Chickens no longer laying

[richardfairlie]

Hi, I have some broiler type (unknown for sure) hens. (only 2 hens left) (and one rooster). We moved house and although egg laying from them wasnt spectacular, they were both laying eggs semi regularly, before the move.

They free range during the day and are transferred in to individual boxes at night. (sorry to say i still havent finished building a new coop for them).

We moved the 28 Oct and as of today 7 Dec they still havent layed even 1 egg between them.

they did have a bit of open mouthed breathing (antibiotics for 7 days) they also have some bumble foot (but they still layed even with that before). I have added things like garlic and ginger, egg shell and healthy treats banana, rice, water melon, tumeric. they are on layer feed, but for sure its a different brand.

They went from being in a fully fenced enclosure to just being in my garden (the garden is fenced and grassy) so i could keep an eye on and treat the bumblefoot, so they do have dogs and a cat around them, but the other animals are pretty good at leaving them alone.

is it just the move and not feeling so safe that they stopped laying? Or could an illness be the cause. it is rainy season but there is still 11 and a half hours of sunshine and its fairly consistent in the tropics (it only fluctuates around 1 hour from summer to winter for daylight hours.

 

[boskelli1571]

You don't say how old your birds are - this could be a factor also.
Has the bumblefoot infection been treated? Was there a diagnosis with the respiratory issue? If it was something like infectious bronchitis it can cause egg laying problems.
https://articles.extension.org/pages/68129/infectious-bronchitis-in-poultry
and yes it's possible for the move to upset them enough to stop laying...

 

[richardfairlie]

You don't say how old your birds are - this could be a factor also.
Has the bumblefoot infection been treated? Was there a diagnosis with the respiratory issue? If it was something like infectious bronchitis it can cause egg laying problems.
https://articles.extension.org/pages/68129/infectious-bronchitis-in-poultry
and yes it's possible for the move to upset them enough to stop laying...

Sorry boskelli, the chickens are around 7-9 months old. There is no chicken vet here, so most of my diagnosis is through whatsapp with a poutry vet who is kind enough to help me out, or through the internet or past experience (i only had chickens since may and have already been through many issues). i am treating the bumble foot and although its quite bad i think it is healing very slowly, ill keep putting the iozin spray, HUS cream, honey+ginger+oil of oregano , then petrolium jelly on top (one of these daily), with the occasional footspa in epsom salts and see how it goes. i have cured this in these birds before, but this time it seems to be lingering (almost 3 months now).

the respiratory infection was treated, but they were not sure if crd or bronchitis and there are still the occasional daily sneeze but no puffy eyes or runny noses or lack of apetite.

one pullet looks like its comb is starting to pale slightly, so tomorrow i will worm them (again) and a few days later start a cociodosis precaution with sulphur medicine.

they were laying (but not every day) before the move.

i was just wondering is it bad for a chicken to not lay an egg for 2 months? once i have gotten through the worming and the sulphur medicine i will get them back on to garlic and oil of oregano with some good bacteria and i will build them their own small fenced area and a couple of nesting boxes to see if that helps them.

(they have when they were very small, been around some of my other animals previously. and they dont seem so bothered by the dogs and i have a rooster who would attack them (dogs) if they were upset.

 

[cavemanrich]

Broiler type chickens are not very good for egg production. I'm not sure,,,, but maybe they reached the end of their egg career
If you want eggs,,, I would suggest getting some White Leghorns, (worlds most common chicken) or some production Sex Links.
Am assuming that your broiler chickens were for meat purposes when you decided on those.
Any chicken can be a dual purpose bird,,,,,,, with the reality, that not all chickens make a good secondary purpose for meat. Leghorns are small carcasses. The production Reds, are somewhat larger, but not all that much. Broilers,,,,,, well they speak for themselves. Intended for plenty of meat. Most broilers never get to the egg laying stage.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[boskelli1571]

As they are broilers, are you limiting their feed? If you want them to live a relatively long life they will have to be feed restricted.
Often times they will suddenly die from heart failure b/c of the poor genetics of the bird.
https://www.tillysnest.com/2015/12/non-surgical-bumblefoot-treatment-html/
This is a good link for treating bumblefoot w/o surgery.
Please bear in mind that if the infection has been ongoing for several months, it may have affected internal organs - such as the reproductive tract.
Have you checked them and the coop for lice/mites? They can cause anemia hence a pale comb.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Can you show pictures of the Bumblefoot? They help all of us on here with suggestions for you.