Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Hi folks!
Our barred rock "Winky" has not laid an egg since October, I think. I thought she was egg bound and bathed her, etc. back then. A small amount of some kind of cheesy stuff came out finally. But that was it. She then lost some feathers (not a full molt). She was about 8 months old then. I realize it's winter, but is it normal that she just hasn't laid any eggs at all?

Fun note: the Lawrence Public Library does a program each year call "Read across Lawrence" where they give zillions of copies of the same book out so the whole town is reading the same thing. They have an adult, teen and kids book selection. This year the kids selection is Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones. Apparently about a chicken with supernatural powers!

I have quite a few hens that have not laid all winter, they're taking a break & will start up again when the days get longer. They need 14 hours of daylight to lay. I don't give my breeding stock any light & they usually don't lay again till spring. My laying flock does get a little extra light but they still aren't all laying. Some breeds just naturally don't lay in the winter.

 

[chicken danz]

Hi folks!
Our barred rock "Winky" has not laid an egg since October, I think. I thought she was egg bound and bathed her, etc. back then. A small amount of some kind of cheesy stuff came out finally. But that was it. She then lost some feathers (not a full molt). She was about 8 months old then. I realize it's winter, but is it normal that she just hasn't laid any eggs at all?

Fun note: the Lawrence Public Library does a program each year call "Read across Lawrence" where they give zillions of copies of the same book out so the whole town is reading the same thing. They have an adult, teen and kids book selection. This year the kids selection is Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones. Apparently about a chicken with supernatural powers!

I know we've talked about this before. What confuses me is the cheesy stuff. What I think of cheesy stuff is normally indicative of an infection, but without pictures or something I can't say that. Also had she had egg peritonitis unless she was on baytril she would never most likely never have survived.
So... I am thinking it's just the weather and that is not at all unusual for a chicken to take a long break. I've got many who aren't laying. But the days are getting longer slowly and laying will crank up before long. You could put a light in the coop on a timer so it comes on in early morning and stays on until maybe 9am or so when natural light will take over. After a couple weeks it should stimulate laying unless she is in molt.
Dani, I think I forgot to mention egg numbers. 6 eggs is usually a good number for a hen to sit on. Often if you get more than that they don't get turned or some end up getting cold, depending of course on the size and experience of the hen.

 

[chicken danz]

Hi folks!
Our barred rock "Winky" has not laid an egg since October, I think. I thought she was egg bound and bathed her, etc. back then. A small amount of some kind of cheesy stuff came out finally. But that was it. She then lost some feathers (not a full molt). She was about 8 months old then. I realize it's winter, but is it normal that she just hasn't laid any eggs at all?

Fun note: the Lawrence Public Library does a program each year call "Read across Lawrence" where they give zillions of copies of the same book out so the whole town is reading the same thing. They have an adult, teen and kids book selection. This year the kids selection is Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones. Apparently about a chicken with supernatural powers!

Missed this post. Also coyotes will bury prey but it is highly unusual. It only occurs normally, if they have had plenty to eat from their other prey. I wouldn't think winter would be a good time for them to have more than ample food. However they could very well be starting to breed so they may be collecting food for that. Foxes are increasing in numbers and I am sure they are around. They usually are seen more at night and on very gloomy days. They are daytime sleepers normally. Since you are on more open land you probably don't see much of them. But sources say they are in your area as well as the rest of the U.S. I know the Denver area is overrun with foxes so it would be pretty simple for them to have migrated further your direction as well. My guess is still that you had a fox visit.
To worm your birds by water do it three consecutive days. Make sure they have no other source of water.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Missed this post. Also coyotes will bury prey but it is highly unusual. It only occurs normally, if they have had plenty to eat from their other prey. I wouldn't think winter would be a good time for them to have more than ample food. However they could very well be starting to breed so they may be collecting food for that. Foxes are increasing in numbers and I am sure they are around. They usually are seen more at night and on very gloomy days. They are daytime sleepers normally. Since you are on more open land you probably don't see much of them. But sources say they are in your area as well as the rest of the U.S. I know the Denver area is overrun with foxes so it would be pretty simple for them to have migrated further your direction as well. My guess is still that you had a fox visit.
To worm your birds by water do it three consecutive days. Make sure they have no other source of water.

I know there are fox around here, but I have never seen one close to the house. On the other hand, I saw a coyote not far from the house just this morning. Fox or coyote - either one, it seems strange to me that it would have buried its prize so close to the house and in an area that we frequent at least daily. I do know that we have a neighbor that traps quite a few small animals like coons, fox, etc.That could be why I've not seen any fox around here. I've not heard of him doing anything about coyotes.

