New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[dance in the dark]

So today my bluebell Edna, who is a little over a year old and has been laying consistantly since around last April, seems to have been having an issue.

 

She went into the nest at around nine this morning, all fairly normal, but I notice she was still in there around an hour later, so I thought it was best to just leave her too it. When I cam back out to see the hens at around four this afternoon she was nowhere to be found. All the others came rushing when I shook my mealworms box, but Edna didn't show. I look in the nest box, and one of my legbars had laid, but no Edna egg. I eventually found her (after a somwhat frantic search) behind on of my larger hedges, and she looked throughly miserable. I gave her some mealworms of her own and she ate them but with none of her usual gusto. Is it possible she is egg bound? She does lay quite large eggs (normally 65-70g) but she is a big bird and her eggs are normall quite slim but very long. I thought it might be possible she was going into the moult (as the speckledy I got at the same time as her is currently going through).

 

Sorry for the long detailed post, but the gist is, what should I do? should I give her a full inspecition in the morning, or give her a chance to see if she was just a bit out of sorts?

 

Thanks

[poppy ben grace]

hi, hows your girl today? Hope she has managed to lay... I am not an expert, she may be egg bound its hard to say, if she doesnt improve it may mean a visit to the vet.Hopefully someone a bit more experienced can give you some advice soon.

[Chicken Shirl]

It could be that she is going to lay a soft shelled egg......They are very unhappy when they do that.....Tail down, neck pulled in and just standing around. They recover very quickly once they have laid one.....I always bring mine into the house in the warm so the others don't bother them.....I would watch her closely today and if she hasn't laid a soft shelled egg I'd take her to the vet if you are worried....Hope she perks up soon.

[dance in the dark]

Thanks for the response, I have been watching her all day and she seems much better actually, she is walking around, eating, drinking fine etc. Also I emptied the droppings tray in the eglu today and there was an egg in there. There was no sign of a shell at all though, which seems very odd. I don't know for sure it was her, or even if it was last night this shelless egg was laid (last emptied the droppings tray on Tuesday) so we shall see. I think for now she seems happy enough and not in any active discomfort so I shall just continue to keep and eye on her.

[Guest]

Good to hear that she has perked up. You are doing the right thing by keeping a close eye on her. Hopefully she will be just fine.

[dance in the dark]

So my Edna had still not laid any eggs for a good few weeks, most unlike her, but she seemed alright in herself, so I was just letting her get on with it.

 

Anyway, today, she has produced an egg, it is thin shelled, very unlike her, but at least I know things are moving down there. I spoke to a breeder who said that sometimes they can just pick up minor infections of something and it's puts the off for a little while, then they get back to their old ways.