop the tablet into the beak, let her swallow.