I haven’t had any more to say about the bedtime routine because it has been so wet. This means that all the perches are wet and the girls go in to the chicken shed as they should do.
It’s a bit depressing that this wet spell is forecast to last for two weeks but on the positive side it may be enough to break the habit of the bigger girls wanting to perch outside. Only time will tell.
Freckles and Cinnamon continue to lay every other day and Freckles has laid sixteen eggs this month and Cinnamon has laid fifteen.
Speckles went and sat in the nest box yesterday and put a little heap of pine shavings on her back. She later came out without laying. It’s been two and a half weeks since she stopped laying.
Speckles is still doing sloppy poops, although not quite as bad as they were. It seems that from eating snow and then drinking, snow melt water, she has become obsessed with drinking dripping water from the almost continual rain that we are having. I think this extra water is causing her sloppy poops and that in turn is probably stopping her laying eggs.
I have further researched hens stopping laying and doing sloppy poops (good old google) and it says that a hen may drink more because she is hot (clearly not the case here) and therefore will have sloppy poops and that slight change can stop egg laying. It says that provided everything else is normal it is nothing to worry about.
I know how easy it is for hens to take on a habit (such as the feather plucking of the past) and it looks like speckles now can’t resist drinking the drip water. If she was thirsty I feel sure that she would spend time at the water container but she doesn’t. She just seems obsessed with drinking dripping water and not even a dandelion leaf can distract her.
As it is forecast to rain for the next two weeks there is nothing that I can do to stop this so as she is looking good in every other way I think that we just have to wait for the weather to change and her habit to pass and hope that gets her back to normal.
Today Dandelion took a look in the nest box. I wonder if she is getting ready to lay again.
Dandelion takes a look in the nest box
Look how red her comb is
Dandelion has always laid soft shelled eggs but even if she laid some of those it would prove that she is back to full, good, health after the mycoplasma. Having had Amber in the past do the same I have come to realise that if they have a permanent egg laying problem there is little that can be done to change it.
I have tried limestone flour and cod liver oil and also crushed egg shells and none of these things have made a difference long term. Dandelion never looked poorly like Amber so she seemed to manage it okay. I am not expecting her eggs to be any different this year as I have been through this before and some of these girls do have problems with egg laying.
Apricot has suddenly got pin feathers on her head so it looks like she is going to get her fully feathered look back which is good news.
Apricot has pin feathers
Pins on her head
We have also seen Freckles and Cinnamon have a little spat. I think Cinnamon was trying to move up to top serama but Freckles won that round and remains in top serama position.
In other news the winning pair of blackbirds in the, territory turf war, have continued to take nest material into our bay tree. I thought that they might abandon the nest after the garden battles but I am pleased to see that they are still nest building.
And that is all the current bird news!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
On soft shelled eggs – Bernadette has been laying every other day for 3 weeks this season and so far every one has had just a membrane and no shell. Usually she gets the shells sorted after a week or so but not this time. I’ve just ordered some lifeguard tonic for her, but not certain it’ll make a difference. As you say though, it doesn’t seem to make her any more unwell than making proper shelled eggs (seems to cause her pain in the run up – the vet reckons it’s ovulation pain) so there’s probably no point worrying about her.
Amber my bantam vorwerk had this problem. Nothing I gave her helped but luckily she didn’t lay too often. She always looked poorly just before laying and fine again afterwards. She had a slight bump above where her ovaries would be so I always thought that there was something not quite right. We had her for four years though and then I found her dead in the pop hole one morning.
Dandelion has laid soft shelled eggs since she started laying last year and again nothing I have done for her has helped but she didn’t look at all poorly. She often laid them in the run though and therefore they were usually broken.
I expect this year to be the same because if there is a problem like this from the start it seems that they have something slightly wrong with their egg laying equipment. You never know though, I may be surprised.
Both girls look very good, and healthy.
Yes, I am happy that all the girls have red faces and combs and that is a good sign of health.
The essential thing is that they are able to pass the eggs, which must be more difficult without a solid structure surrounding the membrane. I get the occasional soft-shelled egg, but nothing on a regular basis. More of mine are laying but, as we have had so much rain and the run is so muddy, the eggs all need washing at the moment! The birds with lower carriages, especially the pekins, have mud all down their breast bones. The sun is shining now, but tomorrow’s forecast is dreadful – just really wanting a longish spell of dry weather.
I am only surmising on Dandelion as in the past I have had an occasional soft shell from a random girl but Amber in the past and Dandelion last year have laid soft shells from the start of laying so I have to assume there has been something wrong with their egg laying equipment. I know it is more difficult to pass a soft shell but whereas Amber struggled Dandelion used to get taken by surprise. She would lay in the run and then go sit in the nest box. She hasn’t started laying yet but I am just readying myself to expect this to continue because I don’t imagine the problem is likely to correct itself.
We too have had a better day today but a week of raining all day is forecast followed by higher temperatures next weekend. I am also fed up with muddy parts of the run. I too am wanting better weather.