Tilly Bud Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Hello lovely chicken-keepers, I haven't needed your advice in a long time, but I really do now! I haven't had an egg in months and I have four seemingly healthy hens . Of my four hens, two are two-years-old and the other two are around three-years-old. They are all brown hybrids who live in an Eglu Classic inside a walk in run. I have checked and all hens are free of mites, as is the Eglu. However, when I turned them upside down to give them a good once over, one hen has bright red skin on her belly and all four have a kind of sticky black stuff in amongst their belly feathers, nowhere else. It looks a little like poo, but doesn't seem dirty. It doesn't look like eggs of any sort and it's definitely not living (so not mites or the like). It's just flaky, black, sticky stuff. They don't mind me touching it but it's hard to pull off their feathers. The only eggs I get (maybe two eggs a week) are ones which are ALWAYS broken by the time I get there in the morning, they have thin shells and the insides have disappeared. All the hens have access to grit and crushed oyster shells. After nearly three months of no eggs, I have changed the layers pellets they are on in a bid to help them lay. I no longer give them dried corn with their food but give it as a treat instead and all other treats have been severely limited in a bid to get them to eat the layers pellets instead. Still no eggs. I change their water every two days so it's fresh as I was told this made a difference. They all look unbelievably healthy, went through the moult last winter and have beautiful feathers, combs and vents. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA WHY THEY HAVE STOPPED LAYING EGGS? Have they got too old? Or could the black sticky stuff be the reason? Why has one got red skin on her belly? She lets me touch it but it is very red. Any advice/help would be so much appreciated. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 sorry TillyBud, no ideas on the black sticky stuff - but your 3-year old hens are probably just running out of eggs. Some hens go on laying till they're seven or eight years old, but in my experience 2-2.5 years is usually when they start to wind down a bit. If they're otherwise healthy then it's most likely that they have hit the 'hennopause'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Are you able to post photos of the black stuff? When did you last worm them, and what with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
