- Nov 20, 2013
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I'm completely new to this site and pretty new to chickens, having adopted 5 red hens about 3 months ago. They were all apparently healthy and happy (or so their previous owner said) but I've been wondering for a while why I've only been getting one or two eggs a day.
I originally thought that they were just stressed at their new surroundings, but they have settled in and always have plenty of food and water, along with as much space as we can give them... and yet their laying still hasn't picked up. Their eggs have also been subject to a high number of abnormalities. Out of the average of 10 we get a week, 1 or 2 will have thin shells that break in the nesting box, 2 or 3 will have wrinkled/ corrugated shells and maybe 1 or 2 will be produced with a darker brown nobbly bit. They all have a bit of a strange albumen that I can only describe as having 2 layers - one that comes out normally and one, a few mm thick that clings to the inside of the shell.
The internet (haha) seems to suggest that the only thing that can produce all these egg problems is infectious bronchitis. Would you say this could be the case?
If so, what is the best course of action? I'm not overly sentimental about them as pets (they're meant to be layers, not pets!) and can only assume that all 5 chickens are affected. Would medication cure them and get them laying properly again or is there no real hope and I should just look to, er, replacing them?
I originally thought that they were just stressed at their new surroundings, but they have settled in and always have plenty of food and water, along with as much space as we can give them... and yet their laying still hasn't picked up. Their eggs have also been subject to a high number of abnormalities. Out of the average of 10 we get a week, 1 or 2 will have thin shells that break in the nesting box, 2 or 3 will have wrinkled/ corrugated shells and maybe 1 or 2 will be produced with a darker brown nobbly bit. They all have a bit of a strange albumen that I can only describe as having 2 layers - one that comes out normally and one, a few mm thick that clings to the inside of the shell.
The internet (haha) seems to suggest that the only thing that can produce all these egg problems is infectious bronchitis. Would you say this could be the case?
If so, what is the best course of action? I'm not overly sentimental about them as pets (they're meant to be layers, not pets!) and can only assume that all 5 chickens are affected. Would medication cure them and get them laying properly again or is there no real hope and I should just look to, er, replacing them?