Mystery of the Missing Eggs: The Saga Continues

Friday I took another look at Juno's x-rays and saw something I had missed before; an egg. This alarmed me greatly because Juno had not lain an egg for a couple of days before the x-ray was taken and not since, at least not that I had found. Her eggs are distinctively different from Ariel's and I can easily tell them apart. I had been finding Ariel's egg every morning in the nest box, but Juno usually tries to hide her eggs from me by laying them in the yard later in the morning.

We did yard work the day after the x-ray and failed to find her stash. I took her in again today for a repeat x-ray to determine if she was indeed egg bound, but there was no egg present! This heightens the mystery! Where are the missing eggs (or egg if that one was her last one of the season)? I will search again tomorrow, but there is no conceivable place I can think of that I have not already checked.

My only thought is perhaps she is burying them cleverly deep in the nest box. I will clean it out tomorrow and that should determine if this is indeed where she has been hiding them under my nose the whole time! I am relieved to know she isn't bound up though. She had me worried sick.

Vacation/ Mysterious Limp/ Missing Eggs!!

I just returned from vacation a little over a week ago. While I was gone, the girls stayed in a dog kennel. They did very well, and continued to lay eggs while I was away. When I got them back, I noticed Juno had a noticeable limp and I became concerned.

The kennel manager didn't notice it while she was boarding, and I didn't notice it while she was there either. It was much colder and the grass was tall when I brought her home, so I thought perhaps she had pulled something. I took her to her vet Monday and she did some x-rays which showed nothing broken or out of place, but there was an area that was fuzzy that might have indicated inflammation in that leg. Nothing conclusive though. She prescribed her a liquid NSAID and told me to watch her closely.

She is still limping, but we mowed the grass Tuesday and that seemed to make it easier for her to walk around. I tried giving her the medicine, but she spits it out as soon as she tastes it, no matter what I hide it in. I tried some feline pill pockets today and that worked better than anything so far. She managed to consume about half her dose. That's better than nothing I guess. I'll see if she shows any improvement tomorrow.

Ariel has continued to lay an egg every day since coming home, but Juno's eggs have disappeared! She lay one every day for a few days, then I couldn't find them anymore. I checked all the usual hiding places, but they are nowhere to be found. I'm beginning to wonder if she has stopped laying. I don't know what to do if that is the case. I can't very well separate them at meal times. I'll search again this weekend to make sure they aren't well buried in their nest.