Sick Chicken Yesterday

[somebodysfool]

We have 6 chooks fairly new owners since Sep and have been really lucky with them so far. We bought them point of lay 4 hybrids mixed breeds and 2 Arancana's that lay blue eggs. They are all laying an egg a day now though initially it took a while. Yesterday the Sussex was poorly I was at work but hubby at home. She was lethargic and not moving around much. This was for about 3 hours. She had already laid but then laid a shell less egg. Was she egg-bound? Apparently she perked up straight after she passed the egg. If she was is it likely to happen again i.e. are some hens prone to it? Any advice would be great thanks in advance.

Sometimes a soft egg can make them feel a bit poorly. All hens are prone to the odd softy Make sure they have plenty of calcium (oyster shell/cuttlefish) and they should be fine.

Shell-less eggs seem to be fairly normal amongst chickens. I believe that they can be caused by a number of things, including an underlying disease (like mycoplasma), stress, high temperatures, age, worms, cancer and a malfunctioning shell gland.

I would suggest adding some apple cider vinegar to their water (about a tablespoon for 1 gallon of water), make sure they have access to ample oyster shell and vitamin D. You could also try cod liver oil. If she hasn't been wormed then I would do that too. Has she laid today?

Hi she laid as normal today and had laid a proper egg yesterday as well the soft one was in additon. She seems to be a happy girl today.

We haven't given them grit so far as they are totally free range in a 130 foot garden so I was told grit wasn't necessary by a fellow owner. Was this info incorrect. They are on layers pellets as well and we give them verm x for worms once a month. I will get the cider vinegar and some grit can you recommend a good online supplier.

Good.

I give mine grit even though they are free range for a lot of the time. Can't reccommend an online supplier as I get mine from a feed merchant. Verm X is a preventative - it won't kill any worms if the chooks already have them, for that you need Flubenvet.

Second everything isthatporridge says. Oyster shell is a good source of calcium. Free ranging hens will pick up grit for use in the crop, but most is excreted in their droppings. Oyster shell is absorbed.

You can also bake and crush egg-shells and mix with the feed for extra calcium.

Will get the grit re the worms if we have been using Verm X is it still worth worming them could they still have them?

Yes. Verm X is a preventative, not a cure. If your hens have got worms, it won't kill them. Flubenvet is the way to go, and with the 'hobbyist' dosage, there is no egg withdrawal