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

[stonekins]

Hi, just wondering if anyone else has seen a drop in eggs since the awful rainy weather? Our girls seem to hate it and are much happier clucking around in the drier weather.

 

We've got 7 hens that were point of lay about 3 months ago and we only get about 1 egg a day, maybe 2 if we're lucky. We don't know what we're doing wrong as we kept 6 hens in our last house and had absolutely stacks of eggs, but this time around, it is not working. We've got 4 warrens, who were laying 3 or 4 eggs a day in May, but have since come to an almost stop. We've yet to have an egg from our Leghorn, Legbar or Maran hybrids even though we've had them several months.

 

They live in a run of about 12ft square, on wood chips/bark. We don't feed them too many treats, give them regular greens and have wormed them recently. We de-lice them every week or so and keep regular checks for red-mite. I've introduced poultry spice and regularly check on them to see that they are well. Combs are all very red (apart from the legbar and maran) and they don't seem thin (apart from one of the warrens)

 

Does anyone have any suggestions. I have tried measuring the pelvic gap (suggested in one of my poultry books) and some birds have a gap of 1cm or so, when it should be 3 or 4 fingers apart.

 

Help!! We've spent a lot of time, energy and money getting the chickens set up in our 'not so practical this time around' garden and hoped to have a better return in eggs. It really galls me to buy eggs and worst of all, the kids have to take turns every day, instead of being able to collect a few eggs each. I'd appreciate any advice to this much asked quandry. Thanks.

[mrsallen08]

Hiya

I feel your pain! We have 2 exbatts, 1 pekin bantam and 1 RIR hybrid.

All are supposed to be laying but so far nothin! We realised that 2 RIR hybrids were cockerels and got rid of them in hope they were causing egg strike but still nothing! We had the ex-batts on saturday from a woman who had rehomed them 6weeks ago and they have come to us and not laid anything yet either!

I wondered if it was weather as it has got quite muddy in our run but they have had plenty of greens and corn (but not OTT) but still nothing!

I have bought some Diatom to use just in case its a mite problem but I have never seen anything in henhouse or on hens!

Hopefully someone will be able to help!

Heather

[Scottie]

It never occurred to me that it could be the weather! We've got 6 hens, 2 are hybrids who are 30 weeks old, who started off laying well, then 1 stopped completely about 6 weeks ago. The other 4 are 24 weeks old and I just thought it was because they were pure breeds that they hadn't started yet. Our weather since the beginning of July has been pretty dreadful, although all chickens get out to play every day.

 

The girls we had before (2 hybrids) laid constantly every day for 2 and a half years without any breaks - maybe we've just been spoiled.

 

Anyway - you're not alone!

 

Sheila

[stonekins]

Thanks Heather and Sheila. Still no idea why we're on an egg strike. Had to buy 6 eggs in the supermarket today. Never been known before.

[..lay a little egg for me]

We have gone from 4 eggs most days from 4 chooks (had them since March) to 3 eggs virtually every day, but I don't know if we have one part-timer or they are taking turns to have a day off. We wormed with flubenvet, deloused, sprayed the coop with red mite killer and keep them in first thing in the morning so they get their layers pellets. None of which had any effect on the egg count.

 

It looks as if many people are having the same problem. I wondered if it was the weather making the days seem shorter to them as it is so dark all the time?

[ali-s]

My six pure breed Bantams have now stopped laying until next Spring Five of them have just finished moulting, just waiting for Ebony to moult now.

 

My new Hybrids are not quite ready to lay yet, their combs are getting bigger and redder so hopefully not too long to wait now.

[Ana's flock]

Yup! same here. I have 10 hens, most of them very good layers (normally) and now I'd be lucky if I get one egg per day (between the lot of them).

 

Now when I went to drop them some treats they all rushed out of their enclosure and rushed to the garden, so they are all healthy and full of beams, scratching my lawn to bits, mixing all the pebbles from the edging on to the patio and doing their usual acts of vandalism. ...but eggs? Nope madam, not a single one! today it's fairly sunny here, so let's hope I can start using the sad and empty eggskelter again

[Boo&Fudge]

Our 3 hybrid chuckies were laying between 2 and 3 eggs a day but now they seem to have stopped. We wondered if it was because we had let them out to free range but now we really don't know. We have even had to buy some eggs!!!

[mrsallen08]

OMG there's a few of us with 'Hens on Strike'!

What a mystery!

 

Mine have now been completely deloused, wormed, free ranged, drop in treats, more straw in bedding. I don't know what else to do!

[Egluntyne]

Could they be laying somewhere in the garden?

 

Have a hunt round......you might find a clutch of eggs under a shrub.