Chicken bald back

[Florence]

We had let the numbers of hens dwindle to 2 and so decided to get a couple of new ones and three weeks ago brought home a Rhode Island Red and a wheaten x Rhode island , both about 18 weeks , until then we had been getting an egg a day from our Welsummer and, every other day usually from the Speckledy .Since then they have both stopped laying , or they are laying elsewhere , we have searched around but can't find any eggs but there is quite a lot of vegetation at the very top of the garden .

 

Is it common for hens to stop laying when new ones arrived, over the years we have introduced quite a few new girls and never had this problem , the new ones currently like sleeping in one of the nesting boxes , could this be the problem?

[Beantree]

The stress of new company could be the reason for them not laying Florence. It is possible though, that with the new ones sleeping in the nest box, the oldies no longer see that as a secure area to lay. After all they lay somewhere with the intention of building up a clutch to sit on and hatch. So you may well find a stash of eggs in the undergrowth and it will be difficult to get them out of the habit without fencing that area off. The first stage is to stop the new hens sleeping in the nest box I think, by blocking off the area at night.

[Florence]

Thanks Beantree, I think I will have another search but also try and block off the nesting box , it's difficult because the younger ones are still pretty wary of the big ones although so far we haven't had any pecking just the odd bit of chasing and I think they get chased off the roosting bars by the big ones .