My hen has been laying consistently for a while now; we get about 6 eggs/week from her. Well this past week she has skipped many days and I figured it may be due to stress (we had to move our chickens around quite a bit ) so I didn't think much of it at first. Well, yesterday she was in the coop, still no egg, and I decided to let her out of her run so she could get some actual outside time...that hen booked into our garage (her favorite laying spot) and proceeded to sit on the bale of straw. I checked on her an hour and half later, she didn't squawk or hiss at me like she normally does during egg laying and there was still no egg there. I came back to check on her a little while later, she was off her bale of straw drinking water. She was panting really hard, so I gave her some colder water with a bit of gatorade in it....she drank a lot and then hopped back onto the straw to nest. This morning she was eating, I checked in her nest and there was a curled puffy egg membrane... it was the same color of her egg shells, but was soft and kind of looked like a "giant chicken poop" in shape. On the floor there was a puddle of what appeared to be egg whites and a little further there was a yolk. I've had my chickens for a little over a year, but never experienced anything weird with them (until now)... What happened? What would cause this to happen? Is my hen alright? Will this happen again? She is on "Layer" feed and also gets additional calcium, so I wouldn't think it would be based on a calcium deficiency... She as been wondering around and eating many of our berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cherries) - would any of these be considered poisonous? I also occasionally make her some oatmeal (with water, NOT milk) as a treat... Any insight on the matter would be appreciated. Thanks
It happens, sometimes they lay an odd egg or soft egg that comes down the pipes too quickly ...its a glitch in her laying system, just keep an eye on her...I have a BO that lays one of those once in a blue moon....
She did the same thing yesterday morning and today she has been sitting on her nest for HOURS and HOURS and still no "good" egg. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I am getting really worried for her. Is something stuck? This hen has been laying for months and never had a problem, now she had 2 soft eggs in a row and seems to be having trouble laying in general. I have her on Layer feed which has some calcium pellets in it. I also have calcium powder coated grit to mix into her feed (I'm not sure what the sources of those 'calciums' are). I know our local Tractor Supplies store has oyster shells...should I get her that? And for the record, when I make her her oatmeal, I normally crush up the egg shells from her eggs that I collected and mix those in for her to eat...I figured giving her own calcium back to her would be the best source... What can be causing this? I know it was mentioned that they do this from time to time, but is it normal to have this many "egg mishaps" in a row? Is her life at risk? What can I do to help her? Sorry, I just lost another pet a few days ago so now I'm a bit stressed over my hen. I don't wan to lose her too. ***OOPS - I realized I put this thread in the wrong spot...I'll move it.