Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[TonySorrento]

I need to ask you OTers about soft eggs .... my brother has 6 laying hens and he is getting one - two soft eggs a day .... the hens eat them up and leave the hard shell eggs alone. He posted this illness the egg laying forum but has only received one response about enough water ... so here is the deal...

They free range in his yard ...water is provided in yard and coop as well as layer feed .... he also has oyster shells for them whenever they want it, but they don't seem to touch it ... they all act normal .... any ideas?

 

[TonySorrento]

C'mon you guys and gals! You have to be awake by now!

 

[Beekissed]

How old are these birds? If they are old and getting to the end of their cycle, then maybe they can't be helped except to the soup pot. If they aren't old layers, then I suggest he place the OS directly in their feeder or even dry out and grind his other egg shells and place in the feed. They sound like they need more calcium.

Some birds just have extra needs and cannot utilize the nutrients in the feed as well as their flockmates. Tell him to try this for awhile and see if it don't clear up. It's not an illness, just a deficiency. If it were just one old hen, it might even be the effects of age, but since it's a couple, I'd think more along the lines of nutrition.

Often when the birds are recovering from molt, I'll place egg shells or OS directly in their feed, as much calcium(and protein) is lost in the process of growing feathers.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I]1. I have quite a few bared backed hens. they turn 1 yr old this month. I have 13 hens and 2 roos. Should i cage up the roos for a while to give the girls a break. I have been feeding them layer and meat feeds. and cracked corn. as something to scratch at first thing in the morning. They free range all day.[/I]
I’ve never had “quite a few” barebacked hens. It’s not unusual for some to have their feathers in the small of their back messed up, but bare to where they are at any real risk is pretty rare for mine. I have occasionally had one or two get like that but the rest of the hens were fine. When I ate the barebacked one, the problem went away. I don’t see that as the rooster’s fault.

You might try trimming the rooster’s claws and spurs to see if that helps. At 1 year old, your roosters are still maybe learning technique and growing up. I have trimmed the claws and spurs with a Dremel tool when the young rooster’s technique was a bit rough and that helped keep everything good until he grew up. I don’t try to take everything off, just take off the sharp point. I think the claws do more harm than the spurs, mainly because I see this wear on the hens more when the roosters are adolescents and their spurs haven’t come in that well.

2. When do the chickens go thru their first molt? Is it at a certain age? or just when ever they feel like it.
I’m not arguing with AL. Don’t take it that way. A chick will go through a couple of juvenile molts before it is fully grown. It simply outgrows its feathers and needs to replace them. My grow-out coop will look like a snowstorm hit it sometimes, usually around 8 weeks old for the first juvenile molt. The second one is around 13 or 14 weeks old.

Stress can cause a chicken to lose feathers. Going without water for a length of time is a good example of what might cause it. This is not a full molt, but stress like this can cause feather loss and them to stop or really cut back laying.

Some chickens are fast molters and some are slow. With the slow ones, the only way you might notice is that you see a lot of feathers unless you pay attention. With the fast ones, they can look pretty ragged. So I guess I kind of disagree with Al on that one.

[

3. my chickens have stopped laying eggs. I am getting 1 to 5 eggs per day. I know that they will slow down with age. I am just not understanding what is going on. I have given them yogurt, pepper,oats mixture this evening. To see if that will fire them back up.
There are a lot of things that can cause them to stop or cut back laying, like stress. I don’t know where you are. You might be on the other side of the equator and going into winter for all I know, so the fall molt would be a good explanation. But if you are in the Northern hemisphere and you are experiencing a loss of eggs, my first guess is that they are hiding eggs from you, especially if they are one year old. My second guess is that something is getting them. With some things, you’d likely see evidence, but with many things you won’t. I’ve had snakes visit and swallow four or so eggs a visit, but that was about once every two or three days. One snake won’t visit every day. I have had two different snakes visiting about the same time. For them to totally disappear with no evidence, I’d think canine to start with. If it were a fox or coyote, I’d expect them to take a chicken, but they don’t always read the book and act like they should. Coyotes and foxes will roam during the daylight. Still, they are low on my list. Do you have a family dog that has access? Maybe he has learned the chicken song means a nice snack?

When chickens or eggs disappear without a trace, I never count out a human.

 

[stonykill]

C'mon you guys and gals! You have to be awake by now!

patience grasshopper patience

 

[TonySorrento]

Bee .... they are one year old ....

 

[Beekissed]

Then I would say they need more calcium...that's a simple fix.

 

[hannahransom]

Bee, I was wondering if you or others could comment extensively on HOW you keep your flocks immunity up. I know deep litter, acv, what else?

I currently have a stool sample from one of my chickens at the vet and am wrestling with what to do if they have some kind of worm. I really don't want to medicate, but I don't want to lose them all, either. I only have 7 chickens.

 

[loanwizard]

Quote: Lord, I never thought dogs would steal eggs. I guess you learn something new every day lol! Gonna chain up my dogs!

 

[GoChick]

Lord, I never thought dogs would steal eggs. I guess you learn something new every day lol! Gonna chain up my dogs!

oh yeah... dogs love eggs... One of mine ate 11 eggs - stole them from under a broody, 2 days before hatching date. The dog left no proof - no broken shells, anything, but I found the proof in her poop next day... ouch!