From being broody, I think Lydia has gone to being Egg bound.
No eggs for four days and, although still bright and alert, she's not her normal self. Read up on broody hens, cleared my kitchen, and got started.
First, I gave her a warm bath. The idea is that the warmth helps the muscles in her oviduct relax. She didn't seem to mind being wet, I'd given her a bowl of leftover mashed potato to peck at to keep her occupied.
Then, I had to steam her vent. I didn't feel confident holding her over a saucepan of boiling water, as I'd have to hold her quite high up to make suure the steam got to her vent but wasn't too hot. So I poured some boiling water into a tub and used that.
Much later, I had a very wet chicken, and I needed to get her dry. I do own a hairdryer, although it's never been used. I bought one some years ago in case of emergency. ANyway, I found it, and I started to blow dry Lydia.
She didn't seem to mind. Then she decided to go for a walk and jumped back into the sink which, of course, was still full of water.
When I got her out she decided she wanted to roost on my hand. It wasn't painful, but it did mean that both my hands were occupied. One was underneath her, with three fingers providing a roost, and the other was on her back, gently making sure she didn't start flapping her wings. DH was called in to be the Coiffeur.
She really liked this, and she actually dozed off at one point. (DId you know that chicken eyelids are upside down? They close from the bottom up, not the top down?). All was going well until our ginger cat came in with a mouse.
DH had to abandon the hairdrying to rescue the mouse, so I had to wake Lydia up and get her off my hand onto the towel. And then I finished off the drying.
She looks really lovely and fluffy now.
But still no egg this morning.
No eggs for four days and, although still bright and alert, she's not her normal self. Read up on broody hens, cleared my kitchen, and got started.
First, I gave her a warm bath. The idea is that the warmth helps the muscles in her oviduct relax. She didn't seem to mind being wet, I'd given her a bowl of leftover mashed potato to peck at to keep her occupied.
Then, I had to steam her vent. I didn't feel confident holding her over a saucepan of boiling water, as I'd have to hold her quite high up to make suure the steam got to her vent but wasn't too hot. So I poured some boiling water into a tub and used that.
Much later, I had a very wet chicken, and I needed to get her dry. I do own a hairdryer, although it's never been used. I bought one some years ago in case of emergency. ANyway, I found it, and I started to blow dry Lydia.
She didn't seem to mind. Then she decided to go for a walk and jumped back into the sink which, of course, was still full of water.
When I got her out she decided she wanted to roost on my hand. It wasn't painful, but it did mean that both my hands were occupied. One was underneath her, with three fingers providing a roost, and the other was on her back, gently making sure she didn't start flapping her wings. DH was called in to be the Coiffeur.
She really liked this, and she actually dozed off at one point. (DId you know that chicken eyelids are upside down? They close from the bottom up, not the top down?). All was going well until our ginger cat came in with a mouse.
DH had to abandon the hairdrying to rescue the mouse, so I had to wake Lydia up and get her off my hand onto the towel. And then I finished off the drying.
She looks really lovely and fluffy now.
But still no egg this morning.
