The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: roddycm on December 12, 2014, 12:30:41 am
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I have a silkie who is now a year old and has never laid an egg! Anyone else have this issue... All her mates laid and hatched chicks, but she never laid a single egg! I've have hens for 30+ years and never had a hen that wouldn't lay! Maybe she is just too posh to push :roflanim: Any ideas? Anyone?
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We have a Gold Laced Wyandotte -no eggs in 4 years. Obviously it's not a fault that can be passed on.
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Our cream crested legbar hen laid v soft shelled eggs for about 2 weeks and then stopped - she hasn't laid anymore since then (May 2012) She did go broody this summer and hatched out a legbar x maran chick - who is still with us, but he's now of an age where he is causing chaos so is destined for the pot - when I can catch him that is :innocent:
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I had a frizzle hen that only laid one egg ever. She would go broody atleast twice a year despite this. Its just one of those things I think :)
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We had a black araucana cross who would lay 10-12 eggs a year in one batch and that would be it until next spring.
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Could be an infection early in life or a physical fault. So long as you don't breed from the poor layers you'll probably only see one such in your poultry-keeping career.
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I bought 4 copper black marans as supposedly pol at Lanark in August. 2 started laying within a week, the others have yet to produce one between them. I paid quite a bit for them and its disappointing to say the least since the eggs I got so far aren't very dark at all. I assumed they were younger growers put in to boost the sale as pols but now I'm not so sure as they're all of a size.
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Thanks guys :) i guess i will wait another six months and if she doesnt lay or go broody i will give her to someone as a pet. She is very tame
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The salmon faverolles I bought haven't laid anything yet they're six months old but I have had hens not lay till the following jan, that is if they don't lay in dec. I would kill and eat her or sell her at a cull poultry sale.
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I bought 4 copper black marans as supposedly pol at Lanark in August. 2 started laying within a week, the others have yet to produce one between them. I paid quite a bit for them and its disappointing to say the least since the eggs I got so far aren't very dark at all. I assumed they were younger growers put in to boost the sale as pols but now I'm not so sure as they're all of a size.
POL doesn't seem to mean POL any more. More like 16 weeks. Coppers sometimes don't start until 7-8 months, especially if they mature over winter. So I wouldn't panic yet. I've been told that their first eggs can be pale but then darken up but in my experience, they either lay dark or not, none of mine have ever changed except they get slightly paler across the board towards winter and often stop laying altogether until spring.
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We've recently bought Marans. There may well be a difference as these are the genuine French breed and not the English version which doesn't have feathered feet. Our copper black started laying at 28 weeks exactly. The copper blue and the cuckoo laid at one day under 30 weeks, both in the nest boxes together! All the eggs are dark brown as expected, but rather small at 52 now up to 60 grammes. The breed standard here specifies 75 -80.
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We've recently bought Marans. There may well be a difference as these are the genuine French breed and not the English version which doesn't have feathered feet. Our copper black started laying at 28 weeks exactly. The copper blue and the cuckoo laid at one day under 30 weeks, both in the nest boxes together! All the eggs are dark brown as expected, but rather small at 52 now up to 60 grammes. The breed standard here specifies 75 -80.
I kept a whole flock of marans a few years back I remember a certain nasty cockerel too, he hid in a tree in the garden a waited for anyone to walk underneath the tree, then he jumped and sunk his talons into anyone who was passing, in the end we had to go into the garden armed with a broom, of course we clipped his talons but he was still nasty. No marans ever again! :relief:
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You'll get small eggs for a month or so but they will pick up. I've got some copper blacks just coming into lay and have what look like bantam eggs but very dark so I'm chuffed with that. They will get bigger. As to being nasty, all 3 of our copper black boys are gentlemen so I think you got unlucky there. Generally a very good natured breed, very hardy but not over friendly like a RIR or Sussex might be.
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The salmon faverolles I bought haven't laid anything yet they're six months old but I have had hens not lay till the following jan, that is if they don't lay in dec. I would kill and eat her or sell her at a cull poultry sale.
I don't think I will eat her as she is too small... but she won't be staying if she doesn't lay thats for sure! I will just give her away to someone who wants a pet. Fingers crossed she will lay in spring!
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a small percentage of hens will never lay an egg, in commercial laying flocks its reckoned to average 1-3% its just one of those wonders of nature ;D
Unless you have just a single bird or have them individually penned you may never even notice it , even within a small flock.
It can as already mentioned be due to an injury, deformity, disease or possibly even that the bird is not actually one sex or the other, it may look like a hen yet have no female (or indeed male) sex organs.
My parents have 6 Scots Grey hens, they get 5 eggs a day regularly but have never had 6.
I check them regularly and one of them is definitely never in lay, its the same one but they won't let me put it in a separate pen to test the theory :innocent:
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The salmon faverolles I bought haven't laid anything yet they're six months old but I have had hens not lay till the following jan, that is if they don't lay in dec. I would kill and eat her or sell her at a cull poultry sale.
I don't think I will eat her as she is too small... but she won't be staying if she doesn't lay thats for sure! I will just give her away to someone who wants a pet. Fingers crossed she will lay
May I ask, if you don't mind? What do you feed her on? I feed my hens on layers pellets. When my chickens refuse to lay I give them diced seaweed in their food, which usually works.
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The salmon faverolles I bought haven't laid anything yet they're six months old but I have had hens not lay till the following jan, that is if they don't lay in dec. I would kill and eat her or sell her at a cull poultry sale.
I don't think I will eat her as she is too small... but she won't be staying if she doesn't lay thats for sure! I will just give her away to someone who wants a pet. Fingers crossed she will lay in spring!
As far as I am aware Silkies are not a table bird
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You could still eat them though :)
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No I wouldn't. Of all the breeds that my father kept Silkies were the only one we never ate.
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Interestingly, on I'm a celebrity get me out of here (not that I would watch such a programme :-J ), one night they gave the celebs silkie chicken meat for dinner. This caused big excitement, as it was chicken rather than wallaby, snake, ostrich etc. It was black skinned, and afterwards they all agreed was the worst meal they'd had.
Beth
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I feed them layers pellets and greens, they also get shell grit for calcium if they want it!
The good news is that she has finally laid!! :trophy: :trophy: :trophy: And now she has started she is laying every day, the others have stopped so she is all back to front haha I am delighted though and will hatch some chicks out ASAP!
I agree about not wanting to eat a silkie, I know of people who have and they say its not good!
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Congrats! Am glad to hear it :thumbsup: my two buff Sussex hens have started to lay eggs every day now.
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Glad to hear she has finally laid
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Thanks!! Yes I am really pleased! She has ten eggs and looks like she is thinking about going broody so I will let her hatch out some of her own chicks!
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I'd be tempted to leave her a month or two before letting her hatch eggs Roddy.
Chances are as these are her first eggs, they are going to be quite small therefore the chicks will be small and the fertility probably won't be very high.
would be better to see her with a good batch of big chicks rather than have her hatch out one or two small ones.
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Apart from the first egg which was small the rest have been of a normal silkie size. She has been mated constantly by the little rooster who has proven very fertile with the other 2 girls who all hatched 100% as first timers (so much better than my plymouths who were about 85% this year *sigh*) I think I will set her with about 10 of the freshest eggs and see what happens! I will keep you posted!