Poorly chicken

[Annabel]

Hi, My silver Campine is 7 months old.  A few weeks ago we thought she had stopped laying and then we found a stash of 14 eggs all laid on top of one another in a bush by our pond.  We removed these and she never laid there again (feel a bit guilty about this now and wonder if we should have left some there for her).

Anyway, yesterday she spent a really long time in the nesting box and I worried she was having trouble laying an egg (it was about an hour).  After an hour she exited the nesting box and there was her egg.  Today she spent at least 3 hours in there (infact this was the point at which I stopped checking as it was 8pm - she may still be in there!).  I lifted her up when I last checked to see if she had an egg under her or was still trying to lay and instead she had the Cream Legbar's egg under her that was boiling hot (like it had just been laid but was a few hours old).  When I lifted her she sounded disgruntled (didn't attack me but seemed perhaps in discomfort or annoyed).  When I took the egg she stayed there in the nesting box.

Two days ago she did something she has never done before - laid an egg right in the middle of the lawn (it was smaller and a bit lighter than normal - I am very sad and enjoy weighing eggs!).

And today she has been sitting down on the grass, settling down like she was going to lay another out in the open.

When I have been supplying a few treats to the chickens - she normally goes charging around after the treats but for the last two days hasn't shown much interest and doesn't fight the other chickens for them.

I do not have a rooster so I am wondering if I have a sick young chicken here or perhaps a rare broody one (I'm led to believe from her breed).

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks x

[AndyRoo]

Hi Annabel,

Are her tail feathers poking straight up and outwards, or are they sort of curled under her bum? Have you noticed if she is otherwise eating and drinking well?

Andy

 

[Beantree]

i think you have what we call a 'silent broody', which is a broody hen without the squarks and ruffled feathers. Just keep her out of the nest box as she will stop laying and just sit there. Have you seen her pick up grass or twigs and throw them onto her back? Does she wriggle her underbelly on the floor? Has she plucked out any underbelly feathers?

[Annabel]

Thank you both for your replies.

When she sits on the grass her tail is very droopy (it hits the grass and is what I would call 'limp').  I had a look at how she is sitting in the nest box but it is hard to tell as she sits with her tail slammed up against the wall so it is slightly up because there isn't enough room for it.

Today I was surprised to see her down with the other when I let them out to free range and she went around the garden scratching and pecking at things.  She again isn't too bothered by any treats thrown out (or at least won't run after anything except meal worms).

She isn't pecking her underbelly feathers out or wriggling when sat down.  No sticks or grass being thrown up.

She went up into the nesting box this afternoon for about an hour (no eggs in there and she didn't lay) and then around 6p.m she went up again and has been sat up there ever since.  No eggs from her today which is 2 days in a row and since I've owned her (only since Feb), she's never not laid two days on the trot.

I do wonder if she has an egg stuck possibly as the first visit to the nest box this afternoon is about when she lays (late afternoon)?  

[mullethunter]

Unfortunately it does sound to me more like she’s having an egg laying problem than is going broody. I have a campine too and mine is pretty clockwork with her eggs.

It may be that she’s going to lay a soft shelled egg - that will often make them go in and out of the nest box with no result and makes them very miserable. Or it is possible, as you say, that an egg is stuck. I have no experience of that so cannot help.

Hopefully I’m wrong and she is broody - I had a Dutch bantam who was broody last week without actually sitting in the nest box much (because she’s low in the pecking order and wasn’t allowed to) but she was making the broody noise so it was quite obvious.

[AndyRoo]

I had a hen once that was having problems laying a softie. I very gently massaged around her vent for a few minutes and low and behold an soft shelled egg popped out about 5 minutes later. Within a few hours, she'd perked up and was back to her normal happy self.

[Annabel]

Thank you for your responses.  My worry is that an egg may burst inside her but I think if there is still no egg tomorrow, I will try that gentle massaging.  I also read a warm bath can sometimes expand her insides and help her muscles to lay so that will probably be next.  Luckily she doesn't seem miserable so hoping it isn't too serious!

[AndyRoo]

You can check to see if you can feel a little bump in the area. If you do massage her, just do it gently. I've never tried the warm bath technique, but I've only ever had the one instance of an egg bound hen.

[Annabel]

yes I will be very very carefully as I may leave her with a bigger problem than she started with.  I'm praying I wake up tomorrow to an egg and job done but I don't think so.  I'll see how it goes and keep you all updated!

 

[mullethunter]

What news?

[Annabel]

Hi,

So the update is: I gently massaged her (which she didn't seem to like).  I then let her go and decided to observe her general behaviour over a few days - she is eating fine, drinking well, running around and seems quite happy but absolutely no eggs.

She has stopped sitting in the nesting box now and only goes up at around 8p.m with the others for bed but otherwise is out free-ranging.  I have hunted high and low around the garden for a potential stash of eggs and none have been found so I have come to the conclusion that she may be having a break from laying but I don't know what the cause is.

I read on some other websites that if she was egg-bound this can often be fatal in 48hours but since that time had long since passed (now 6 days without an egg) I am hoping it isn't a major health concern.

