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

[Cyber Chook]

Oh dear. I've posted here many times about my flock (3 gingernuts and 2 Miss Pepperpots), who stopped laying well at only 1 year old.

 

I've racked my brains as to why, and tried everything I can think of, and followed many helpful suggestions here - worming, treats restriction, Poultry Spice, mite checks, extra calcium + Vit D, cabbages etc etc.

 

Since February, we've been down to 1-2 eggs a day (down from 5 a day, most days). They're lightly moulting at the moment, but this doesn't explain the last 6 months, I don't think? I'm waiting til the moult's over, but if things don't improve, what then?

 

I don't want to keep them as just pets. I'm fond of them, but I'd like them to be laying eggs, believe it or not. So, I hesitate to ask, but my awkward question is, what do I do if they don't start laying?

 

Caroline

[Egluntyne]

You could find another home for them. A local city farm or animal sanctuary might be able to help you out.

 

 

Why not take them to the vet for a look see. S/he might find something that is causing the problem.

[Patricia W]

Do they free range? Might they be laying elsewhere?

 

Tricia

[Busybird]

Do you know which of your girlies are laying the few eggs that you are still getting? Do they seem to be in good health?

 

One of ours stopped laying but we knew which one it was. She then started to deteriorate health wise - nothing obvious and no apparent pain but not normal chicken behaviour and getting gradually worse. In the end we came down each morning half expecting her to have fallen off her perch in the night and gone to the big Eglu in the sky.

 

Last weekend we dispatched her - a difficult decision. I cleaned out the Eglu yesterday and it was very obviously less messy and smelly than usual. Sick chicken had been doing very yucky poo's - she obviously wasn't right.

 

We now have the space for 2 more girlies who we hope to get next month.

 

I don't think that I could dispatch an otherwise healthy and happy chicken but that or rehoming are your options if you want egg layers rather than pets. If you have the space could you get a few more POL hens for the eggs and keep the rest as companions?

[chickenanne]

I don't want to keep them as just pets. I'm fond of them, but I'd like them to be laying eggs, believe it or not. So, I hesitate to ask, but my awkward question is, what do I do if they don't start laying?

 

Caroline

 

Some chooks, particularly hybrids, will lay very well and then tail off quite early in life. If you can be sure they are healthy, (i.e it is the way they are and not due to underlying curable health issues) then you have a very stark choice. Keep as pets, or get rid.

 

It isn't terrible of you to want eggs from them, not at all, so maybe try for a city farm to take them, and failing that despatch them and replace if you want them for eggs. Producing eggs - either indirectly through chickens sold as backgarden flocks or commercial production (organic, free range or otherwise) - entails the despatch of male chicks as a minimum, so you're not doing anything that non-vegans don't do indirectly.

[Steph101]

This is more than likely just a blip; mine nearly all stopped laying for three and a half months last year - a couple were moulting, and I'd had a couple of introductions and switched over to a cube at the same time. There was no clear explnanation as to why they stopped laying though. I'm just guessing that had something to do with it. None of them were ill or anything; not even off colour. But eventually they all started laying again. I didn't even mind when they were laying though - I love them for their entertainment value alone.

[chickenanne]

I read the post as being that they slowed down on laying since Feb, so 7 months or so? Mine lay much more in spring and summer due to the longer days etc. it is young for them to go off lay, but some do at that age, esp hybrids. Were they all from the same breeder?

[Cyber Chook]

Yes, Chickenanne, I think they were all from the same breeder - they came from Omlet with the Cube, and yes, it's been about 7 months, which to me is too long to be a blip

 

The city farm idea is a good one, and if things don't improve that'll be my first move.

 

This evening, having said all of this, for the first time I heard Hattie making a funny wheezy sound when breathing. I'm going to look it up here. Might it be lungworm?? If so, is it contagious? Well anyway, I'd better go and look it up in the health pages here.

