Gained 2 Grams

[momo]

Hi Everyone,

Elmo has gained two grams.. :x and shes become more and more aggressive over paper.. and she crawled under the fridge today.... :x:x .. plus she found the "joy" of the swishy dance... :x:x:x

Will the enviable come soon?.. Is there anyway I can make the egg stop forming inside her?

Do I just give her a box and get it over and done with? She hasn't really favoured one spot that I can see as of yet.

Re: veggies we are still slowly working at it, she will sometimes nibble at celery leaves. I have on offer for her roudy bush along with her seed..
She has cuttlefish but ignores it. I am so afraid of egg binding..

[Jally]

If you want her to eat more calcium you can grind up her cuttlebone and sprinkle it on her seeds. Or, you can buy cuttlebone that's already ground up.

I'm no expert when it comes to girl lovies, but I think if a hen wants to lay, she's going to lay no matter if she has a box or not. *shrugs shoulders*

[bbslovie]

Hi, my lovie Bea got all nesty and went into laying mode in April and after 4 weeks still didn't lay anything so I took her to the vet. The vet gave her a shot of Lupron (? spelling?) and that took her out of laying mode in no time flat and she hasn't had an issue since. The vet said that either this would curb it for about 30 days or it could do the trick for the season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but I know what I'll be doing immediately as soon as Bea gets nesty again!

Barb :)

[momo]

I think the egg has left the train too late for the lupron shot. She looks like a pregnant human. I have been looking at old threads and I am 100% sure shes got an egg.


I think I will grind the cuttlefish, shes been scoffing her egg and biscuit. I think I will grind out some egg shells and add that too the egg and biscuit with the cuttlefish too.

She has been eating her roudybush more. I assume its the vitamins and minerals inside it. She crawled down the arm of mums jacket last night... while she was still wearing it!!

[FuzzyAga]

Can you buy liquid calcium in your pet stores? This is another way to supplement the calcium. I mix up a batch for Juanita periodically, but she hates calcium water!

You're doing all the right things.

[momo]

I tried to give her a tissue box to make a nest in.. but she decided that it was good nest material... I was planning to go get a nest box tomorrow.. a proper one... but tonight she has laid the egg. I sat with her the WHOLE night... and left her for 10 minutes to brush my teeth.. I came back and there is an egg.

I will still get the nest box tomorrow and move the egg in there. Is it better to replace it with a fake plastic egg considering its infertile?


She has laid the egg in the back corner of her cage, the thing is.. 10 minutes afterwards she was back to her normal self banging all of her toys.. I was afraid she might break the egg so Ive put her to bed. She also did a giant poo as well. It was like a morning poo big.

[linda040899]

You can actually fashion a homemade "nest" from a cardboard box or even a tissue box. You have the option of buying a box but since the eggs will be infertile, it's not mandatory. What you really need to do most urgently is make sure she's comfortable. :)

I would not replace the egg, as nothing is going to develop. It's very typical for hens to ignore the first couple of eggs. Once her body reaches incubating temperature, you should see her more attentive to them. Large droppings are typical with hens in laying condition. They eliminate less frequently but the droppings are much larger.

Glad the egg was laid without incident.

[momo]

I have been stressing the past few days once I realised we were really close the egg. I dont think I have ever felt so relieved to see an egg. I just kept reading about egg boundness and I kept looking for the signs and then going into panic, fear, and feeling helpless.. and then thinking about how I just couldnt handle to lose her. If she didnt lay it by tomorrow morning. I would have wanted to bring her to work with me.

With giving her the nest box what do I do? Get her some nesting material, put the box in the cage and move the egg in on top of the nesting material? Will she get crabby at me that I moved her egg? How do I make sure she's comfortable? Is that in terms of giving her a nest, or warmth wise?

[linda040899]

I can understand the fear/concern regarding egg binding. We hear a lot about it but, at least in my own experience, it's not that common. That doesn't mean I'm not watching for it because I would be lying if I made that statement. What I AM finding is that a good diet will minimize the chances of it happening. In my breeding career (late 1990 to now), I've had 4 or 5 eggbound hens, two of which I lost because I was not aware of the problem. I've never lost a hen that I've taken to see an avian vet. It's a matter of recognizing what's happening and acting quickly.

By making her comfortable, I mean not letting her sit on her eggs on the grate of the cage. The box doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something that will work for her. You can give her a wooden box (parakeet size is fine) and put some Aspen shavings in it for her. If she chooses to add more material from whatever she finds and chews up, that's OK, too. You may find that if you give her a box and put her egg in it, she won't follow the egg. She may go back to her original location choice and lay her entire clutch. Hard to say. I've seen hens go into boxes and I've seen hens that won't. Could go either way with Elmo. :)

[momo]

Thanks Linda.

I think I will try putting the box in the spot where she has laid the egg. Maybe she will take to it then. The only problem is trying to get her out of the cage to put the box in.

She is sleeping at the moment and I am running off to the shops to get some Saw Dust, I dont think we have aspen shavings here but australian's seem to use saw dust in the nest boxes from what I've read.

[LauraO]

Good Luck with Elmo's condition. I understand the fear of egg binding. I just wanted to add, however, if you scrape cuttlebone on her seed make sure she continues to eat her seed. I tried this with our alexandrine and she refused to eat her seed, including her beloved sunflower seeds:x.

[momo]

She keeps picking at her feathers around her bum.. is that normal?


Thanks LauraO.

I have cuttlefish for Elmo everywhere, she used to lick it, but shes no longer interested in it. I have made cut out the tissue box to form a really nice nest box but she's decided that she doesn't like the way I've got it and is deciding her own way to cut it..

[LovelySydney]

Momo Im glad to hear the egg was layed without any problems - what a relief! I think the cleaning around her rear is normal, especially since something that large just came out! hope everything continues to move along nicely with Elmo!!

[momo]

The second egg has arrived I just uncovered her this morning and it was half coming out. There seems to be quite alot of blood on the egg. On the first one there was just one tiny line on it. This one is covered in it. Is this normal?

She didn't lay it in the nest box I gave her. She didn't even lay it in the same spot as last time.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2474/dsc00631has.jpg

A better shot of the blood egg
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/3726/dsc00634oam.jpg

I rang the vets and they said it's nothing to worry about that sometimes it does get covered in blood. But I am still worried. She seems quite sleepy at the moment, alas she just laid an egg.

Half an hour later she is back to her normal self in playing with her toys and coming to give mummy her morning kisses. She give me 10x more than usual. I think she was feelig a bit sore and sorry for herself.