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Merryn

Stopped laying

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Thanks, Rosie. Just wormed them both with Flubenvet. Henna is looking v hunched and miserable after being quite perky all day. Neither hen is laying so I don't know what to do. Let's hope the 7 day worming programme will work. I am putting a pinch of the stuff on chunks of banana as the only way they will take it.

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It's now a week since their last worming treatment and Penna has now stopped laying as well. Is this the end or will they start up again? I am really concerned as I was led to believe they laid eggs for at least three years.

 

I am not prepared to have caged pets that do not produce. They are also very expensive without any return (apart from their delightful nature but that is not enough). You may all find me very hardhearted but I have a thing about caged pets and I can't have them free-ranging all the time coz of the foxes.

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We have had no eggs from Henna for 7 weeks now and Penna stopped laying in sympathy! I realised that Henna was being broody - but why for so long?

Recently Penna has moulted so maybe that's why she stopped. Am continuing with the Chicken Spice and HOPING that they will kick start again. This is getting very boring not having any eggs for so long.

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This is getting beyond a joke. We've had no eggs from Henna for nearly 8 weeks and none from Penna for 6.

Please can someone HELP!!! :cry:

Both hens seem well and alert (and eating) but they have to be encouraged to come out of their pen to run around and when it's time to put them back they are the very devil to catch (whereas when they were laying they liked being picked up and stroked).

The curious thing is that there is no poo in the tray after each night. They seem to be very spasmodically broody (sitting occasionally in the nesting box) and Penna has moulted - masses of feathers in the pen but she doesn't look bedraggled.

I continue to give them Chicken Spice BUT NOTHING HAPPENS :? What am I doing wrong and will we ever get eggs again?

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Hi Merryn,

 

Do you give them lots of treats? I find that my hens don't lay well if they are overfed. If you do give them treats, it might be worth stopping for a week or so for all but fresh green veg and let them concentrate on eating their layers meal instead. It may work. Keep up the Poultry Spice and check for skin parasites as they can sap the hens energy as much as worms would. Check for eggs under bushes and behind sheds etc or signs of vermin getting in. Is there anything which might be stressing them such as dogs barking, noisy machinery, mice/rats coming into the run etc as they can also cause a halt in production.

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Dear Kate

 

Thanks so much for getting back to me! I do give them some treats but that is stopping for a week to see if it works! Can't see any parasites. No rats at the moment and definitely not getting into the run.

 

Next door neighbour uses a noisy mower but that has never stopped them before. We get various cats around which spook them (dreadful racket they make over a cat!) but, again, it has never stopped them laying before. In fact just before Penna stopped laying she was producing enormous eggs, whereas Henna's were slightly misshapen and one or two soft shell ones.

 

I shall report back in a week!

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Strange, isn't it :? . Izzy laid for around 4 months when we first got her then had a 6 month break before laying for another 6 weeks - then nothing whatsoever. They are a complete mystery!!

 

I hope keeping them off treats works as it may mean that they're not getting as much of their layers pellets as they need for laying but if not, I don't know what to suggest, I'm afraid, Merryn. Fingers tightly crossed!!

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I'm reading with interest, as Daph hasn't laid since she had worms a couple of months ago and Marj has now also more or less stopped. only one egg between them in the last fortnight, though it was HUGE.

 

I'm going to worm them again, they have tonic in their water, not too many treats and fresh grass or greens every day and I don't think they're moulting... and they have limestone flour and grit too. I don't think anything is stressing them. I've tried lecturing them on the morals of earning your keep and the delights of chicken fricassee, but to no avail.

 

I'm starting to wonder what I'm doing wrong - they're only 18 months old and I thought they'd lay for a couple of years, if not every single day then most days.

 

If this carries on I might have to be 'allowed' more chickens!

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Couldn't agree more, Daph & Marj's owner. That's exactly what has happened to Henna and Penna and they show no sign of starting to lay again. It's been 10 weeks now and I've forgotten how a really fresh egg tastes like. We are seriously considering giving them to a nieghbour, who will add two new ones, and giving up the whole idea of keeping hens. I do not want to keep caged pets and more than two hens is just too expensive and time consuming.

I feel really down about this as I was enjoying having them - as working birds...

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Oh dear, I can see why you are disappointed it's an awful long time to be without eggs. I see you got them in 2006, maybe they were older than you thought? and they have reached the end of laying.

 

I know one of mine stopped for nearly 10 days and that seemed like an age, I cannot imagine 8 months without any either.

 

Also as they are caged you know that they not hiding them somewhere, or eating them because you would see the dried yolk on their legs as evidence.

 

I don't know what to suggest, it looks like you might be gently sending them off to the cooking pot in the sky and getting some more. Oh god it's that French way of life getting to me. Did I really say that, shoot me first. :oops: Not sure it would be a good idea to give them to the neighbour tho, if you know they are not laying.

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