Egg Laying Mystery

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I'm leaning towards egg eating. If one bird started and other birds caught on, then all birds may now be doing it. Put an egg in a nest box and walk away...see what happens?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Surely you would see some residue if it were egg eating.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Perhaps there is something else stressing them out, like a predator stalking their coops at night......but I also think you may have just had a series of unfortunate events. The slightest little change in routine can put my hens off laying. Even with moulting and shorter days I still get a few eggs (and I've only got about 20 birds). I say give them a little more time to adjust to the move and finish with their new feathers. Good luck....

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Awesome....the ''perfect storm'' theory makes sense.... and I did kind of think of an egg eater but these guys have all been together for so long, I used to find the occasional broken egg because of course they insist on using the same nest...but I haven't found a scrap of shell or goo anywhere...and who is eating 40 eggs a day?

I'll take the protein/gospel info to heart as well...I've heard of adding cat/dogfood as a protein upper....I may try that unless someone wants to share why it's a horrible thing for me to do.

Thanks all!

 

[Davian]

Its likely that they've banded together, formed a union and are in the process of drawing up a list of demands from you that includes a retirement pension, better medical and more PTO.

You should purchase a few Jersey Giant "Pinkerton" Roosters to go in and break up this new organization so they get back to laying.




Seriously though, its probably just the perfect storm mentioned as it seems you've ruled out any type of disease.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

I do have some Jersies in the mix..... or so they were advertised. They're over 18 months old and no bigger than my barred rocks. *sigh*

 

[Davian]

Jerseys take a while to mature but that sounds like they are either mixes or something else. A pure Jersey is usually a monster compared to most birds...even heavy breeds like Orphingtons and Wyandottes.

I had a Jersey rooster when I was growing up and he towered over the others. He had to be 12-13 lbs.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Thats what i've heard...that they're just monsters...which is why I'd purchased them, they're in demand around here.
So I found a rooster for cheap on craigslist, and I asked the woman if she was expecting to sell any more, and she said that honestly she had ordered some maran eggs to hatch and the seller threw in a JG egg for fun...which hatched...and was of course a roo. But she said she was ordering more eggs and if I wanted, would request and hatch some more JG eggs for me. I agreed, and 2 months later I picked up 6 chicks. I ended up with 2 roos and 4 hens...hooray.

The roos are extremely WIDE. Very broad roos. But again my Barred Rock rooster was just more impressive. The hens are narrow, and kind of short. I know they take much longer to mature, I just kind of expected them to be a little bigger by now. They did start laying about 3 months ago. Now that I think of it...these guys are closer to 20+ months. And I'm just disappointed by their size.

Photo for size comparison.

 

[Marcymom3]

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[dragonlair]

Mine have stopped laying because of molt and lack of long sunny days. I have had several days where there were no eggs at all. Mine have stopped laying when I moved them to better digs or added newer residents to the flock. They even stopped laying when we ahd a run of really bad weather this spring.

I give mine dry cat food in the winter for the extra fat and protein. Right now they are getting meat and fat scraps i get from the local meat shop for my dogs. I sprinkle linseed meal on the fat scraps for added protein.