Hens not leaving their house

[Keen]

Hello all!

I have been reading this forum on and off, and have finally got around to joining. I know that I have seen a set of basic things to include when asking a question, and now for the life of me I can't find it... so I will do my best:


I have 3 lohmann browns my partner and I got at point of lay last Christmas. They have a house which they lay in, a fully enclosed small run that they roost in (apparently the house just wasn't up to scratch!), and also get let out to free range in a portion of yard during the day. So they always have full access to the run and house. They get fed laying pellets and all the greens they can eat while out during the day. They are almost due for another worming, and bedding is regularly cleaned and mite free.

Once they started laying (February) they haven't stopped, 3 eggs a day every day! Recently we have had a number of things happen all at around the same time. Firstly - one of the girls stopped laying. Occasionally a no shell egg, but that's it. Secondly - Occasional laying of eggs from the roost, which of course break, and get eaten These I wasn't too concerned about initially, I thought that perhaps they were coming up to a moult as I'd seen a few feathers around recently too and had read other posts talking about similar behaviour.


The most recent behaviour is the most odd. The last week or so they have become too scared (or possibly lazy) to leave their run in the morning, and will even hole up in the house. Not moving, and not making noise. One of the girls is a bit blind (we think) and usually doesn't tolerate being touched like the other 2. This morning she just stood there while I patted her and checked her over. Now I'm thinking that perhaps the lack of laying is stress?

By the time we get home of an evening they seem fine again, but every morning now is the same, where previously I'd be lucky to get a sleep in for the racket they make to let them out!

There haven't been any changes to routine, food or bedding, though the weather has gone from winter to spring and back to winter again in the last 2 weeks. Since we both work all day, it makes it hard to notice any behaviour during the day. Other than an animal having given them a very decent fright (they do seem to be scared of the local wild birds now), is there any thing else that can cause this sort of apathetic / scared behaviour?


Sorry for the lengthy first post... that rambled on a bit. Apologies if I missed anything important, and thanks in advance for any wisdom you can bestow upon me!

 

[ChicKat]

Hi Keen,

WELCOME to the forum. It is always so interesting to think of the great land down under. My family lived in Australia while my father was working on his PHD at the University of Qld.

Wish I had some great wisdom to bestow...at least this will bump the question back to the top.

Winter to spring to winter, may do it.....I'm thinking especially if they didn't go play in the sunshine and stock up on vitamin D3--and then their shells got soft. They started eating eggs...especially the soft-shelled or membrane eggs...they can gobble those down pretty fast. Perhaps the eggs are being laid then disappearing. ??

Not leaving the coop---could definitely be a fright of some kind. I had the opposite, a snake killed one of my chicks inside their little coop and the survivors would not go in....for quite a while. So your thought that something outside frightens them may be right on target.

You know all the things the forum posts if you have been hanging around for awhile. Egg eating, put a fake egg or a golf ball IN the nest box and hope that they will learn to think eggs are too hard to break the shell. Maybe if you could arrange a nest box that the egg rolls out of reach -- even tipping the nest box so the egg would roll and having it travel safely out of their reach. Last resort - maybe bumper bits (aka bumpa bits) ebay in the UK has them...don't know about AU, and Omlet has them... I know being at work, you aren't there to gather eggs more frequently.

Making the shells harder by addiing apple cider vinegar to their water. We put in 1 Table Spoon to a U.S.A. gallon of water. (even 2 Tbsp would be O.K.)--- I purchased vitamin D3 supplement and crushed a tablet, mixed it with feed and eggshells from my chooks that I had pulverized in a food processor. Added a shell-less egg to the concoction to bind the D3 powder and eggshells to the feed, and fed it to a hen I had that was not producing good shells...... Her shells improved in just a couple of days. Of course oyster shells or another edible source of calcium carbonate for them... I always crush up the shells from my hens...and they prefer Those to oyster shells....

the source of scaring them? Neighborhood dogs or kids? Any predators that could climb down from a nearby tree??

I think it is the combination of things, and as you say the stress....unless they are feasting on your eggs. It sounds like your flock is a bunch of first rate layers.

Time passing, spring arriving , and feed supplements if you think they would help....and hopefully things will fully return to normal.

 

[Den in Penn]

HI welcome to BYC.
I think ChicKat has a good handle on your situation. I would lean more towards a stressor like an animal coming around in the day. Stress can help cause them to lay soft shells. Is it possible there is an egg predator other then the chickens around?

 

[Keen]

Thanks for the replies!

They tend to lay mid to late morning, so we just collect eggs every evening. They have only ever eaten the early eggs that they have dropped from the roost and cracked, always left the whole ones in the nest alone. We got them as pets, not for the eggs, so losing an already broken egg isn't too bothersome for us - we have enough trouble getting through the whole ones! I doubt snake, since they've been staying in instead of hiding outside... and the crows despite being very clever, are yet to figure out where the eggs are.

I was pretty sure their diet was ok. I forgot to mention they also have all day access to a PeckaBloc (love the name!) which is full of grit and supplements. I will head down to the local chook shop and see if there is something else I can supplement, and will give the cider vinager a shot too!

Other than the change in weather, and so more birds around, there hasn't been any change to the local wildlife. We don't have neighbours close to their part of the yard, so no kids or dogs, and they are surrounded by a 6 foot fence. Since they are so young still perhaps they just aren't used to all the bird activity.

This morning they were back to their usual rowdy selves (if it gets past 6:30am they start being very vocal about my tardiness), so hopefully it is a passing issue! Being the worried mother I just wanted to make sure it wasn't indicative of something worse!! If they go back to that behaviour I may set up a camera in the yard and see if there is a bird bullying them or something.


Yes Australia is slowly coming back to lovely weather again, I hate the cold... so the ladies will no doubt spend this coming weekend 'helping' me plant out this seasons veges! There are a couple of UQ campuses, they are all pretty close to where we live! Lovely buildings at UQ.


Thanks again for the help, I will keep an eye on them and find some more supplements for them

 

[ChicKat]

Know what else..... this just hit me ---

Could your chickens be going broody? That would account for stopping laying and wanting to stay in. It's spring there....hmmmmmm I suspect your breed isn't prone to be broody, and to have them all go at once is kind of strange....but stranger things have happened and there is some thought that broodiness is 'catching'.

Just thought of it because finally at last I have a broody.

 

[Keen]

A good thought, though if this is their version of broody they suck at it! When it happens they are just standing inside looking worried and occasionally poking their heads out, not even trying to nest.

We had one of them try going broody when they first started laying. She was terrible. Usually gave up after a day or a quick prod! Good thing we aren't chasing chicks for a while, but if I do ever get 'clucky' I'm pretty sure my folks still have an old incubator. Far more reliable than these girls!

 

[ChicKat]

LOL - okay -- scratch the broody thought and go back to getting over a fear event. The mystery continues. (maybe by this time they are back to normal?)

 

[Keen]

Just thought I'd let you know they are back to normal now, though not sure what the problem was...

Laying is back up as well, as is egg quality. Feathers are still a bit patchy though, so who knows! Whatever it was must have given them a good fright!

Thanks for your help