- Jul 9, 2011
- 9
- 0
- 7
Please help!
Bare with me while I give the whole sad story.
We have three red cross-sex links that are just over two years old and have been champion layers. This spring two of the three gradually stopped laying (one first then the other). It has been three months and I can't get them restarted. It's probably my fault because when the sun started to be out more than twelve hours I shut off their coop light that had been on a timer (6am-9pm) since the fall. Each night around 8:30 when I came in to close up their coop, I found them sitting on top of each other in the nest box as far from the coop door as they could get. At first I thought they were just being territorial since one always would try to sleep in the nest box before. After a couple of weeks (I'm slow, I know) it dawned on me that perhaps they were afraid so I turned the light timer back on. Eventually they stopped piling into the nest box but still no eggs. It's been a couple of months now.
I have tried a temporary high-protein diet and now black oil sunflower seeds. They are 50/50 free range (getting let out often and a huge penned area otherwise) and are on a diet of layer crumbles with access to crushed oyster shells and scraps.
Suddenly, my last layer who was laying almost every day laid the most bizarre shell-less egg I have ever seen. See picture below or this link (http://trubrix.com/egg-problem1.jpg). It looks like a yolk-less egg but that huge yellow thing you see in it is hard as a bone. I may have seen a few shell-less eggs over the weeks but I can't be certain since they weren't laid in the nest box. There are no roosters around so the eggs aren't fertile. Outwardly all the chickens appear healthy and happy.
First, what the heck is that disturbing thing? Second, how can I get by beloved girls back to their normal laying routine?
I am absolutely desperate!
Thank you,
Greg
Bare with me while I give the whole sad story.
We have three red cross-sex links that are just over two years old and have been champion layers. This spring two of the three gradually stopped laying (one first then the other). It has been three months and I can't get them restarted. It's probably my fault because when the sun started to be out more than twelve hours I shut off their coop light that had been on a timer (6am-9pm) since the fall. Each night around 8:30 when I came in to close up their coop, I found them sitting on top of each other in the nest box as far from the coop door as they could get. At first I thought they were just being territorial since one always would try to sleep in the nest box before. After a couple of weeks (I'm slow, I know) it dawned on me that perhaps they were afraid so I turned the light timer back on. Eventually they stopped piling into the nest box but still no eggs. It's been a couple of months now.
I have tried a temporary high-protein diet and now black oil sunflower seeds. They are 50/50 free range (getting let out often and a huge penned area otherwise) and are on a diet of layer crumbles with access to crushed oyster shells and scraps.
Suddenly, my last layer who was laying almost every day laid the most bizarre shell-less egg I have ever seen. See picture below or this link (http://trubrix.com/egg-problem1.jpg). It looks like a yolk-less egg but that huge yellow thing you see in it is hard as a bone. I may have seen a few shell-less eggs over the weeks but I can't be certain since they weren't laid in the nest box. There are no roosters around so the eggs aren't fertile. Outwardly all the chickens appear healthy and happy.
First, what the heck is that disturbing thing? Second, how can I get by beloved girls back to their normal laying routine?
I am absolutely desperate!
Thank you,
Greg
Last edited:
