My Silkie girl has stopped laying

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

My Silkie girl of just over a year old, suddenly stopped laying just over a week ago .... She is in with my rooster, who is around 8 months old. She was laying very regularly, & just suddenly stopped. I thought it might be stress due to several horrendous thunder storms we had just before she stopped laying, but they stopped over a week ago. I've only had her for about 3 months, & she is not used to being handled, so I haven't been able to get close enough to her to really check her out ... but today, as I was giving them a treat, I was able to get close enough & she really looks as if she has dropped off weight. I also noticed a few days ago, that her poop in the nesting box was smaller & not as much, indicating that maybe she is not eating as well as she was. Today, I saw her either pooping or trying to poop, & noticed that her butt is dirty .... from a few feet away it looked like poop on her feathers. As she is very skittish, I have decided to wait until they go into their coop for the night, at around 9 p.m. (it's now 4 p.m. & summer here) .... That way, I can wait a few mins & then lift the lid to her nesting box & hopefully move quickly enough to pick her up & pop her into a carrier, so that I can take her indoors, check her out, & clean her up. It's hard to tell how much she is eating, because they scatter their food all over the ground .... she is on Layer pellets, but I have seen her eating the rooster's food at times, which I know will not have the calcium she needs. I would appreciate any advice given. Thank you.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Silkies generally lay for a bit than stop for a bit. They tend to lay in clutches, 10-25 eggs, than they stop and either go broody or take a break for a few weeks.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

Silkies generally lay for a bit than stop for a bit. They tend to lay in clutches, 10-25 eggs, than they stop and either go broody or take a break for a few weeks.

Thank you so much! I feel so relieved! I was worried sick that something horrible might be going on. When I looked at her late afternoon, she seemed ok, peeking out at me through the long grass, with her mate Czar by her side. They have given me 6 beautiful white Silkie babies, now 2.5 weeks old & cheeky as all get out. I had no idea that Silkies laid in that cycle. Although I recently retired from work, I know that I am never too old to learn something new each day. Again, my thanks to you.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

I am never too old to learn something new each day

You'll find that on here
I never knew that either!! This place is great.
Glad to hear your Silkie is doing just fine and would love to see a pic of those babies?!

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

You'll find that on here
I never knew that either!! This place is great.
Glad to hear your Silkie is doing just fine and would love to see a pic of those babies?!

I only joined BYC yesterday & already I have found help & learnt something. Here is a pic of my 6 white silkie babies, taken when they were just a week old. They have grown a bit since then, & will soon be 3 weeks old.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

I only joined BYC yesterday & already I have found help & learnt something. Here is a pic of my 6 white silkie babies, taken when they were just a week old. They have grown a bit since then, & will soon be 3 weeks old.

Oh they are beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing!

 

[rebrascora]

Your chicks are beautiful.
As regards your silkie, if she is over a year old she may be starting to moult which is an annual occurrence that can start anywhere from summer right through to mid winter and occasionally later still. (Including your location in the world on your profile page enables us to see at a glance each time you post and can help us to figure out what your climate and seasons are so that we can offer more specific advice) Have you noticed any feathers appearing in her coop or run. Birds often go off their food a bit when they moult (sometimes have runny poop too) and stop producing eggs, so that may be another cause of her weight loss and lack of production. They can feel really under the weather during moult and isolate themselves from the flock for a few days or even weeks. Some birds will have a "heavy moult" where they lose a lot of feathers suddenly and it looks like someone had a pillow fight in the coop and develop noticeable bald patches, whilst others are more discrete about it and shed their feathers much more slowly over several months. It can be uncomfortable for them to be handled whilst they are moulting and even friendly lap pet birds will avoid human contact during this period.
Just something else to consider may be going on with her which is completely normal but can be concerning and make them look unwell.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

Oh they are beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing!

I just put them onto untreated wood shavings yesterday, & now they are having the time of their lives, scooting through the shavings, filling up the water with shavings lol. As with all my silkies/sizzles, they are being raised in a spare bedroom, & now I have a large run on its way, which they will transfer into next week, when they are 3 weeks old, in the same bedroom. They are such sweeties.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

Your chicks are beautiful.
As regards your silkie, if she is over a year old she may be starting to moult which is an annual occurrence that can start anywhere from summer right through to mid winter and occasionally later still. (Including your location in the world on your profile page enables us to see at a glance each time you post and can help us to figure out what your climate and seasons are so that we can offer more specific advice) Have you noticed any feathers appearing in her coop or run. Birds often go off their food a bit when they moult (sometimes have runny poop too) and stop producing eggs, so that may be another cause of her weight loss and lack of production. They can feel really under the weather during moult and isolate themselves from the flock for a few days or even weeks. Some birds will have a "heavy moult" where they lose a lot of feathers suddenly and it looks like someone had a pillow fight in the coop and develop noticeable bald patches, whilst others are more discrete about it and shed their feathers much more slowly over several months. It can be uncomfortable for them to be handled whilst they are moulting and even friendly lap pet birds will avoid human contact during this period.
Just something else to consider may be going on with her which is completely normal but can be concerning and make them look unwell.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

Thank you for explaining that to me. I haven't noticed any feathers in the coop or in their run, but my husband let them out this morning, as I was busy with some other Silkies. I'll be cleaning out their coop this afternoon, so will see then, but yesterday there was no evidence of moulting. I remember when my young rooster was moulting, when he was around 5 months old .... feathers everywhere & he looked rather unkempt. I checked out her dirty bottom again this morning, from about 3 ft away, & it didn't look as bad as it did yesterday ..... looked more like dirt rather than poop, & we have had some rainy days recently. I am keeping a close eye on her, & she isn't acting as if she is unwell. Doesn't look sleepy or puffed up. She is just doing her normal stuff. I have noticed that Czar, the rooster in with her, has moved over to the other side of the coop to sleep (4 nesting boxes in their coop), whereas before he was sleeping in the one next to her. And I haven't seen any evidence of him trying to force his attentions onto her over the last few days, which prior to that, he was, but he was backing off when she told him to push off lol. I gave her mashed up hard-boiled egg yesterday, for a calcium boost. She ate some of it, but not a lot ..... Czar doesn't like it, so I know it was her that ate some. I've finely-crushed up some egg-shell today, which I will add to the top of her pellets. The trouble is that Czar will eat her Layer pellets, & she will eat his Grower pellets .... so I am wondering if she is filling up on his pellets, & only eating a few of her Layer pellets. As they are in the coop & run together, I'm not sure how to prevent her from doing that. I'm going to get a Layer Mash for her today, which has vitamin supplements & a nice variety of things in it. Maybe she is bored with her pellets. I'll put the Layer Mash down next to her Layer Pellets, to give her a choice. I live in New Zealand, by the way .... so it's summer here. Again, thanks for taking the time to explain about the moulting. I will certainly be looking out for that.