4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[circleindigo]

Hello all.

 

I wondered if anyone is able to help? I have two chickens just about two and a half years old now, one was ill recently but seems ok, but still only lays what can only be described as 'balls' of a meat/chicken looking substance and the other has stopped laying altogether, she is also well.

 

They both had a big moult when i expected eggs to stop for a while, but niether have laid now for coming up to five maybe even six months?

 

Can anyone help please or is ths 'normal' in any way?

[chucknette]

Hi Gary

 

They might be at the end of their laying.

 

One of mine stopped laying around this age and the other one is a bit intermittent so I bought some more hens.

 

One died aged nearly four and the other one is still going, she looks like a spring chicken but not many eggs now from her

[Egluntyne]

The "balls of meat/chicken looking substance" sound like what is known as a "lash".

 

Did it look a bit like this? :

 

 

The sometimes lay the loining of their laying tackle, sometimes folowing an infection, and it can look a bit like lumps of meat.

 

She may well start laying again in a week or two.

 

HAve you checked them for lice and mites? That can stop them laying, as can a cargo of worms.

 

Why not give them a good dusting with redmite or louse powder, and a course of Flubenvet to make sure, and then see what happens.

[ubereglu]

Ooo, sounds nasty. Does this hen in particular look in any pain at all?

 

How good a layer was the hen who now isn't laying? I have a hen who is three years old named Starlet who laid lots and lots of eggs in her first year without having breaks weeks on end and she has now got slower laying an egg a week if we're lucky! However the other Bluebelle I have, Muddles, is till laying about 4-5 eggs a week and is three also. With her she lays smaller eggs though and when we first had her would lay 6 eggs a week.

 

Hope that helps a little bit,

 

Liz