Hello All - I have 5 chickens of various breeds that are 1 year old. Last July they all started laying eggs, but the Black Minorca only laid for 2 weeks and then stopped and hasn't laid since. She is at the bottom of the pecking order, but is never bloody or missing feathers - it's more bark than bite with the main chicken that picks on her. They have 2 outdoor runs and a lovely coop - is there anything I can do to get this girl laying her pretty white eggs again? Thanks!
Are you sure they aren't hidden somewhere? Do the others keep her away from food and water? That can have an effect.
Not hidden. The others will bully her around the food, but everything is big enough that she can just move around and get at it from another angle (e.g., when I throw scratch down or give treats). She looks in beautiful shape. Really sometimes they just look at her and she squawks and moves around (she's a little 'jumpy' - she is a real 'chicken', pun intended. There are 2 roosts in the coop - front and back - and she gets relegated to the back roost with another chicken. It's really my EE that's a bit mean to them - I'm considering throwing the EE in my neighbour's coop for a few days to see if her chickens can teach her some manners and then bringing her back to my coop - what do you think? I also have 2 chicks 7 wks brooding in the house - when I move them out I'll keep them separate from the big 5 for awhile in the 2nd run, but I'm hoping to eventually integrate them (I only have 1 coop, but it has 2 runs that I can alternate between). I suppose this will totally change the pecking order when they're introduced - maybe move the Minorca up a notch and she'll lay again after... a year off!
I would suggest just isolating your EE bully in a dog crate for 2-3 days at home rather than at your neighbors because of diseases. Your chicken or their could swap some germs and affect everyone's flock. Things like cocci and respiratory bugs could be bad. I'm a bit paranoid about biosecurity issues.
