# Is swelling normal??



## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

Hi being paranoid again.

One of my biggest fears with breeding is egg binding or prolapse. I'm absolutely terrified of something happening 

When I took Lilith out today, I noticed her bum seems a bit swollen and seems to be missing feathers. Is this just normal changes in preparation for laying an egg, or something to be concerned about?

Google is making me more paranoid 

This is the best picture I managed to get (the camera was scaring her; she didn't like it being under her):










ETA: I just weighed her and though I hadn't weighed her since March 1st, she's gone from 106g to 119g. Quite the weight gain there.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes that's normal...looks like she has what we call an egg butt. Have her poops gotten bigger yet? You might be seeing eggs from her pretty soon. Has she been mating with anyone?


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## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

They're pretty big today, and she was sleeping in the nestbox last night for the first time (she's been spending a lot of time in there alone and with Caddy, but had still been sleeping on a perch at night). She and Caddy have been mating quite a bit in the last few days too. I keep getting woken up by disturbing birdy noises


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

If that is the case, you should be seeing an egg shortly. You might hear her making soft crying sounds while she is laying the egg too.


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## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

Thank you guys for helping my paranoia :blush: Everything seems to be on schedule and she laid her first egg today. I'm so proud of her. It's so little and cute and egg shaped.

I do have one more concern though - Cadaver has been sitting on it since it was laid. I've read that they aren't supposed to start incubating till after the second egg is laid. Will him being a bit overexcited and getting started right away hurt the egg at all? Do I discourage him from doing it?

He's such a proud little papa. He tried to bite my face off when I looked in the box


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Most won’t start incubation until after the second egg is laid, but this is not always the case, some will start incubation straight away. The egg should be okay as long as there is enough bedding in the nest box, they will get used to you peeking inside the nest box too, that is just their protective instincts.


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## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

I've been trying to peek in once or twice a day to get them used to it. Everything I've read says to tap/knock on the box so you don't startle them so I've been doing that as well. Caddy just refuses to leave when I poke my head in there haha. I think I'll have to bribe him with some goodies so I can mark the egg before she lays another one if I want to keep my fingers.

They did both come out for a quick break just now and I managed to get a blurry picture of the little egg










It's so cute and little. Even if none of them hatch this clutch it's been totally worth it for this cute little egg.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

You can push him out with a spatula (that's what I normally had to do) then block the entrance so you can mark and check the eggs. I've never had a hen wait until another egg was laid to start sitting so this isn't unusual and wont hurt the eggs, you'll just have to start counting from that first day.


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