Recent content by referencewench

  1. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    Well it's been a couple weeks, so I wanted to follow-up. They definitely like having the grit, so it helped overall with how much they are eating (a lot more). We get 1 egg every other day. They are now ALL molting now even though it's still in the 60s and 70s here every day. Normally they start...
  2. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    This just gave me such an aha! moment. We moved to this house just over a year ago. Our previous yard was all gravel. I think when we moved, I didn't think about that change. Putting a pan of grit out this morning. 🤦‍♀️ I sure hope that's it. Will report back. Thank you!
  3. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    Sorry about not having the location. I'm on the coast of California. Our yard is mostly sand (like beach sand), so we have assumed that's enough grit, but maybe not. We still have at least one more month of pretty warm weather. Last year they all started molting in late October, so it's a bit...
  4. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    They only free range when we let them out of their pen, most of the time they are in a fairly large fenced area.
  5. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    We have oyster shell out for them, but not grit. I do have some.
  6. referencewench

    Why have my hens stopped laying?

    I read through the forums and some of the material shared in the sticky topic post and I still am at a loss. We have 8 hens, 5 buff orpingtons, 2 barred rocks, and 1 australorp, most are just over a year old. Until a few months ago we were getting between 4-7 eggs a day. We now rarely get more...
  7. referencewench

    LGBTQ+ Poultry Keepers

    Just dropping a note here as I just discovered this thread. Count me as another LGBT chicken mom. I'm glad you're all here
  8. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    Oh, she passed before I posted this.
  9. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    I think our lack of background on 6 of our hens contributes a lot to my uncertainty too. Our four were hand raised and fed a very specific healthy diet and it shows. Hopefully we don't see more of this. I've seen several of the soft hollow shells lately and I'm hoping giving some extra calcium...
  10. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    They were both about a year old. All our girls are under 2.
  11. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    I didnt notice the most recent one was having any issues at all until I found her laying down yesterday evening. Even then she got up and had some water 🤷🏻‍♀️
  12. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    One has definitely been laying some large hard eggs. Her belly felt soft but full, I checked her vent and it looked clean, no sign of problems, but she did look like she was straining. I put some more oyster shell out today, hopefully this isn't something else. We "inherited" 6 chickens from...
  13. referencewench

    Lost 2 eggbound hens, what am I missing?

    Hi all, After 2 years of totally healthy girls we've lost 2 in less than 3 months. Both appeared to be egg bound, but I can't say for sure. The first we gave a warm bath and she drank some water with apple cider vinegar. She improved slightly and then died overnight. The second passed sometime...
  14. referencewench

    Greeting from CA Central Coast

    Hi, I'm Sarah, here on the Coast of CA. We have a flock of 9 hens. 6 buff orpingtons, 2 barred rocks, and 1 astrolorp (we had 2, once just recently died). Our girls are 2 and 3 years old. When our Cleo died I realized I needed a larger community of chicken owners for support. We're planning to...
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