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...untill yesterday Scarlet had been laying one small normal pullet egg every morning, yesterday morning she laid a truelly massive egg, like the ones Indie used to lay, which is what caused her untimely death, now today Scarlet keeps visiting the nestbox and coming out having not laid! could she too be eggbound and what should I do?How long should I wait for the egg before intervening? Or am I being paranoid?
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You could try giving her a warm bath. I've found that helps if one of mine has problems with a softie. It won't hurt to do it anyway. My vet also recommends holding the hen's vent over steam but I'm too frightened of burning or worse dropping the hen in boiling water.
My lot seem to enjoy a nice warm bath with the water splashed over their vent. Needs to be done for about half an hour.
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should I do that today? or wait till tommorrow in case she's just late today, also seperating her from Mr D is going to be interesting..!! easier tommorow whilst they are still penned up. Should I completely submerge her? should I use soap?Comment
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pheww! a very strange egg has just arrived, semi soft, tiny and with a sort of bottom print on it
sorry if this is too much detail! anyway, hoping for a normal egg tomorrow!
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That's a relief! For future reference you need to bath them as soon as you suspect they might be eggbound - it can kill them, as can the shock of the egg breaking inside which is why I never try to poke about (this is recommended by some). You don't need soap! Just stand the bird in enough warm water to cover the vent - I press gently on their back and most will just sink down into the water. I keep them there as long as I can till the water starts to cool usually about 20 -30 mins. I dry them off with a towel and then the dog drier as it has a quiet motor (and its already ou in the shed!) but a normal hair dryer would do. I put hem on their own somewhere quiet and dry and warm. Every time I've tried it the hen has laid within an hour. The idea is that it relaxes them. All mine including a young pullet who was looking very unwell have resonded without any fuss.
Like Frias I never use steam in case it scalds and he bath has always worked well.
Hope Scarlet is ok. Sounds like her egg laying system is a bit out of synch!Last edited by Suechooks; 22-11-2009, 02:00 PM.Comment
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thankyou so much
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One of my banties laid a 63g egg this morning ~ ouch!If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to excess
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Glad Scarlet is better. Sorry I didn't explain explain the bath properly. Suechooks explains is so much better.
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a warm bath - I'd never have thought it
I love learning new stuff
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normal egg today, at 2pm!!! this is one of the advantages of working from home, you can watch your feathered little persons and worry about them, laugh at them spoil them etc all day when you should be working...ditto for the two fat mares, cats and guinea pigs...
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Well done Scarlet
If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to excessComment
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everything been perfect for the last few days, perfect eggs, no sign of soft or funny shells, young scarlet must be sorting herself out!
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Or Mr.D's sorting her out
If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to excessComment
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yes, about three times whilst i was making a rather short phonecall to my aunt yesterday, could see them thru the window, "he's at it again!!" i kept telling herOriginally posted by Eco-Chic View PostOr Mr.D's sorting her out
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I found that when I put Souffle into the bath, she just sunk down into it, and sort of sighed, she would have sat there all day I reckon.
Anyway it was cold outside so I kept her in for a couple of hours, drying her with a towel as I dont have a blower before returning her to the allotment,
She went on to lay about a day or so later, so it may have helpedComment
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