One of our almost 2yo hens started laying on new years after stopping in October, another started today (whoohoo!). No lights or heat or anything special.
Thanks all for the advice! I'm happy to give them a break over winter so not looking to put them under lights or anything. But gosh it's been so nice to have even one egg a day it got me hopeful ☺️ Good to know if shouldn't be much longer now! I guess the plus side is the non-layers hve tiny...
This is my second winter with hens. First winter they mostly laid through the winter (their first winter laying). This year they stopped in October, and only one has picked back up.
They are on layer feed, get most of the day free range, not on lights or anything. Just wondering if there is...
Good idea to go back a step in the transition. Looks like I'm buying another bag of crumble lol. Last time I tried it was purina layer crumble to purina layer pellets.
The feeder is a simple plastic hanging gravity fed type. I've looked at the no-waste kind but all the reviews I've read so far...
They're a different local brand and wetted turn to concrete rather than the mush we'd get from the purina crumble. But the old pellets they hated were also purina layer pellets.
My hens (1.5yo EE) have been eating crumbled feed since day 1 but waste soo much. I tried pellets about 6 months ago and they refused. Back to crumbles. Tried tiny pellets recently and they're refusing again. Both times I did half and half for a week to transition. Should I wait it out? Will...
Just wanted to drop a thank you for this post, I ordered some of the vinyl for wind block on my run and I can't believe how nice it is! Clear as window pane and very heavy duty. Thanks for the tip!
She's not lame at all, I first noticed it turned to the side a couple weeks ago. I ended up trimming it, didn't seem to bother her at all having it handled.
No idea how she could have broken it. The boards she's on in the pic are our front porch steps so not part of their enclosure. Hopefully...
One of our one year old hens has a toe that has started going sideways, see pic. I also noticed the toenail is long but not sure if that's a cause or effect (chicken or egg ha). Should I trim the nail? Is the toe broken? She seems otherwise fine.
We only have 3 hens, with one communal nest box that is 12x30 attached at floor level to the exterior wall of the coop. It has a single small opening, about 8x10. Two hens can get in there and lay at the same time, but when we have a broody she tends to guard the entrance to keep the others out...
No respiratory illness, and their diet is 95% layer crumble with a little bit of fruit and veg scraps and mealworms (all of which I gave up when she started having shell quality issues).
But great news, she laid a beautiful egg today! Funny, yesterday I finally gave them some kale thinking...
She's still happy and healthy but no signs of an egg. Thanks for checking in. I would love to do a survey to find out how common this is, can't figure out how though.
Thanks, that helps. Yes she was on antibiotic last week, plus the vitamins in their water. She seems to feel totally fine which is great but the lack of laying 8 days later tells me something is still not quite right.