A theory - your experience?

[Mrs. K]

I have full size standard egg laying mutts, I have had pure bred birds of several different breeds. (knock on wood and whispering) I have never had an egg laying issue in 20 years of keeping chickens. So I have a theory, that exercise is the reason. I have a large run, and roosts in several places, and platforms. My birds are always flying up to a roost or a platform. I originally started this to give birds away from each other. But after reading how so many people deal with egg laying issues frequently, I wondered if there was a causation or just a correlation.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I have full size standard egg laying mutts, I have had pure bred birds of several different breeds. (knock on wood and whispering) I have never had an egg laying issue in 20 years of keeping chickens. So I have a theory, that exercise is the reason. I have a large run, and roosts in several places, and platforms. My birds are always flying up to a roost or a platform. I originally started this to give birds away from each other. But after reading how so many people deal with egg laying issues frequently, I wondered if there was a causation or just a correlation.

Interesting idea! I can definitely see how this might happen, especially for birds that are always kept in the run (as opposed to out in the yard, on acreage, etc.)

Even our buff Orp is still very fit at 8 1/2 months, although I was expecting her to be a complete chonk by now.

If all they could really do is veg out in a corner of the run, I could easily imagine an overall muscle atrophy and general lack of fitness.

 

[Ridgerunner]

But after reading how so many people deal with egg laying issues frequently, I wondered if there was a causation or just a correlation.

I assume by egg laying problem you mean internal laying or prolapse. I've never had those either. I've had weird eggs and strange egg laying behavior (laying from the roost, for example) mostly from pullets that are just starting to lay.

I have a different theory though, certainly an unpopular one. I consider room and exercise good for them for various reasons, but I think my success is more from not over-feeding them. What I mean by that mainly is excessive amounts of protein but I also include large amounts of the same treat every day. I think a balanced diet is important. Mine forage for a lot of their feed anyway so they have some ability to balance their diet on their own. I'm not worried about them getting a lot of one specific thing one day, for instance a ton of beet skins when I can beets. But that is one day in isolation, not the same excess day in and day out.

For your poll, I do not have a bunch of stuff in the run for them to play on but they have a lot of room in the run. I think mine get enough exercise.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I changed my vote. We do have ONE platform in the run. We call it the Bus Stop. It's not very tall and is actually collapsing. It's a sheet of corrugated metal roofing, screwed to two wooden sawhorses. Mostly the chickens use it as a not-very-satisfactory shelter from rain. But occasionally I'll see one on top of it. Usually Rojo, crowing, but occasionally a pullet or hen.

Having said all that, I don't generally have egg-laying issues. The one time I had an episode of shell-less eggs, day after day for a week or more, the problem went away when I found and dispatched two black snakes harboring under the hen house, coming in and helping themselves to my eggs. So I believe the problem was stress related. It resolved as soon as the snakes were taken care of.

 

[Perris]

I think it's correlation. Sumi's comprehensive article on the topic gives lots of possible reasons for lots of possible egg laying issues; which ones do you think might have exercise as another candidate cause?

Article 'Common egg quality problems'

Approximately 2% of all chicken eggs have some defect, ranging from minor, barely noticeable faults to downright alarming deformities. So the chances are pretty good that most, if not all flock owners will at some stage find an irregular egg. This article is about the most common egg...

• sumi
• Aug 27, 2013
• Updated May 3, 2016
• 11 min read
• 4.94 star(s) 283 ratings
• Reaction score: 387
• Comments: 237
• Reviews: 189
• Category: Maintaining A Healthy Flock

 

[Jkbaca]

This is super interesting! For my part, I have roosts and "shelves" for my birds. They don't have a run, really, but they have a large fenced and coveted yard with trees and logs and remnants of an old fence that they jump and climb all over. I have one Created Cream Legbar that lays wonky eggs - shelless or misshapen - even with more than adequate calcium. But she's never laid normally. She's about 4 years old now. I never thought about why. I just figured she had some sort of defect, esp since she's a hatchery bird.

It would be interesting to study! I know that in humans who start to experience bone loss with age, it's recommended they do strength training and impact exercises. Maybe those exercises help chickens keep their bones healthy so they don't deplete their calcium stores. I've read that if they don't get adequate calcium from their diets, their bodies start to take calcium from other areas of their bodies. Seems at least plausible.

 

[Shadrach]

Exercise has a massive impact on the health of a chicken and most other creatures I believe. It does for humans. Most of us don't do enough and the few fitness fanatics I know, do too much.

Chickens are class A foragers. Dig here, snatch there, see a spider on the next bush and dive on it, digging, lots of that. They sort of fly as well. It can take a big bird a couple of metres or more to get off the ground on the run. These things are what make a chicken a chicken.
I also believe that chickens that get plenty of exercise and plenty of space to do it in have fewer mental health problems, they just get along better or at least aren't in each others faces all the time.

So, yes I think good health will play a role in the number and severity of egg laying problems but it is worth bearing in mind that for hens dying of old age (9 to 11 years old) reproductive cancers etc are common causes.
My understanding of the primary cause of egg laying problems is the hen isn't built to deal with the high laying rates many now have.

I have had free range hens, not many, over the years that have become egg bound and fortunately I've seen it quickly and dealt with it. Miss that for a few days and you've got a dead hen. Do many people check to see if this it what killed their hen, I doubt it.

I agree with Ridgerunner, too much easy food isn't good for them and while high protein feeds are popular I've known chickens that have done fine on 12% if they been able to forage.

What I have my doubts about is whether a chicken can get enough exercise in a conventional coop and run, no matter what the run contains to make a difference to the number of egg laying problems compared to a free range hen.