Okay ...... I'm interested in any input .... We had 5 hens at one point (4 of which are/were ~18 months and one pullet). All 4 of the older girls were laying eggs and doing fine. About a month (or so) ago, they sort of stopped laying eggs, we went from getting 3 eggs a day from them to *maybe* one. Then one of these girls died ..... she was acting very sick prior to her death. Her comb had turned totally pale, she stopped eating/drinking, and she had no energy. That was a few weeks ago.
Since then, we were down to 4 hens (3 of the older, 1 young). Only one of the older girls is laying, the pullet was laying about every other day, until one of the older girls decides to go broody (and she was one of the non-layers). To avoid further disruption of our already dire egg-laying situation, we moved the broody girl to a dog crate with her own water and food. 2 days later, she was found dead! She was acting fine and like a normal broody chicken. In addition to her death - egg production has not yet returned to normal in the two girls that were laying, so still no eggs.
What is going on? I have read that egg bound chickens die usually around 48 hours after they are bound, so our non-layers would have died already if that was it. But now we are down to 3 chickens, none of which seem to be laying. Any ideas?
Since then, we were down to 4 hens (3 of the older, 1 young). Only one of the older girls is laying, the pullet was laying about every other day, until one of the older girls decides to go broody (and she was one of the non-layers). To avoid further disruption of our already dire egg-laying situation, we moved the broody girl to a dog crate with her own water and food. 2 days later, she was found dead! She was acting fine and like a normal broody chicken. In addition to her death - egg production has not yet returned to normal in the two girls that were laying, so still no eggs.
What is going on? I have read that egg bound chickens die usually around 48 hours after they are bound, so our non-layers would have died already if that was it. But now we are down to 3 chickens, none of which seem to be laying. Any ideas?
