A bit worried aboiut Betty

[Phattaff]

Hope you don't mind but i'm worried about my black maran Betty.
Up until about last Sunday she had been laying an egg every other day and now it seems she has just stopped and i don't know why.
She seems alright inherself but i'm worried she might have become egg bound is there anyway i can tell if she is and if so what can i do about it????

All the best
A worried Phattaff

[dexterdoglancashire]

I'm no expert, but if she seems OK generally then I wouldnt be too worried. How old is she? Has she been laying eggs for a while? My girls only started on Boxing Day - and don't necessarily lay one each day. Also, other grapes would know more than me, but I dont think there is a breed of hen that lays eggs everyday. My girls are Light Sussex Xs and I think should lay around 250 - 300 eggs a year, so they are entitled to a day off.

[RichmondHens]

A classic sign of being egg bound is the hen going in and out of the nest box but not laying anything, looking like she is straining, and sometimes standing hunched up and miserable looking, although hens will do the last one for all sorts of reasons, not necessarily being egg bound. If she has been laying well up till now, she may just be having a "bad weather break". The weather has been consistently cold and wet and she may just feel like stopping for a short while.

Also, is she getting enough protein in her diet? Layers pellets/mash ad lib and just a small treat (corn or scraps) in the afternoon so she gets all the right nutrients for producing eggs. If you have been tempted to feed more corn/treats because of cold weather, this may have reduced her protein intake and therefore affected egg production.

[MrsC]

Hi, I had an eggbound hen a few months ago. She looked really miserable and was doing the whole trying to lay an egg thing. She looked not well at all, hunched up and then very agitated. She maybe having a break or it could be too many treats. If she's eating ok and running round and being perky then I wouldn't worry, maybe lay off any treats and just keep on giving pellets/mash. It really does affect egg production too many extras. I've noticed that in the past year. Hope all is ok.

[Phattaff]

Thanks everybody
I will keep an eye on her this weekend, and if she's doing all the going in and out trying to lay stuff . Coz i work all day i only get to see the girls in the morning when i let them out and at the weekend when i give them the run of the garden.

Thanks again
Phattaff

Just read this

Poor Efel the pet chicken needed a bit of egging on for her latest effort. It took her a week of preparation and half an hour of pushing before she could unleash her creation on the world: an egg three times the size of a regular egg and one of the biggest ever recorded.

Her owner, 11-year-old Gabrielle Needler, from Reigate, Surrey, was shocked when she saw the egg in the coop. She said: 'Efel didn't lay for a week and we wondered why. Then she laid this massive egg so she was obviously saving it all up. It took her half an hour to lay this one - normally it only takes about five minutes.'

You never know she just might be trying to lay me a big egg. Fingers Crossed