Did you know that birds do not have a diaphragm? That lovely body part which allows people to overeat at Christmas, women to carry lovely, big, unborn babies - all whilst expanding merrily to allow for it. The absence of a diaphragm prevents birds from overloading their system with ridiculous and unnecessary weight, very important when you are made to fly. But it also creates havoc when they have 'cargo' on board - such as an egg. No diaphragm basically means no room for expansion. So with an egg in residence, the vital organs have less room to function, the hen less capacity for breath and in the case of my beautiful hen Mya - agonising tummy aches.
Mya was unusually small for her breed. Actually she wasn't a pure bred at all. I bought her at 5 weeks old under the impression that she was a Pekin Bantam - but she grew up to be part Pekin and part unknown. This genetic fruit salad also resulted in a nasty legacy - huge eggs, from a tiny girl.
This is a photo of a typical Mya egg, shown next to a standard egg of a hen about 20% larger than her. Obviously Mya's egg is the larger of the two.
36 hour labour
Mya would generally lay every 2nd to 3rd day during her laying season (August to February approximately).
This was the typical cycle;
1 day prior to laying - wander around slowly, wings and heads slightly drooped, barely able to eat or drink, face slightly blue due to lack of oxygen, abdomen very uncomfortable when pressed - best soothed by sitting on my lap to keep her warm and sometimes by lighting rubbing her abdomen for relief.
Day of lay - symptoms at full peak, barely able to walk, eyes closed, breathing extremely shallow and labored.
During lay - effort appeared to be excruciating, face blue to purple in colour.
After lay complete - usually a hen will spring back physically within moments or minutes, Mya took more than an hour to get back on her feet with any confidence. She would then appear lively, hungry, relaxed and radiant. Until late morning the next day, sometimes the day after that - when the cycle would commence again.
What I wish I knew then...
Had I known back then that Mya could have had a hysterectomy, the removal of her ovary (birds only have one) and could have gone on to lead a happy, busy life - I would have had the procedure carried out in a heart beat. But I didn't know and so Mya valiantly and bravely battled her egg monster for every one of her 5 years. Aren't animals amazing!
Here she is, having one of the hugs that she seemed to enjoy so much.
December 18 2005 was the day I met the dirtiest chick of my life. Having accidentally chosen a rooster a couple of months previously, I successfully rehoused him but then found myself feeling as though there was a hole in my flock.
So I traveled to a farm in the suburb of Herne Hill for inspiration. I saw no hen that took my fancy and no doubt frustrated from my indecision, the owner went to a shed and came back with an armful of 1 to 2 month old chicks. Cue the thunderbolt. Amongst all these little girls was one tiny chick - absolutely filthy. Unnaturally brown from head to claw.
She had clearly been kept in pretty dreadful conditions. Aside from being smothered in chicken poo, she had large patches of skin visible from being attacked and having her feathers ripped out. Her bottom and neck were mostly bare and raspberry pink and her tail feathers were shredded to ugly ribbons. This was an indication that the Herne Hill chicken keeper was housing birds in very overcrowded conditions - leading to feather pulling and also trampling.
I knew it, she was my new baby. That's my girl, I want that one. My other half tried his best to reason with me about how pretty the other girls were, how unclean she was - knowing my rescuing nature was in top gear. 5 minutes later we were in the car, $15 lighter and one dirty bird on my lap. After 10 minutes she was named - Mya.
Within the hour she was under the laundry tap - puppy shampoo, warm water, towel, hair dyer - scissors for the parts that would not wash away.
This is the only photo I have of her as a really young girl - note the colour change.
This little girl changed my world.
This is a photo of a typical Mya egg, shown next to a standard egg of a hen about 20% larger than her. Obviously Mya's egg is the larger of the two.
