A theory about Amber’s egg laying problem

Last year Honey and Amber started laying again in February. This has got me thinking about Amber’s egg lay problem.

This is pure theory but Amber has always been smaller and lighter than Honey and I often think of her in terms of being the runt of the litter. Amber has also always been a different shape to Honey. She has a little bump on her back which I wonder if this is a slight deformity of her spine. Don’t get me wrong, I have always thought her small size and different shape make her unique and makes her look cute. I have always thought she was prettier than Honey.

I wonder though if this has any bearing on her difficulty laying eggs. I did some research and when I found a diagram showing both the skeleton of a chicken and the internal organs of a chicken I found that directly below Amber’s little bump are her ovaries.

I wonder if this has some bearing on her difficulty with her eggs as she always begins to look unwell the day before she lays her egg and as an egg takes approximately twenty five hours from the start of it’s journey to being laid she may feel unwell at the start of the eggs journey. Maybe if the egg is slow getting started on it’s journey this may be why the shell is often not properly formed.

This is all speculation on my part and we will never know for sure but we have always thought that there is something not quite right with her egg laying machinery and I do wonder if the bump on her back is connected to this.

It’s difficult to show in a photograph but the photo below is the best I could get to try to show this. The bump is where her collection of speckles are on her back.

Amber’s little bump

Honey’s smoother shape

When I have looked at photos of vorwerks Honey is the recognised shape. None of this theorising changes anything for her but I do wonder if it could explain it.

Honey and Amber are looking so good with their new feathers and both have developed speckles on their breasts where before there were none.

Honey’s speckled breast

Amber’s speckled breast

I am hoping that Amber may struggle less this year because she has no stress now. She isn’t bullied and isn’t having her feathers pulled. She is also in the middle of the pecking order being number four of eight so is in a good place now. I hope this might help her.

Another interesting thing is looking back at the the egg records. In 2013 Honey and Amber started to lay in May. Honey laid 52 eggs and Amber laid 31.

In 2014 they started to lay in February. Honey laid 97 and Amber 35.

If you take into consideration the extra three months laying in their second year it means Honey has been pretty consistent over the two years whereas Amber’s egg laying is still very low.

Again don’t get me wrong I don’t want Amber laying more eggs. As far as I am concerned the less the better and I would be happy if she never laid eggs again but it interesting to look at all the facts.

Amber is so well over the winter, while not laying, that I dread her starting to lay again. We have thought we were going to lose Amber so many times right from when we first had her and she first started laying but she is feisty and keeps bouncing back.

I just hope she will continue to bounce back and maybe she will surprise us and live a long life. I know that I will be making the most of having her in the flock for as long as possible. Only time will tell but she is a sweet little girl with a big character.