She's not lame at all, I first noticed it turned to the side a couple weeks ago. I ended up trimming it, didn't seem to bother her at all having it handled.
No idea how she could have broken it. The boards she's on in the pic are our front porch steps so not part of their enclosure. Hopefully...
One of our one year old hens has a toe that has started going sideways, see pic. I also noticed the toenail is long but not sure if that's a cause or effect (chicken or egg ha). Should I trim the nail? Is the toe broken? She seems otherwise fine.
We only have 3 hens, with one communal nest box that is 12x30 attached at floor level to the exterior wall of the coop. It has a single small opening, about 8x10. Two hens can get in there and lay at the same time, but when we have a broody she tends to guard the entrance to keep the others out...
No respiratory illness, and their diet is 95% layer crumble with a little bit of fruit and veg scraps and mealworms (all of which I gave up when she started having shell quality issues).
But great news, she laid a beautiful egg today! Funny, yesterday I finally gave them some kale thinking...
She's still happy and healthy but no signs of an egg. Thanks for checking in. I would love to do a survey to find out how common this is, can't figure out how though.
Thanks, that helps. Yes she was on antibiotic last week, plus the vitamins in their water. She seems to feel totally fine which is great but the lack of laying 8 days later tells me something is still not quite right.
Thanks, yes she's eating normally and emptying her crop normally. The epsom salts baths seem to stress her out rather than helping and she doesn't seem to be stressed or trying to pass an egg, just not laying at all. Is the idea that the calcium citrate will stimulate her to lay? We gave it for...
I have a 1yo hen who had an egg break inside her a week ago. She had had shell quality issues that got better, then worse, then the break. She was pretty unwell for a couple days then recovered.
She has been doing great but hasn't laid an egg since. I did calcium for a few days then stopped...
Yes they have had free choice oyster shell since they started laying last summer. Maybe the limestone grit will be more to her liking, worth a try anyway.
So are there some chickens that just need more calcium long term? This all started with shell issues. We did calcium for a couple weeks which solved it, but stopped because the general advice is not to do that for more than a week or 2. When we stopped her shells got worse again, and the...