2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[cluckynikki]

Hello everyone, I'm in need of your words of wisdom. One of my hens has been laying softies now for 6 weeks and I was speaking to someone who used to rear hens who said that I should try taking her off layers pellets to give her body a break. He said this would induce a moult too but when I re-introduce layers pellets, after approximately 3 weeks , she should start laying again.

 

I am willing to give this a go, but my problem is I am due to go away on holiday in just under 3 weeks time.

I will be relying on a neighbour to look after the hens, so I really wanted this sorted out before I go. I can't be expecting my neighbour to be clearing broken eggs which have fallen through the eglu bars into the poo tray on a daily basis. And of course my neighbour should have the pleasure of collecting the eggs in return for looking after them.

 

I have tried worming the hens, have given them oyster shell, limestone flour and ground up egg shells, in a bid to sort the softie problem out and have now just got some zolcal, but nothing has made a difference yet. They have both been laying for exactly a year now and look to be in exceptional health ... they have been like egg machines, with maybe one day off a fortnight, and they have laid all through the winter. They have not really moulted in any major way,just a few feathers here and there.

 

What's best to do? Your advice please. Can I squeeze this enforced moult and body break in in the two and a half weeks before I go on holiday, and then get my neighbour to return them back onto pellets? Is this long enough for them to have and recover from a moult. Would there be likely to be any probelms with them going back on pellets?

 

My neighbourknows nothing about looking after hens so what do you all think is the best thing? At the moment the eglu has never been cleaner as I am cleaning it out everyday to remove the soft eggs, which fall through straight onto newspaper in the poo tray and soak through. Should I be using aubiose ... would that soak the eggs up and make them easy to remove should this situation remain?

 

Any thoughts and experiences greatly received. I have a huge bag of mixed corn .... would I feed them that with kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s for the time I have taken them off layers pelllets?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Egluntyne]

An enforced moult can be very stressful for the hen, and is generally only done in commercial settings these days.

 

To take her off lay for a while it is better to put her to bed very early so that she is getting less than 14 hours daylight. This will be easier to manage when you get back off holiday,and reduce the pelllets, say 50:50 with the corn, which is not particularly nutritios on its own.

 

I would worm her with Flubenvet, if she hasn't been wormed for a while.

 

You don't say how old she is.