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[Our_Chooks]

I have 2 warrens, Bella has always been a little irregular but Sharpay is a 1-a-day girl, but at the moment neither are laying They are approximatly 7 months old, is it normal for them to just stop laying, they seem their normal happy selves eating and drinking plenty (layers, corn and a few treats). Please are our chickens sad or just having time out??

Any advice would be gratefully received,

Thanks Rachael

[littlehenny]

They might be having a bit of a holiday but you could try worming them just in case. 7 months is far too young to have stopped laying completely but young enough to still be establishing a routine. All hens have blips from time to time but they usually come good of their own accord

[Forge Cottage]

Commercially, ISA Warrens/Browns get turned over at about 18 months when their production has peaked.

 

Our 2 Warrens have been laying like machine guns since they started (see below), with just a week or so off now and again. Hens must eventually suffer from a sustained run of laying lovely eggs, so I think a rest is fair Our Warrens have never quite had the fine, soft condition of our Black Stars or Bluebelle and I presumed this was due to giving their all to egg laying, at the expense of their looks!

 

However delicate Gertie stopped laying 2 or 3 weeks ago when we introduced two new girls. We suspect the shock/stress, but she was due a break and now in mini-moult, so it is all happening! But apart from that and maybe needing counseling , she seems alert and we have been giving her extra protein (tuna chunks 23%). I fully expect her to pick up her laying again soon...

 

Best of luck to you.

[Our_Chooks]

Thankyou both loads, I shall try and relax

I am going to try worming them anyway, you never know, and I'm going to try them on some tuna, very interesting.

Thankyou again, I've just missed not having a regular supply of eggs.

[Snoxy]

Has been worrying me as to why some of my girls have stopped laying...especially my two Goldlines...Minnie started laying the day after she arrived and almost every day for a couple of weeks and then nothing...and virtually the same with Olive. I have found various colour feathers in the nest boxes...not copius amounts but a few....I guess some/all of them are having a mini-moult When I was checking Violet over earlier I noticed she has lots of new feathers in clear shafts?

 

I will worm them and give them some tuna

[deejmum]

I had 5 eggs out of 13 hens today! 3broodies though not impressed

[Snoxy]

Out of 13 that lay (Gertrude has only ever laid invisible eggs!) I got 5 eggs today...Lulu, Clara and Phoebe's eggs were all under 53gm...I got a tiddler from Daphne yesterday too....don't know what is up with them...thought I would stop giving them greens and corn in the evening too to see if that helps...although I don't give them a huge amount anyway

[Tweety]

I am having the same problem - out of 16 girls, I am only getting one or two eggs a day! I suspect that some of my older girls have more or less stopped laying altogether, and there is the odd softie now and again, but I would expect to get more eggs than they are currently producing. They all appear to be fit and healthy, are eating and drinking, and I have cut out treats altogether.

[chuckmum6]

Is there any chance that they could be laying somewhere else? My little Pekin has been squeezing out through the netting and back in again, she has laid 11 eggs in a plant pot!

[Snoxy]

Just had another thought...maybe changing their feed has made a difference to my girls' egg laying

 

I used to feed my girls Heygates layers pellets but after reading that it contains a fair amount of plastic changed them to layers pellets produced by the Fancy Feed Company...can changing feed have a dramatic effect on egg production