Debbie Rooke Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Help What I am I doing wrong? I have 2 Omlet hens which are 2 years old - a Miss Pepperpot and a Gingernut ranger who live in an Egloo Classic. For the first six months they roamed the garden during the day (not huge) but they wrecked the lawn so we partitioned off an area for them 15 ft by 10ft, which contains a couple of small fruit trees and a couple of shrubs, but no grass left. I also have the compost bin in there and some piles of small branches. Since this new arrangement Sybil started laying soft shelled aggs and then completely stopped laying. Margot carried on laying for quite a few months and now she has gone the same way. 2 months ago a friend gave me her ex bat hen who was left on her own after her mate died and she was laying perfectly well. She has integrated well with the other 2 and seem quite happy. Now she has started laying soft shelled eggs and not even many of those. The food they are given is exactly the same from the same supplier (Marriages organic pellets). I have read through all posts on the forum about eggs and tried everything. They are fully wormed, they look healthy, although they occasionally have runny poo. I have tried giving them a porridge made from shell hardner in yogurt with a small amount of pellets first thing in he morning and do not let them out of their Omlet run until they have eaten it. They have had oyster shell in their food, but they do pick it out, so I have ground it up a bit. They do not get any snacks at all now. They are not overweight or broody. The only thoughts that I have now are that they are eating too many worms, slugs etc from around the bottom of the compost bin and in the branches. They seldom finish all their food in the grub feeder. What do others think I am doing wrong. They free roam in their part of the garden all day. Should I keep them confined to the Egloo run? This seems a real shame as I want them to be happy hens but would like to enjoy some fresh eggs too, after all that was the point in having them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I would keep them in the run in morning to make sure that they fill up on layers pellets before they have the treats of the garden. What have you wormed them with? My first two girls were a Pepperpot and Gingernut and I have to say they laid virtually every day but only for a very short period of time, they do wear themselves out very quickly I found and an ex batt can be very similar lay loads and then not very many and the quality of the shell gets worse. One of my ex batts doesn't lay at all and the other had a long period of laying eggs with poor shells but is now laying eggs with good shells again. It could be that they are all getting to the end of their egg laying. I would try keeping them in in the morning and see if that makes any difference. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