I'm doing my best to keep the birds away from any other water. This weather has made it difficult. I might worm for an extra day, just in case. We had rain yesterday, and there still seems to be quite a bit of ice hanging around.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Dani, I think I forgot to mention egg numbers. 6 eggs is usually a good number for a hen to sit on. Often if you get more than that they don't get turned or some end up getting cold, depending of course on the size and experience of the hen. 

Danz,
Ok that is what I was thinking, Im going to set up my second chick broody nest and will bring down 6 eggs that are nicely developed out of the incubator and put them under Limpie as I grab the BR and the current eggs they are sharing into that nest. And move her to the other box, since Limpie has been sitting longer and infact the egg in the incubator would have hatched 28 days after she started sitting so she should be all good for them to hatch when they are due. The same with Rockie as she started sitting about 10 days after Limpie started. So yea between these two girls and the eggs in the incubator I hope to have lots of little peep peeps beginning of Feb giving me a good 8 days to get them going good before we head out on our vacation.

 

[Plinky]

I know we've talked about this before. What confuses me is the cheesy stuff. What I think of cheesy stuff is normally indicative of an infection, but without pictures or something I can't say that. Also had she had egg peritonitis unless she was on baytril she would never most likely never have survived.
So... I am thinking it's just the weather and that is not at all unusual for a chicken to take a long break. I've got many who aren't laying. But the days are getting longer slowly and laying will crank up before long. You could put a light in the coop on a timer so it comes on in early morning and stays on until maybe 9am or so when natural light will take over. After a couple weeks it should stimulate laying unless she is in molt.
Dani, I think I forgot to mention egg numbers. 6 eggs is usually a good number for a hen to sit on. Often if you get more than that they don't get turned or some end up getting cold, depending of course on the size and experience of the hen.

Thanks Danz. I should have phrased my question better. I know that hens can stop laying in the winter and I did post about this hen. But my question I guess should have been: do they really stop completely, like not even an egg now and then? If so, when might she start up? When would be a time when I could probably begin to think she was never going to lay again? Equinox? May?
I wish I had taken a picture of the stuff: it was a light yellow and semi-solid, kind-of plasticky looking. About a handful. Color was fairly homogenous. And I also think if it was an egg problem she would be dead by now. She is the grump of the flock.
I only have 4 hens and two of them lay no eggs!

 

[chicken danz]

Give those girls a chance. If they aren't laying by April, Saying this assuming that spring will arrive at a normal time, I might believe they are not going to lay. I have had breeds that took long long breaks. The whole group in fact for as long as 9 months. It happens sometimes but that is not normal. The normal break usually is about 3 months at a time but if things like an injury, illness, molt, or winter hit all at once it can be a lot longer. There are so many variables in why chickens stop laying. They may have some physical problem you can't see like a week heart or a fatty liver that will make them stop and you would have no idea why. These are things I find when I do necropsies. When it comes to my layers I have no idea who is laying or not unless someone goes broody.I have a much better idea of who is laying in my breeding pens.

 

[HEChicken]

I only have 4 hens and two of them lay no eggs!

I would love to have 50% of my hens laying. I have 40-50 layers and I'm currently getting 2-5 eggs a day. As Danz said, there are so many factors that affect laying. This is the first year in several that I have even had that handful of eggs daily throughout December and January. The last few years I've had 0 eggs for that 8-week period. And that is with hatching chicks every year, so every one of those years I had spring-hatched pullets that *should* have been laying while the older birds took a broke. Nope - they waited until spring to start laying, meaning they were 9-12 months old before laying their first egg.

 

[chicken danz]

I look at it this way. If a bird doesn't lay until she is 9-12 months old or even takes a long long break that means she will lay that many more years for you (assuming she is healthy) One thing I always tell my customers is to get more birds than they think they need. If they are depending on them for egg laying they'll be glad they did. Of course most believe that I'm trying to sell more, but that isn't my intention. (Not that selling more isn't great.)

 

[Plinky]

Thanks folks. That gives me some things to go on. I'm not keeping them for eggs, really, though that was certainly part of the attraction to keeping chickens. They have become pets. This was not intended (I don't anthropomorphize them though- no sweaters, etc...yet!) I do now understand how "chicken math" comes into play. If I can ever get my big coop-run done...