Need ideas for non-laying chicken--a puzzle!

[seredni]

Here are the facts. I've searched the forum and did not find a post like mine:

Australorp
Under a year
At first laid about 3-5 eggs a week
Hasn't laid one egg in four+ months

Things we've investigated and ruled out:
Not molting
No lice/ no mites
Has access to water and food 24/7
Gets along with other two chickens
Gorgeous looking--best looking of the three--fat, glossy feathers, walks and runs fine
Eyes clear
Hangs out with other two chickens and travels with them when we let them free range
Is not eating her eggs
Does not hang out in the nesting box during the day (not brooding)
Not a rooster!
The sexlink in the trio lays every day a firm shelled egg
The third chicken, still a pullet, has not yet started laying
Australorp stopped laying months before we got the newest chicken

Any ideas?

 

[azygous]

What is she getting in the way of calcium? Sometimes just oyster shell on demand isn't enough if a hen has a genetic problem absorbing calcium. Oyster shell is calcium carbonate, and sometimes calcium citrate is more easily absorbed.

I use a tablet of people calcium citrate with vitamin D3 to further assist in complete absorption.

Ruling out all the obvious causes for no eggs was a big help in narrowing down the cause. Thank you for doing that. Once egg laying resumes, as long as the shell is of good quality, there is no need to continue the calcium supplement. But keep it on hand in case the eggs begin to be thin-shelled.

 

[seredni]

I had not thought about calcium. The only supplementals I give her in addition to chicken layer feed that have calcium are dried mealworms and full fat plain yogurt. The yogurt has quite a bit of calcium but the container doesn’t say which pho the two types of calcium It contains. I will try adding in a citrate supplement. Thank you for the idea!


QUOTE="azygous, post: 20415995, member: 45606"]What is she getting in the way of calcium? Sometimes just oyster shell on demand isn't enough if a hen has a genetic problem absorbing calcium. Oyster shell is calcium carbonate, and sometimes calcium citrate is more easily absorbed.

I use a tablet of people calcium citrate with vitamin D3 to further assist in complete absorption.

Ruling out all the obvious causes for no eggs was a big help in narrowing down the cause. Thank you for doing that. Once egg laying resumes, as long as the shell is of good quality, there is no need to continue the calcium supplement. But keep it on hand in case the eggs begin to be thin-shelled.[/QUOTE]

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would think she's got a hidden nest somewhere. My Australorp does lay for a bit than quits for a bit. My last ones were more consistent layers, but this one isn't. My current one also was very sneaky and started laying in another shed.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

This is a problem most often found in chickens that were sold by a so called chicken breeder and not a hatchery. Hatcheries are ongoing commercial businesses and as such they must maintain a reputation, casual chicken breeders are not as concerned with the quality of their product. Any-old-thing covered in feathers will fill the bill for many of these chicken sellers.

An alternative is an unrecognized ailment or disease.

Australorps tend to be on the heavy side. I suggest that you pen this hen and only feed her 3 ounces of laying pellets by weight per day and not a bite more, do this while keeping up with her daily weight.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Well don’t know much about nothing she sounds healthy and active as she should. Couldn’t be egg bound as it’s been months...she’d show symptoms or be dead by now. I agree with @oldhenlikesdogs that she’s got a hidden laying spot somewhere.

 

[seredni]

She doesn’t have hidden eggs. While we’ve made a larger coop, the one I got her with (Rent The Chicken) is small and for the first three months we had her she and her buddy were stuck in there. No place to hide eggs. Small tractor coop. I do feed them a lot of veggie and fruit treats—every day. So perhaps she’s not getting enough of the stuff like calcium that she needs.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She doesn’t have hidden eggs. While we’ve made a larger coop, the one I got her with (Rent The Chicken) is small and for the first three months we had her she and her buddy were stuck in there. No place to hide eggs. Small tractor coop. I do feed them a lot of veggie and fruit treats—every day. So perhaps she’s not getting enough of the stuff like calcium that she needs.

Hens need protein to makes eggs. You need to provide a good ration and keep extras lower to optimize production.

 

[seredni]

So it's been at least five days that I've cut way down on watermelon and other yummy treats plus I've been feeding them daily a bowl of organic whole milk yogurt + one crushed up calcium citrate pill. Plus they are now full time in a maybe 13 x 20 foot coop so no way possible to hide eggs, and still Betty isn't laying . . . . I also picked her up and looked her over very carefully again for mites or other skin problems and nothing. Do some chickens who are about a year old just not lay????

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So it's been at least five days that I've cut way down on watermelon and other yummy treats plus I've been feeding them daily a bowl of organic whole milk yogurt + one crushed up calcium citrate pill. Plus they are now full time in a maybe 13 x 20 foot coop so no way possible to hide eggs, and still Betty isn't laying . . . . I also picked her up and looked her over very carefully again for mites or other skin problems and nothing. Do some chickens who are about a year old just not lay????

Could be she's gonna molt soon. They do usually stop laying before they start molting.