Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[mrsallen08]

Hi All

After realising 2/3 of my originals were boys we decided to replace with a pair of exbatts. They were from a woman who had rehomed about 10, 6 weeks ago. She said they had all been laying well.

Well... We have not seen an egg at all in 5 whole days! Not one since we brought them home! I have checked the coop to see if we have a egg-eater but no sign at all. They have settled in really well and only had about 2 hours of eyeing up from others and now they have both blended in well and are great friends with nuggets! But why no eggs?

 

If anyone can help with this mystery I would be very grateful!

Heather

Edited August 28, 2008 by Guest

[SAB]

The woman you got them from must have got the ex-batts around same time I did and I have noticed substantially less eggs recently, which I am putting down to a combination of the weather and the ex-batts expending energy on growing lovely new feathers.

[Egluntyne]

Could be the stress of a second move that might have put them off.

[mrsallen08]

Hiya

Thanks for the advice. They have lovely feathers now and their wattles etc have shrunk and are more 'pert'. They are still a bit bold in place particulary on front of neck but for saying they have only been free 6 weeks I was quite shocked at how well they looked.

I have added some apple cider vinegar in to their water to help as a general tonic and all have now been 'diatom-ed'! I was worried about mixing all hens together from different places in case of lice etc.

Do you think I am worrying for nothing? How often are you getting eggs now SAB?

Heather

[mrsallen08]

Still no eggs!

Nothing from either exbatt. The woman who we had them from said they were laying regularly though? They are doing poo with white in (like the example in chicken clinic). They are crouching a lot now too but no eggs? We checked them over for lice etc the other night and one was particularly bad. It wasn't red mite but loads of lil cream coloured lice. We had some Diatom ready anyway and have given all a good dousing of that. No other hens had it on them just the newbies. We did all the coop too when we cleaned it out. Could that have stopped them laying?

[Egluntyne]

Yes it can.

 

Johnson's Anti Mite spray is very effective.

 

They will lay eventually I'm sure.

[SAB]

My 6 ex batts had originally providing a regular 3 eggs daily, with the occasional 4-egg day. This has now gone down to 1 egg daily, with the occasional 2! But, they are looking much healthier, have had a bit of a moult and are growing new feathers. Added to the dreadful weather and shorter days I am not too worried. Fortunately for me I have other hens, one of whom has recently started laying so I get a guaranteed 1 egg from her too each day. As soon as my other young ones start laying the ex-batts can freeload as much as they like!

[SLK69]

I can only share my experience of exbatts - I got them at the end of March and for the first weeks they laid an egg each every day - then we had a period of 1 egg a day between them - and now they are well settled I get 3eggs a day from 4 hens - I think moving them around unsettles them and the need energy to regrow feathers and fatten up - am sure they will settle down and lay again soon.

 

Susie

[mrsallen08]

Thanks Suzie and SAB!

I wonder if they had had a mini moult while at the first home. I say this because they have a lot more fluffy feathers coming through which are now developing a bit more. They also had quite pale pink comb/wattles and now they have a bit more colour.

2 moves in 6 weeks may have unsettled them a bit too???

I think Nuggets is a cocerel now too. So I will have to rely on my chicks (now big chicks) to start laying! They are only at 15 weeks now so Im not sure if they will lay over autumn/winter?

Thanks for all your help anyway!

 

Both exbatts are crouching again so fingers crossed they haven't forgotten how to lay!

[dancing cloud]

I've had my 6 ex-batts 3 months and several of them have had "time off" at one point or another, just not all at once. I've had two 2-egg days since I got them and a lot of 6-egg days , with the usual being 4-5. My guess would be that being relocated again has probably upset your girls a little and, once they realise they're with you to stay, they'll settle in and be fine.

 

One thing that seemed to boost my scoffalots was makng them porridge out of their pellets, as they'd obviously never had it before and they LOVE it. Pellets, poultry spice, a bit of live yoghurt and either tuna or dried mealworms (or any other treat worth digging for). A cunning way of getting them to eat things that are good for them without them noticing. It helped put some weight on my very scrawny ones and certainly seemed to help egg production - even Joy is now back laying normally after a period of softies and nothing - though feathers are still coming (3 of them still have bare tummies and barely enough knickers to make a thong ).

 

May be worth a try - but stand well back because they'll flick it everywhere

[mrsallen08]

Thanks for the tip dancing cloud. Will try that at the weekend when I have some more time! That way I can watch them too. They have had some brocoli this afternoon which they love to pick at. Im hoping so much for an egg this week!

[mrsallen08]

And as if by magic! My wish came true!

Ive woke up this morning to 2 brilliant, warm, fresh eggs!

is 61g and is 73g!! Pretty good for a 'return' to egg laying!

I am so happy this morning as have been getting annoyed at owning chickens but no eggs! (For 3 whole months.)

So excited! Good luck to those who are waiting still!

[dancing cloud]

Eggs-ellent news (sorry - couldn't resist!) and really good weights too. Will go well with toast.

 

Hope you said the appropriate thank you's and did the egg dance

[mrsallen08]

Egg Dance? I nearly kissed them and invited them to breakfast!

Eggs now boiled and eaten. Absolutely gorgeous! Cant get over the colour of the yolks really orange! And i always buy the best eggs normally but they were something else!

[ClaireG]

Congratulations Mrs A. So we've both been smiling like loons and around this morning then

[mrsallen08]

AND WE HAVE A THIRD EGG! 52g !

Found at 10.30am! I saw the lighter coloured exbatt come running out of coop and lo and behold egg number 3!

The 2nd exbatt (darker colour) is in and out of coop again too! She just chased a maran out! Wonder if she is cooking up another too?

 

They have been given some fresh picked lettuce as a thank you!

[dancing cloud]

Wow!! A bit like buses then ...

 

Hope you're going to give them names now by way of a reward

[mrsallen08]

Yay! Another 2 eggs this morning! They are slightly different colours so I can tell the difference! Aren't they clever!

Both were in the 60g-65g region

[dancing cloud]

So is this now an every-day thing? Were there omelettes for breakfast at the weekend ?

 

Joking aside, I still love getting eggs from mine and I can tell which is from which hen too (so I can tell my little Dandelion has been freeloading for a couple of weeks now , despite her going to sit in the nestbox just to confuse me).

 

Glad to hear your new little girls are doing you proud - feet (wings and beaks) well under the table by the sound of it

[mrsallen08]

Yes they are laying every day now! They pulled a corker today 83g and 76g! Had omlette for dinner today, yummy! Given a few to my Mum to when we went up for the weekend, I know she is super jealous!

 

They have now been blessed with names too! Omlette and Scrambled! They can have egg based names as they are now laying again.