Amber’s egg laying trials

Amber has just laid her first egg in three weeks. She always struggles to lay her eggs and I knew she was about to lay as she looked quite unwell. She was standing with her tail down and her eyes closing. If I hadn’t seen this with Amber many times before I would have thought that I was going to lose her. It was with relief  that I saw her go into the coop.

I returned to check on her a little later and sure enough there was a little egg in the nest box.

After laying her egg Amber was back to her normal self as usual and had found a worm. The other girls were all chasing her and trying to take it from her. Amber ran at speed round the run several times before Dotty managed to steal her prize from her. There wasn’t much wrong with Amber now.

Amber’s egg on the right is slightly smaller than Honey’s egg

Dotty’s egg is on the left for comparison, Honey’s in the middle and Amber’s on the right. It doesn’t show very clearly in the photo but Amber’s eggs are slightly smaller and paler than Honey’s.

Amber seems to have struggled with egg laying from the start. She laid her first two eggs the size of a marble with no yolk. She then laid a couple of soft shelled eggs. I gave the girls limestone flour to strengthen the shells and she then laid normal eggs but in the run. She finally got the hang of it but always looked ill just before laying and fine again afterwards.

I feel sad to think that she struggles with the egg laying process because it should be a natural process for a chicken. I was quite pleased that she hadn’t laid for three weeks as she seemed happier and looked better.

I don’t know what you can do when a chicken looks ill before laying each time. If it was an occasional struggle I would give her a bath but I would be giving her baths all the time. I wonder if there is something not quite right inside her and worry that she may not live to a ripe old age. There again she could prove me wrong and it may be just the way she is. If so I feel sorry for her as it’s a shame for her to not look well before each egg but I can only hope it gets better in time. Amber is about one year old and has been laying for five months now.

She started laying about every three days then decreased to about once a week. Recently she then went two weeks between and then three weeks between. I don’t mind her laying less if it makes her feel better.

Honey has never had a problem laying her eggs and was laying about every other day but hasn’t laid for a week now. I do hope Amber eventually finds it gets easier to lay her eggs.