I fairly new to this (3 - 8 month olds) and I guess I'm just looking for reassurance and that my assumptions aren't completely off base. Unfortunately, on Saturday I noticed while free-ranging that my favorite Welsummer hen was limping. I looked at her toes, and the middle one was crooked. There was no broken skin, no bumble foot, everything else looked fine. After reading much information, I decided to not splint it and just let it heal. It was significantly warmer than the other foot the first day, and was noticeably improved the next day, though it is still very slightly warmer than the other. The limping has almost subsided already, though she will be left with the crooked toe. It hasn't slowed her down. She didn't lay an egg Saturday (she's a 6 eggs a week girl), did lay a normal one in the nest box Sunday, then skipped Monday and Tuesday. Today, I found only 2 eggs again in the next box, but had noticed that an egg was lying in the run. It looked pale in color, so at first I thought my Columbian Wyandotte had laid 2 somehow, since it wasn't the normal dark brown color. When I looked more closely, it was as if it had been spray painted with a chalky substance. Out of curiosity, I washed it, and most of the chalky coating came off, and a dark brown egg was underneath. This was the first egg ever laid in the run and not the coop by any of the girls. I would assume while things are "off" with the injured toe, that it's just nature's way of preventing her from rearing chicks while she's not 100%. I've expected that her egg production would decline or be disrupted for a while. I did not expect this weird, chalky egg, though I am pleased that she did lay one after 2 days off. Does anyone have experience with the weird egg thing as related to injury? How long might this continue? Sorry for the lengthy post. Brevity is not a strength of mine! Feedback/experience would be appreciated. I just want her to get better. She's my favorite! (Just don't tell the others...)
