Dear Neighbor,
I did something I have never done in regard to my chickens before. I delivered an egg! Yep!
I went out to check the chicks and I heard panting and wheezing, this sad little cry, as if someone had a cold. I peaked over into the next boxes and could see Brassy making this weird sound. It wasn’t a healthy sound, for sure.
I went around and opened the nest box door. The nest box is high enough that she was perfectly at eye level and I could see each time she wheezed an egg would crown. Egg bound!
First I prayed. Always my first words. Then I put my hand on top to stabilize her and then put the other hand under her belly. I COULD FEEL THAT EGG! So as she strained another time, I ran my finger along her belly and pushed that egg right out!
Egg bound is a serious condition A bird will die if they can’t pass their egg. Brassy is an older bird; the smallest but is the queen of our two dozen hens. She’s the boss, for sure. She hasn’t laid in a while, either. Frankly, I wish she would just go into henopause because if they go egg bound once, they have a very good chance of doing it again. Anyway, just I thought I would share just in case you have a situation like this come up.
Happy homesteading! ~S