If these are the chickens I am thinking of - here's my thoughts, For you only, not for the owner
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1. The Orpingtons are close to too old to lay. Chickens are born with the exact number of eggs they will ever lay. They do not produce ova like humans or mammals. Once they lay all the eggs they were born with, that's it. They also had leg scaly mites which bother them into a frenzy so they don't lay. I suggested vaseline or cooking oil soak from the toes to the feather start on the legs. The rooster had them too, I showed them how to check for mites and dust for that also since bugs = less eggs,
2. The chickens that came to live with them from yours truly range in age from 6 months to 18 mos. Since they came from a large farm, it is difficult to know exactly which hens are laying at any given time. However, since some of the chickens lay colored eggs, it is easier to tell. Also, they came from free-ranging to a pen, which also makes a little change to their routine.
3. Any move will stress them out until they get settled. In this case, those folks mix scratch in with the feed. Scratch is like ice cream to chickens, although in the winter it helps them build heat in their bodies. I use scratch to greet my girls and to put them to bed at night. I use dried mealworms to train them to come when I shake the can. Now the corn fools them. So, if they do not have free supply of good laying feed, (that is, they run out of food often) they again may not lay as well.
4. Bedding. The chickens they received from me bed in pine shavings and so I have never used cedar shavings with them. The cedar could have also affected their "happiness to lay"
5. Weather. This summer has been unusually warm on the Coast. My hens are down on production as well, and I lost two to being egg-bound. Yesterday I went out to check them and one of the hens had a broken shell protruding from her hind end. She was distressed trying to remove it herself. Once I did, she was happy and went about her business. I check my flock at least twice a day - I collect eggs about 1 pm daily. Most have laid by then. If the eggs are dirty (which they actually stay pretty clean on pine shavings - until the rainy season) - I wash them with warm water. I immediately refrigerate them, because I have roosters, and if an egg is fertile, the cold temp (42 degrees) keeps them fresh eggs, not embryos. I also have an egg handlers license.
6. First Aid kit - Veterycin VF is the stuff I was telling you about. I also have Adams Flea Shampoo that I put in a squirt bottle, watered down that I squirt on the girls butts periodically just to make sure if they have mites, the mites are killed. Mites primarily lie in hay.
7. Be careful giving your girls fresh cut grass or green hay - they eat it and it gets stuck in their crop and the crop can get impacted. You will be able to tell when this happens - the crop gets distended and really hard, and their breath smells retched. Just gross. I have lost two and saved one with this issue. Have plain yogurt on hand - its good for them, healthy or ill, and they love it.
Keep my card and call me anytime!
Kat
