chocolatedog Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Well after things having gone very smoothly for ages, I've now got 3 girls who have only produced 3 eggs in 5 days. They've all just turned 2 recently so I'm wondering if that is why. Does anyone know how long Bovans Nera/Rhode Star and Speckled Star chickens lay for? Or am I really looking at sporadic from now on? I was away on holiday and they were confined to their run for a week, with my neighbour spoiling them every day with kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s to keep them happy, but since I got back on Tuesday and allowed them out in the garden again, egg production has been very low. I've hunted high and low in the garden to see if they've found another nest - Ginger did that to me last summer - but so far, I've found nothing....... Is it time to introduce the next generation??? And how many small-medium hybrids would anyone else contemplate keeping in a Mark III eglu? My girls all look healthy and bright enough so maybe it is an age thing. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 I don't have any experience of these breeds, but by two years old all my Gingernuts had stopped laying regularly - I got a lot of softies, despite feeding limestone flour, and very sporadic laying. Sadly only one now remains, two have gone to chicken heaven and I suspect that they were worn out by having, up till then, laid almost daily. It could just be a temporary blip due to weather conditions, have you looked at worming/mite treatment? If they are generally healthy however then I suspect perhaps it is just their age. With regard to your other question, how big is the run? You can get up to 10 hens in a Cube, but it's the run size that will limit your numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Well after things having gone very smoothly for ages, I've now got 3 girls who have only produced 3 eggs in 5 days. They've all just turned 2 recently so I'm wondering if that is why. Does anyone know how long Bovans Nera/Rhode Star and Speckled Star chickens lay for? Or am I really looking at sporadic from now on? I was away on holiday and they were confined to their run for a week, with my neighbour spoiling them every day with kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s to keep them happy, but since I got back on Tuesday and allowed them out in the garden again, egg production has been very low. I've hunted high and low in the garden to see if they've found another nest - Ginger did that to me last summer - but so far, I've found nothing....... Is it time to introduce the next generation??? And how many small-medium hybrids would anyone else contemplate keeping in a Mark III eglu? My girls all look healthy and bright enough so maybe it is an age thing. Any advice? I am pretty much in the same position as yourself. Eldest girl has stopped laying regular eggs and has started laying a softy a day for the past few days and before that her eggs were watery and not nice. One of my girls lays so rarely that it doesn't even count and I have one who is still laying lovely eggs daily. Looking at your sig-you have a mark 2 Eglu?? I have a mark 2 and a walk in run and have decided to add two new girls at the end of next month. Apparently 5 hens in an Eglu is fine so long as they have enough room in the run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolatedog Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Hi - an update...... It seems my girls might have been taking a bit of a holiday (or were sulking at me leaving them in the run while I went away for a week.......) as for the past 2 days they have produced an egg each - OK, so Pepper's are looking a slightly odd shape and very peely-wally, Ginger laid one in the run which was thinnish, and therefore cracked when one of them stood on it, and she also laid a softee in the poo tray, but Spice, bless her, has come up trumps with 2 beautiful eggs. This after Oh, I don't expect then to come back into full lay, but I think they sneaked a peek through the window when I was trawling the net looking for a couple of new girls and decided to think again about whether they really did want to retire or whether they would soldier on for a bit longer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
