We seem to be beset with egg laying problems. Smoke, Marmite and Spangle have been laying with no problems. Jasmine has struggled and her eggs have thin shells which I know is what is giving her a bit of a problem.
Salmon has taken ages to get going with one egg in January and one egg in February. Over the last week she has been practising. She would sit in the nest box for about half an hour and then give up.
Today she didn’t look happy. This is now such a familiar posture to me that I know it is a sign of struggling to lay an egg probably because of a thin shell.
Salmon is not a happy girl
I hate to see them like this but there is nothing I can do to help her. I hope that over the next day or so she gets her egg laid and bounces back.
When I gave out the bedtime corn Salmon wasn’t at all interested which is a sign of how uncomfortable she must be. To make matters worse by this time Jasmine wasn’t looking very happy either. I hope they soon get their eggs laid and get back to normal.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
One of my Dutch bantam girls does this periodically. She’ll go from absolutely fine to just like that – sitting somewhere hunched up not interested in anything – in the blink of an eye. She’s usually fine again in the morning and sometimes lays a soft or no she’ll egg but not always. I hate it too because they’re clearly so uncomfortable but you know there’s nothing you can do. I hope your two are OK by morning.
I am glad that I am not alone.An Egg laying problem is one of the most common chicken problems. In the past I have tried baking their egg shells and feeding them back to them and giving them limestone flour but actually none of these things ever seem to make a difference. They have grit and oyster shell in a hopper and I haven’t noticed these two girls taking it which may be the problem. As you say it is always a waiting game and then it passes.
When I had a flock of six I always seemed to have one with a problem so I suppose with a flock of twelve it’s not so surprising to have two with a problem. I have never had two at once with this before though. There always seems to be something just when things are going smoothly.
I hope she lays her egg, and get better soon.
Me too. It’s such a shame to have two girls struggling to lay. I hope that after she lays she may get into the swing of it. It seems that the girls who lay frequently don’t have problems, it’s the ones that don’t lay often, that seem to struggle.
Oh I hate this too!! 🙁 When I used to have large fowl I would give them a warm bath for about 20 minutes and it would invariably work (I would find the egg in the water or they would pass it shortly afterwards). Is Salmon docile enough for this? It would obviously mean blow drying her feathers until they are completely dry again. I’ve bathed a couple of my seramas but I wouldn’t do it with the other two as they are too highly strung. xx
Salmon laid a soft shelled egg first thing this morning which I will post about later today. I think that it would totally freak her out to bath her. She has become very nervous recently (maybe because she was uncomfortable) and It was all I could do to get close enough for a photo. As this was the first one I will see how she goes on.
Spangle is now the only girl that is really friendly and happy to be touched. Lately she circles me as if looking to jump on my back but can’t quite get up the courage.
So upsetting when they have struggles of this sort.
I hate to see them struggle like this and I feel so helpless.