The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: zeeteecee on October 03, 2012, 07:10:55 am
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Help! I'm a pretty experienced hen keeper, but I'm stumped now, as are ask the local friends &colleagues I've asked for advice.
I bought some new rangers, at 23 Weeks, they were inoculated, wormed & were already in lay, as we got about 6_8 eggs for a few days after bringing them home. Then,1 by 1 they've stopped laying!
They are all happy, perky, eating, drinking etc.no mucky bums. It had been almost three Weeks since I had any eggs from them now....... Any help / ideas really appreciated!
Ihave made certain there are no red mites, they have a light on for a couple of hours to extend the laying day,& they have been on acv just to make sure they are ok.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? WHAT COULD I BE OVERLOOKING?
:-\
Zarla
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Time of year, moulting, change of home, change of food.
To be honest our lot have stopped at the moment!
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As above. Ours have pretty much stopped. Lots of moulting going on and the hens that have been in the breeding pens all summer are busy growing feathers on their backs now the cockerels are giving them a bit of a break.
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How long have you had them for? Were they already laying when you had them? Are they hybrids?
If they are POL hybrids and you had them for a week or two and they then began to lay which is the normal pattern you expect when you buy POL hybrids then I would have expected them to continue to lay reasonably well through the autumn and winter even without the provision of extra lighting.
I don't think you would expect POL pullets to begin moulting or having a rest for winter. This is more the case for pure breed hens and older birds.
If the birds were already laying when you had them then they may stop for a week or two as they adjust to their new home.
You are an experienced keeper so you have probably thought of all the obvious things ie. enough food, water, worming, too much competition for food, stress from existing flock members,mite and lice
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Maybe give them time to get over the moult, then give them a bit more artificial light each day. With luck you may get eggs all through the winter :fc:
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Have you had to integrate them with an existing flock? Are they being given a hard time by more established hens?
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I would expect any "in lay" bird to go "off lay" after a move, especially if they are a group removed from a larger flock
They will need to adjust to their new surroundings and your routines, maybe a slightly different food, different tasting water etc. Plus they will probably need to establish a pecking order. You will probably find they will start laying again during the next few weeks.
As long as they have no resident body mites and you are sure you are redmite free, and your ground is not old poultry worm infested ground, then just check they are not laying away, or that some pesky varmint is not stealing eggs, ie rats, magpies, crows, squirrels (very active this time of year) even hedgehogs, though those are mainly nightime culprits. Buzzards overhead in the daytime, foxes scratching at the coop at nightime, and rats scuttling around all put hens off lay.
Otherwise relax, let them get used to you and their new home and look forward to plenty of eggs soon
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I bought 6 new hens in last Saturday feed 3 times a day will take 3 weeks to get them in lay they have coughs so medicating them .Just give them time to get in you re route an .
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My established hens are barely laying at the moment. Weather, daylight, moulting etc.
Personally I don't expect youngsters now to lay until the spring (though I do keep traditional breeds not hybrids)
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Good points made. True you should expect hybrids that are just starting to continue to lay through the winter. Even many pure breeds will lay on through the darker days in their first winter. Also true you wouldn't expect them to be moulting now if they're POL. That leaves just the shock of the move and/or integrating with the existing flock asuming there are no health or parasite problems.
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and cant glean if they are cooped or free ranging... if latter, they do lay in the most secretive places - I have had to resort to detective like following on occasions and on others lifted a plank that doesnt look like ANYTHING could wigggle under it and found giant hoards (32 eggs the last one!). Good luck, Fi
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We have had exactly the same thing happen. Bought 20 POL hybrid hens at 18 weeks old and over a couple of weeks they built up to around 16 eggs a day and then have slowly reduced numbers - now lucky to get 6 eggs a day but usually less. They are in a large run on their own, I have wormed them and dusted them for mites - just to tick those off the 'why' list but they are still not laying. Very odd.
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Mmmm ..... just out of interest do you feed ad-lib?
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Yes - how much do they get to eat, and what are you feeding them? If layers pellets, then what is the protein percentage?
Had their house been used for chickens in the past, and if so was it thoroughly treated for redmite in the cracks and perches etc, and are you 100 percent certain there are none now?
Did they lay in the nest boxes when they laid, and when they laid were the shells good and getting better? What size were the eggs you got
What colour are their combs, and are they looking bright and alert? Are any sneezing or showing other signs of illness?
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it might just be the time of year, maybe combined with moving house. Mine are almost down to no eggs (ducks and hens alike), some of them moulting. I would not worry just yet. :chook: :&>
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I've got it!!! It's the henopause!!! :excited:
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I've got it!!! It's the henopause!!! :excited:
Very good! I like that one ;D ;D ;D
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I've got it!!! It's the henopause!!! (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/Smileys/default/excited.gif)
Brilliant! :roflanim:
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I'll remember that one! :roflanim:
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Ha :D
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we have Licolnshire buffs and light sussex that we had expected as pullets to come into lay by now nuthin even the pekins have stopped laying :-\
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Do you have light in your henhouses?
I have three houses in use at the moment and in one of them the bulb has gone, which one way or another I haven't replaced for a fortnight ::) That's the house I'm getting no eggs from.
I wouldn't want you to think I'm overflowing in eggs from the other two, it's the autumn and birds stop laying in the autumn - but I am still getting a few a day.
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No Jaykay no lights not set up the same way as other house tho I know another member would say that's the proper way i.e let them lay a natural amount of eggs without artificially enhancing conditions :thumbsup: \i guess we expected POL to have started laying and possibly hoped they would have continued even if sporadically throughout the colder months......possibly not eh....thanks ;)
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I had a problem getting ours who were POL to start laying, eventually sussed out they were getting nice and fat and not bothering to look for food elsewhere so they went on a diet and hey presto eggs within a week!
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Hi there, what amazing responses, thankyou!
I had decided to up the lighting hours, re treat for red mite,& leave them alone as they were not ill.
We now have 2 layers our of the new 12 girls.the shed was treated well before they moved in, there have been 1 or 2 mites seen so treated PROPERLY every week for 3 Weeks & so now I presume I'm on top of the problem (not that it was very big to be honest).
The girls have been wormed, have regular acv, add lib layers pellets & just a handful of scratch corn between them all.the ground is not open any where, they are on a wooden / slabbed area with a plenty large enough sand box for scratching.this is cleaned & sand replaced every 4 Weeks,& was clean when they moved into it.
They are not integrated with any other flock, so no pecking order problems as these are all from the same hatch. In the words of Yoda....." stumped am I"!!!
They are moulting, but it seems a bit of a half hearted one, they look good enough so aren't losing feathers in quantity.
I have another worry now.please, if you have the patience, see my new post!
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is it possible they are hiding the eggs somewhere - our neighbours got some marans a few years ago in lay - took them home and the eggs stopped - he was on the verge of dispatching them when the wind blew over the rabbit hutch in the corner of the run and lots of eggs were found underneath it.
he then blocked off this laying spot and they used the nest boxes