Hello BYC users. I am new to your forum. I have always just read a book or looked online. I have had chickens in my backyard for over 20 years now. My flock has grown from 2 in 1988 to as many as 18 hens in 2008.
I have experience dealing with aggressive hens picking and pulling feathers, hens attacked by dogs and pullets ripping open skin on poultry wire. I thought I had seen it all. But this morning, I found something I had never seen before.
In a laying box, I found a lump of mass that could be fat, or dried egg yolk. My first thought it was a brain but it is too large for a chicken. It is a little larger than the size of a chicken heart, very light in color with 3 to 4 bumps or masses on the side, two are large and darker in color, like an ugly mole or wart.
I have had one hen who is quieter than normal. She protects her food but doesn't eat much. Last night I got her to eat some dog food. I checked her twice to see if an egg was stuck. Her feathers are beautiful and she is happiest in my arms. She has been cranky around other hens and pullets running them away from her space when food is present. Otherwise the flock is healthy. They are calming down. There was some anxiety from a cockerel in the group and a hen that was down right mean. Both are gone and everything is returning to normal.
Did she just pass a dried yolk or something from X Files?
I have experience dealing with aggressive hens picking and pulling feathers, hens attacked by dogs and pullets ripping open skin on poultry wire. I thought I had seen it all. But this morning, I found something I had never seen before.
In a laying box, I found a lump of mass that could be fat, or dried egg yolk. My first thought it was a brain but it is too large for a chicken. It is a little larger than the size of a chicken heart, very light in color with 3 to 4 bumps or masses on the side, two are large and darker in color, like an ugly mole or wart.
I have had one hen who is quieter than normal. She protects her food but doesn't eat much. Last night I got her to eat some dog food. I checked her twice to see if an egg was stuck. Her feathers are beautiful and she is happiest in my arms. She has been cranky around other hens and pullets running them away from her space when food is present. Otherwise the flock is healthy. They are calming down. There was some anxiety from a cockerel in the group and a hen that was down right mean. Both are gone and everything is returning to normal.
Did she just pass a dried yolk or something from X Files?
