Lots of fairy eggs suddenly

[Slike]

I'm not sure at what stage of her life you acquired her, but drawing from other experiences I'll say if she was either born with some congenital issue (which may not be life-threatening, bothersome, or even outwardly noticeable), or perhaps when she was immature she had gone through some kind of starvation or otherwise traumatic event, she may not have what it takes to keep laying yolk-having eggs any more.

I had an Emu, for example, whose original carer died while she and her siblings were young. They lived on a mountain in some remote area, and by the time anyone had found them, some had died and the rest were severely malnourished. She went on to grow up fine, but she stayed small, and though she lays normal sized eggs, they are missing several outer layers from the shell. No amount of calcium made available to her has ever changed this.

I myself became sick a few years back due to chronic stress-induced gut problems that led to severe malnutrition, and during that time it was as if a switch was flipped and my whole reproductive system was just "shut off".

So hers isn't "off", it just seems like perhaps she's run out of yolk juju. Can you tell us more about her younger years, or if you acquired her later in her life? I am curious.

 

[bobbi-j]

Maybe it is the stress - she isn't having much fun in life these days. Last summer in a different flock she was my top hen. Now she's been for 3 months in the current setting with one other hen from the old flock and 2 newer Leghorns. She's still afraid of the Leghorns, even after 3 months together in the same coop. She doesn't even eat with them, just runs away in fear as soon as one of them looks up. I always have to pour her some extra food into a corner. Still, she was laying normal sized eggs until about 3 weeks ago when the fairy eggs started.
Well, it seems to be one of these chicken mysteries.

Maybe I should let her hatch some fairies next time she goes broody... or doesn't it work like that?

View attachment 1304047

Give it a try. Let us know how it works out for you!

 

[Slike]

Maybe it is the stress - she isn't having much fun in life these days. Last summer in a different flock she was my top hen. Now she's been for 3 months in the current setting with one other hen from the old flock and 2 newer Leghorns. She's still afraid of the Leghorns, even after 3 months together in the same coop. She doesn't even eat with them, just runs away in fear as soon as one of them looks up. I always have to pour her some extra food into a corner. Still, she was laying normal sized eggs until about 3 weeks ago when the fairy eggs started.

I didn't see this until now, but in this context it is making sense. Understand that the physiological effects of stress are cumulative, so based off my own experience I'd be willing to bet this is a large part of the cause of her fairy eggs. The reduced food intake because of her fear of the Leghorns combined with the stress of getting moved from where she formerly was at home to a situation she's obviously not enjoying sounds like a reasonable source for this. Some individuals are just more sensitive than others, too. So while her also moved companion might not exhibit these symptoms, it doesn't mean the one in question should be any less upset with the situation if she isn't meshing with with the new (and it sounds like resented) neighbors.

 

[Petra Pancake]

@Slike, to answer your questions, I got her a year and a half ago (she was supposed to be a year and a half old at the time, so she must be about 3 years old now). When I got her, she had 2 young chicks of her own with her. After she weaned them, she was a good layer for some time. Last summer she went broody again on 6 eggs and hatched 3 chicks which unfortunately got killed by predators. Then most of my flock died in a mystery disease, that was really a bad chicken summer. I had 2 necropsies done but no clear result. She and one other laying hen survived. Last fall she molted and it took her 3 months to get back to laying. Then I put her and the other remaining hen together with the Leghorns. The other hen gets along with the Leghorns and lays well.

 

[aart]

That's great concise synopsis @Petra Pancake.
Did the other birds that died of mystery disease have any egg laying issues?

 

[Slike]

Thank you for the backstory to her. I wonder, could the mystery illness have been heat stress? I ask this because of the mention of it happening in Summer.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Maybe it is the stress - she isn't having much fun in life these days. Last summer in a different flock she was my top hen. Now she's been for 3 months in the current setting with one other hen from the old flock and 2 newer Leghorns. She's still afraid of the Leghorns, even after 3 months together in the same coop. She doesn't even eat with them, just runs away in fear as soon as one of them looks up. I always have to pour her some extra food into a corner. Still, she was laying normal sized eggs until about 3 weeks ago when the fairy eggs started.
Well, it seems to be one of these chicken mysteries.

Maybe I should let her hatch some fairies next time she goes broody... or doesn't it work like that?

View attachment 1304047

I'd say her problem is stress. She's lost her normal flock and is now stuck with 2 leghorns that don't like her. The stress has built up and now her poor body is giving out these little eggs! It happened to my hen after a bear attack that wiped out my flock of 18 (except for her). She laid little eggs too, but they did have tiny yokes. That's my guess anyway.

 

[RWise]

I think the oldest hen on record was 16 years old.


They are born with way more ova then they will ever lay, even if they lived to 25. The overall health of the bird is what determines if they continue to lay or not, something else usually kills them before they ever run out of ova.

Well who am I supposed to believe, those that have 25 YO hens that say they still lay, or those that do not have 25 YO hens that say they dont live that long???? I read it right here on this forum, some members have these old girls. I myself do not keep hens that long,,,

 

[Petra Pancake]

@aart and @Slike, the hens that died last summer had no egg problems. (One of the two necropsies actually showed that the hen in question had egg peritonitis. But she showed no symptoms and had month old baby chicks at the time. Must have been her first egg after the chicks that got stuck.) The other dead hens had been laying eggs normally, one had grotesque head swelling at the time of death, several others had shrunken purple combs and 2 bantam roosters also died at the same time as the hens, one also with a shrunken purple comb and the other one without any outward signs of disease. They all died overnight, always were alive in the evening and dead by the morning, all within 2 or 3 weeks. Because it was at night, I don't think it was heat stroke.

Maybe an interesting observation: the two surviving hens were mother and daughter. Maybe they were genetically immune to whatever that disease was. The one who lays the fairy eggs now is the mother. The daughter is the one who lays normally and gets along with the Leghorns.

 

[dehowery]

I like you have lost my fair share of hens. The swollen head I understand is a by product of Mareks disease. Mareks is like "Aids" chickens don;t die from the Mareks but others things like Digestive tracts that go , Avian cancer, etc, etc, etc. Usually when you first notice it.. Hens stop running around and their eating habits change. Then they start to get weaker and sit or walk as if they are in a dream and then one morning you go out to the roosts to let the girls outnand their dead. I have had two of my birds checked after death at the state of Al. Both deaths came back as mareks related deaths. I have lost 6 chickens in all to mareks. I did not have the other 4 checked because 3 of them went over a 3 week span. They were all under 6 months old. I understand that mareks usually strikes from birth to about 6 mos.It's hard to lose them. The last batch of day old chicks we ordered we have vaccinated for mareks. We hope they will fair betterthen the girls we lost.