[mullethunter]

Sounds to me like initial suspicions were right and she was sort of broody. That’s why she’s now taking a break from laying.

[Annabel]

I hope so, as she is very young and I would hate for her to have problems but she is happily flapping up at my kitchen window now waiting for treats so she is in good sorts!

[mullethunter]

My campine is like hat too - she’s like a Labrador- completely driven by food and no time for anything else!

[Annabel]

So it appears after 10 days of no eggs at all - I am convinced she has been laying them in my neighbours garden!

I watched her (her name is Alice) and for two hours she was walking around the garden on a mission; she went into the nesting box 3 times and flew down with no egg, went into a bush we previously had found a load of eggs in a month or two back, sat there for a bit and came out - no egg, then went to another very secluded area of the garden four times, flew down, flew the wall into the neighbour's garden and back into this secluded patch - and there we found the egg.

Last time when I found (I think it was 13) eggs in this bush, I cleared the whole bush of eggs and she never laid there again.  I think she likes to hold onto her eggs and I even get the impression she won't lay if she thinks I know where her stash is.  So this time I didn't touch the egg and then today - there was another egg there.  I am planning on letting her lay 4 (which I will mark with a marker pen) and then collect the fresh one each day leaving the rest (until they are off of course then I will leave some of the fresh ones etc etc).

One funny lady - I wonder if this is common for Campines or whether she is sort of broody in wanting to keep the eggs (although she abandons the nest as soon as she has laid!)?

Edited May 23, 2020 by Annabel

[Cat tails]

They first need to lay a clutch before they start brooding. So she could well be leaving them for now, with plans on returning to them. Once they start brooding, they stop laying, to ensure the eggs will hatch around the same time.

[Annabel]

oh I see - could well be what she was trying last time then!  What happens if I leave them then and they aren't fertilised- does she give up after around 21 days?  Just wondering what is best for her - leave them or remove?  Perhaps I should see if she lays a clutch and then sits on them?

[Cat tails]

16 minutes ago, Annabel said:

oh I see - could well be what she was trying last time then!  What happens if I leave them then and they aren't fertilised- does she give up after around 21 days?  Just wondering what is best for her - leave them or remove?  Perhaps I should see if she lays a clutch and then sits on them?

Definitely remove. My Dutch bantam was broody (but not allowed to brood) for 5 weeks. They don’t necessarily give up after 21 days.

[Annabel]

ok will do!  Thank you (again) for the advice!

 

[mullethunter]

My campine does exactly the same. I’ll collect eggs from one spot for a week or so, then all of a sudden I’ll realise egg numbers seem to have dropped, and I have to go on a hunt around the garden which usually eventually results in finding a stash. She’s very vocal so usually if I realise she’s disappeared and can get somewhere near her, she’ll answer me when I call her so I can pinpoint her!

[Annabel]

1 hour ago, mullethunter said:

My campine does exactly the same. I’ll collect eggs from one spot for a week or so, then all of a sudden I’ll realise egg numbers seem to have dropped, and I have to go on a hunt around the garden which usually eventually results in finding a stash. She’s very vocal so usually if I realise she’s disappeared and can get somewhere near her, she’ll answer me when I call her so I can pinpoint her!

My reply didn't seem to show - so apologies if this gets posted twice.  I was just saying it is lovely to hear that someone else has the same sort of behaviour from Campines.  They seem in my opinion, very different to any chickens I have had in the past.  They seem very intelligent, escape artists, first to fly up on me if I walk out with meal worms, my one independently walks round the garden separate from the others - it's always 4 together and then her (but she doesn't mind sunbathing with them), finds natural nesting spots - they seem almost self-sufficient and the closest to 'wild chickens'!  I swear she barely eats her layers pellets and instead fills up on whatever she can foraging.

My cream legbar is the total opposite - a real scaredy cat, slow reactions to food being dropped (such that I normally have to flick things her way or she'll get nothing), a lovely, sweet temperament and will sit on your lap and be stroked like a cat but absolutely terribly dumb!

[mullethunter]

Yep, that sounds like Camilla! She’ll let me catch her most of the time (when she’s in lay anyway - not so keen in the winter) but you’re right - very independent, pretty intelligent (although sees to have no idea of any sort of self preservation and blunders around like a bull in a china shop to get food) and ALWAYS looking for food! Also sometimes I think we should’ve called her ‘Wreck-it Ralph’ because she does just wreck everything!

In this photo I took today she’s not impressed that I’m inside the greenhouse and won’t let her in!

Edited May 23, 2020 by mullethunter

[Annabel]

Wow she does look a lot like Alice - even my daughter saw Camilla and said 'It's Alice!  But why is her comb so big?'.  

She is gorgeous.  Alice is very light footed and doesn't knock anything down so that's one difference although she is only 8 months now so maybe that will come with age!

Thank you for sharing such a cute photo! Love her!

[Cat tails]

Talking about gobby and food orientated chickens: went out to scatter their breakfast last night. It was proper dark out. But that didn’t deter Truus! She got up out of the coop and stood their blinking and swearing that she couldn’t see the food... after a while of just pecking the ground in the hope of just accidentally finding something, she went back to bed.