Amber’s struggle to lay an egg

When Amber started laying in June she seemed to really struggle with it. She laid two tiny wind eggs followed by two soft shelled eggs. I gave her limestone flour and crushed egg shells and she went on to lay normal eggs but often looked ill just before laying. She would stand with her wings down and eyes shutting and at first I thought I might lose her.

Amber went on to lay a couple of eggs a week and seemed to improve. In September she went into her moult and stopped laying. It was a relief to have her stop laying as she seemed happy and healthy again.

Amber stopped laying for just over three months and started again in February. Again she laid two soft shelled eggs and I started feeding limestone flour and crushed egg shells again. She went on to lay normal eggs but only one a week. Honey by this time was laying every other day. She no longer looked ill before laying though and I hoped that with maturity she was now through this problem.

Amber then didn’t lay for two weeks and yesterday she started to look ill again. During the afternoon she looked like she used to in the summer, wings down and eyes closing. Despite the limestone flour I felt another soft egg was on it’s way.

Poor little Amber

You can see by the look in her eye how miserable she is feeling.

Not a happy girl

Amber went into the coop and at first looked as if she didn’t have the strength to go up to the nest box.

Her feathers are ragged above her tail

It also looks as if her feathers are being pulled above her tail just to add to her plight.

Amber then went up and settled in the nest box. It was about an hour before bedtime and I hoped that by morning she would have laid and would as usual spring back to being well again.

Honey checks on Amber

You can see that Honey’s feathers are still intact.

In the morning she didn’t come out of the nest box until I went in to do my morning chores. I checked and there was no egg. Amber still didn’t look any better. I picked her up and had a good look at her and there was no sign of anything stuck and no pulsing from her vent.

Amber didn’t go to the food or water which worried me and even when I put corn in front of her she was very half hearted about it.

We had to go out to do a school B.B.Q. brunch for a cross country event so I had to leave her and hope she would lay her egg while we were out. We have seen her like this before and she has always brightened up as soon as her egg is laid.

We returned home a few hours later and I went straight in to check. Amber looked a bit better but still not her normal self and no egg in the nest box. I put out dishes of mash with crushed egg shell and chopped tomato added and Amber tucked in which was a good sign.

I then did the poop pick and came across some bits of soft egg shell. It seemed that she must have laid a soft egg in the run and the girls must have eaten it. I found what looked like the top and bottom part so was sure there was no egg stuck inside her. I threw some sunflower hearts and Amber sprinted over to them.

My husband thinks that maybe she had not eaten much yesterday afternoon and this morning and that had caused her to feel a bit weak. I hand fed her some bits of grape which she ate readily. As the afternoon went by she started looking stronger but did go and sit in the nest box for while. I am sure she probably doesn’t know she has laid her egg.

I went in to give the girls their bedtime corn and Amber looked back to her normal self and enjoyed the corn. I felt that now she was eating again she had regained her strength and was at last back to normal.

I just don’t know why she struggles so much with egg laying. She has the same diet as the other girls and after a week of limestone flour and crushed egg shells added to their food she still laid another soft shelled egg. She is the only one with this problem. I think there must be something not quite right with her egg laying machinery. She has struggled from the start and lays much less often than the other girls.

Of the two little girls she is tiny and a different shape, a slightly humped back. I wonder if she is a sort of runt of the litter as it were. She is feisty and full of attitude though and is not bottom girl. Honey is bottom girl but has no problem with egg laying.

My friend Jackie seemed to have this problem with her Rosie and sadly lost her after two years. We have had Amber nearly a year and I worry that we too will lose her sooner rather than later but like Jackie if we keep her a couple of years I will be glad of any time we have her for. I had hoped she could get past this but it seems to be part of her make up. I can only hope to have her for as long as possible or even better I keep hoping she will grow out of it. Only time will tell but I will do my best for her.