Just how long can my girl

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

go without laying her egg?

I am very worried as it has been 15 days since I lost her hatch mate , and that long since she laid her egg.

She is with the rest of her hatch mates which are 3 ducks. She does have other chickens she hangs around during the day even though they are in different flocks.

They all love each other , although the ducks are very aggressive when it comes to treats, so we separate her and give her treats that way.

Could she be in mourning ?

Is that a stupid question or what?

She is just a little over a year old now and a Barred Rock.

I really really need some thoughts here as I am very worried now.

Thank you!!

 

[write2caroline]

Could she be molting? Or egg bound? I have had besties lose their buddies by preditors and they have not displayed mourning but they have been off laying eggs or slowing. I used to get nearly a dozen eggs a day but stress can cause them to slow in laying.....you can add some apple cidar vinagar to her water, give her a bath, or use some diatematious earth to rule out mites or other internal reasons to slow egg production. Birds will not necessarily display an illness. Sometimes you can get an idea if they are all puffy feathers but usually it is in a birds best interest and survival not to display sickness so they mask it well. You can try seperating her but that can cause pecking order issues later. I would try to rule out the main reasons and go from there.

Caroline

 

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

Quote:
Thank you so much for your response. She does not appear to be molting, no feather loss, she is not puffy, nor does she appear egg bound, to the best of my knowledge. Her personality is still the same and eating very well. Nothing has changed, except for the lack of laying her egg. She does sit in her box occasionally, but sleeps next to her ducks on the straw bales as she always has. I do have DE that I will give her immediately. They all are on it very often. Ive heard that Cayenne pepper is also good for eliminating any internal parasites. Ive mixed that with their scratch and feed occasionally. Thank you again. You are the first person to answer me. Ive been on other forums and have not been successful.

 

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

Help. Can anyone else share their thoughts or suggestions , Please ?
Thanks in advance

 

[sumi]

What happened to her hatch mate? If it was a traumatic experience she's probably stressed/in shock and possibly mourning.

 

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

her hatch mate tragically drowned in the duck's large mini lake/ huge puddle ( dont know how else to describe it. ). that she grew up around..

We dont know when or how it happened,but I can tell you, my poor 15 yr old son had to be the one who found her, and she was HIS chicken.

I was wondering if chickens can mourn, and Ive been hoping to get some help or suggestions.

She is just fine. Playing, eating, nothing obviously wrong, just 16 days without an egg, although her ducks lay everyday.

My son seems to think that she mustve been too close to the edge and either slipped or a duck pushed her in.

Im just now getting to where I can talk about it, although I still have my moments..

It happened on my son's birthday, and I felt so sorry for him.

 

[animallover505]

I'm so sorry. I am a firm believer that all animals are capable of mourning. There are lots of other types of birds that display mourning, such as and especially owls, who will mourn till they die if their mate dies.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

That is sad about the loss of one of the barred rocks - I'm so sorry.

It sounds like you have worked to rule out various health issues. I do know that stress and changes can interrupt laying for a while. Last summer several of my hens stopped laying after a a bad thunder storm for more than a week. I think the loss of a hatch mate could interrupt laying for a while even though she is not acting much different.