 

Thanks for your help everyone

 

Caroline

PS Egluntine, how do you take 5 chickens to the vet? I don't mean that rudely, it's a genuine question but looks stroppy written down! I haven't had to take them to the vet before. I'm trying to figure out what I'd put them in, how I'd carry them etc.

[Lewis]

You can get special poultry crates but they're quite expensive (around £30).

 

A cat carrier or a few cardboard boxes would be fine. The vet may only need to see one animal, test for certain things then treat the flock as a whole, you could phone and ask .

[Egluntyne]

A bog standard carboard box with a lid and some airholes cut into it should be fine.

[BeckyBoo]

I've only had mine for just over 2 years and mine have all but stopped laying. Out of 14 hens in total I'm getting between 3 and 5 eggs a day. Two are ex-batts so they have an excuse ( ) one is disabled, 8 are pure breeds so a bit more erratic and some of those are 2 or so years old but some of the pure breed are last years hatch. And out of my four Omlet girls, one died two weeks ago out of the blue and the others are very erratic layers. I won't get rid, I'll wait for nature to take it's course but I have been surprised at how quickly they've gone off lay. Last year I was getting 10-14 eggs a day from 19 hens, even at the beginning of this year I was getting 8 a day sometimes. They're healthy, the cube is clean, the run is clean, there's been no introductions, food is the same, the only thing apart from age that I can put it down to is possible over feeding of treats by my children.

Oh well, I do want more eggs as I used to sell the excess and when I have room I'll get a couple more Isa Browns as layers.

 

BeckyBoo

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've had a similar scenario here . Three hens and a dramatic tailing off of eggs over the last few months, with a total of 2 eggs in July .

 

I did the restricted treats, Zolcal D, limestone flour etc until I discovered they were eating the eggs and took action (mustard & pot eggs). We're still not up to normal production but it's getting better.

 

I don't think the eating of eggs was the whole problem - they were still laying far fewer than they should have and the eggs were soft/fragile.

 

I'm introducing 2 new girls soon so I can hopefully stop buying shop eggs but will keep the others till nature takes its course.

 

I can understand your frustration though. A city farm sounds like a good option.

[Cyber Chook]

It's not that great for you but good for me, to hear that others have had the same experience. And I'm sorry, Busybird, to hear about your poorly bird. It's good though, that it didn't seem to have affected your other chooks, at least.

 

My next step is to locate a vet who treats poultry...

 

I'm also trying to find out about lungworm here, because of Hattie's wheezing: can anyone point me in the right direction? I can't seem to find anything about it.

 

Caroline

[Cyber Chook]

ANH, yes, I wondered about them eating their eggs, but there are no signs at all and I wondered how you discovered yours were? There's the very occasional trace of yolk in their nesting box, but I think that's from when they've laid a softie and eaten it.

 

Do they eat up every trace of hard eggshell, or would I find bits left?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I didn't find many traces of eggshell at all. I'm kicking myself that I didn't think of that sooner though or I would have been looking a lot more closely.

 

It's easy to test the theory though. If they do lay a softish egg and you can grab it, put it somewhere in the run and watch to see what they do. Mine fell on it like vultures . A shop bought egg would work too but you may have to crack it - I'm not sure if they only eat broken eggs or not .

 

Having said that, perhaps all chickens would devour a broken egg in their run .

[Staffordmum]

I'm also trying to find out about lungworm here, because of Hattie's wheezing: can anyone point me in the right direction? I can't seem to find anything about it. Caroline

 

This might help :-

 

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwhjQ6Yng877iz_JNiCN1IQ

 

Rgds,

 

Pat & Steve

[Cyber Chook]

No need for the testing, I can tell you now. ANH, that yes, they go bonkers for a softie! I've never found even the tiniest piece of broken proper hard eggshell though.

 

I just asked at my vet's how much it might be to have Hattie and her wheezing checked out. With the consultation and possibly Baytril, it might be around £50

 

Thanks for the link.