Single hen

[Mrs Kettle]

Hi - our mrs pepperpot hasn't laid for about 3 months now. She's 18 months old, and although apparently healthy in all other ways her comb is paler than those of our other chickens. She hasn't laid since we added another two girls to our flock of two (with no problems) - could this be why? There have been soft-shelled eggs, but I think these belong to one of the two newbies.

 

Do chickens just stop laying this young? Will she lay again? What else might it point to?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Mrs K

[mostin]

Have you tried worming her and checking her for lice? Alot of non-layers seem to get going again after a course of flubenvet wormer.

[chickencam]

Last summer when we had been chicken keeping for about 3 months we added 2 more girls after one of the originals died. The 2 remaining original girls both went off lay for about a month. it must have been the stress of the new intros.

 

We have also got a Pepperpot who is about 18 months old and she has just come back to laying after a break of 8 weeks during which time she has gained weight and grown some lovely feathers. She didn't have a full moult but had been looking a bit tatty for a while then her tail feathers fell out, she is now looking really good and laying again.So maybe your girls are just taking an R & R break.