Chickens go to lay eggs but dont

[castvania]

Hi

I have 2 ISA Brown/Lohmann brown hens, that basically cluck and go to the box and "lay" an egg, and then come down when they are done, but no egg

One is just a bit over 3 and is an ex battery rescue hen, the other is just on 2 and bought at point of lay.

I have 5 girls in all, and they all have bright red combs. One of my girls is retired (We dont know what age she is as our relatives found it and gave it to us and i am happy to keep her) and doesnt lay a thing, the other 2 lay eggs.

This morning the ex battery hen even came down and did the chicken song, so i looked, and nothing there. She does lay eggs though 3-4 a week, this happens to her once or twice a week.

The point of lay 2 year old, she was acting very differently, usually when i go outside she follows me like a little dog no matter what i do, this time she didnt, and had her tail feather down, eventually i bathed her and a rubber egg came out and she was back to normal. This was 8 days ago hasnt laid an egg since, but has gone up to "lay" a couple times since.

I took both to a specialised avian vet the following day, they ran tests and said theres nothing wrong with either, no mites, diseases, poo samples were both great, weight is fine etc, no lumps etc.

Its spring over here so the daylight hours are getting longer again, so daylight isnt an issue.

I am not too worried about them if theres nothing wrong, and if they are not laying i dont mind, they are still my pets and they will remain with me, but my main question is, is this kinda thing normal in these breeds? There is no mess in the box so theres nothing like egg eating going on. i thought of internal laying but the vets have cleared that.

 

[aart]

2 years old is not point of lay. Point of lay usually means that they are about 6 months old and at the 'point' where they just started laying or will soon.

If she had internal laying before it could happen again. Older birds just coming out of winter without supplemental lighting might not start up laying again until the days are longer than they are now.

Barring any illness, or lack of nutrition, being patient is about all you can do.
I have birds that aren't laying but once or twice a week and still spend time in the nests and cackle and yack every day.

 

[castvania]

Sorry if my post caused confusion

When i said point of lay 2 year old, i should have said that this hen was the hen i bought who at the time was POL who was about 18 weeks old when i bought her, and now she is about 2.

They free range all day every day and eat well, so ill just be patient.

Thanks