Too posh to push????

[Greenfingered Gra]

I need your advice please

In august 2011 I bought and eglu, with an extended run all the feeders etc that comes with it, and placed into 100m long well established garden.

I was then given three second hand hens that i was faithfully told all laid everyday? Well Tom, Jerry and Ginger all settled in and 5 days later three eggs arrived and continued for weeks up until Oct when I went down to one egg a day?

So I bought probotic, worming powder, tried a different feed, increased the oyster shell availability, supplied fresh greens, offered meal worms that they love, changed the water every two days, infact these are now the most spoilt hens I know!

However, here we are in Feb 2012, and I havent had one egg between them since Nov 2011!

Tom lost her feathers a little but now they all look lovely and plump, follow me around the garden all the time which they have the freedom to roam every day from about 7am until the return into the henhouse for the night.

I don't know theie age, but they look good, just too posh to push?

What can I do to start having home free range eggs again please?

[kimharvie]

could be their age , so may never lay again (sorry) but continue as you are doing and could be just because its winter , some hens stop laying over winter and start again once longer days start. i've been lucky in that my hens have continued laying each winter.

[Nicos]

4 things jump to mind as to why a hen would stop laying....

Time of year- over half of mine have stopped laying since Sept/Oct- and those which continued laid about 3 a week. My 2 Marans have laid 4 eggs between then in the last week after a break since September.

Old hens- yours were all laying and suddenly stopped- doubt that is the cause although you do get a slow decline as they age.

Overweight - you've not overfed them have you?

Sick hen- unlikely all would suddenly go sick and you wouldn't have noticed!

I too would go with the 'time of the year' reason- they sound happy enough.Try popping a wooden egg/golf ball in one of the laying boxes- might just remind them to get started again!!!!!!

[RichmondHens]

They have just stopped for their winter rest. As the light levels fall so does the amount of egg producing hormone. Three months is not very long for a hen to be off lay, and some breeds lay less than others. You don't say what breed they are and as they were second hand and you are not sure of their age they may have just come to a natural break in their laying cycle. They should come into lay before too long.

[kathyd]

Just wondering whether it might be worth checking under bushes in the garden too, if they're out all day free ranging? One of mine has just discovered bushes - she's built a nest in it and refuses to lay anywhere else!

I've also made additional nesting spaces for them to explore - some out of big cardboard boxes filled with straw, and even by leaning a big piece of cardboard against a wall (all under cover, obviously - we moved the coop into an outbuilding over the winter). Plus I've stapled cardboard around the remains of the integrated run which is below the coop, divided it into 2 and filled it full of straw, and they all love it under there. Just before they start laying they stomp around in all the boxes in the morning for a few days to decide which one they like best.

The other thing I've learned to look at is the colour of their combs and wattles - when they go really deep pink or red, they're ready to start laying. Also if you touch their backs, do they squat for you? It's another sign they're ready apparently. Amazing what you find out on this forum isn't it .

[Nicos]

Just wondering whether it might be worth checking under bushes in the garden too, if they're out all day free ranging? One of mine has just discovered bushes - she's built a nest in it and refuses to lay anywhere else!

Good idea! we have a youngster who has laid a few' frozen eggs ' over the past few days!!!!

[perkin]

One of our newer ex-batts (rehomed 29/12/11) has just started laying again yesterday. We had 2 eggs from her in December when she arrived and then nothing. Now we're up to 3 a day from 5 chickens. Just waiting for the older girls to come back into lay following their mid-Dec mega moult (just why do they do that during the coldest season??)

[Scarlet]

My 'oldies' are all just starting up too! It's usually only the young birds that carry on through their first winter.

[Greenfingered Gra]

Good news the girls have returned to production.

I added a golf ball into the nesting area, and upped the oyster sheel, and two days later the eggs started again! Happy days. Thanks for all your advice.

[elizajay]

I am getting up to 3 eggs a day from 5 hens. My oldest didn't lay at all last year, but squatted when I approached her yesterday.

One I thought had just started laying tends to lay caches of eggs under bushes and I only know what's happening when she doesn't come to bed at night because she has started brooding. Not sure if it is her being well mannered laying in the right place or it is the squatting oldie.

The 5th hen stopped laying after being whisked away by an unknown predator and escaping with head wounds for the 2nd time last year. She did start laying again after healing up after the 1st escape.

Whatever it is, the 3 layers produce distinctive eggs, so I know who lays 2 of the 3 and it is just the 3rd to sort out!