- Feb 26, 2013
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We have a hen that laid early for her age by a few weeks. She laid for about a week and then we haven't seen an egg from her again since (about 2-3 weeks). (We only have two other layers currently and their eggs are easy to identify as theirs--they each have their own color/size/etc) She is free ranged so we have looked all over the property for eggs. The only sign I've seen of eggs is some shells in raccoon droppings (which is a WHOOOOLLLEEE other issue we're working on). So we locked her in the coop all week - nothing but a really grumpy hen! We finally let her out again because keeping her isolated and not giving the other birds access to the coop all day isn't how we want to raise our birds. So yesterday there was a tiny "fart" egg in the flower bed. Now we don't know WHO laid it because her and her sisters all turned 20 weeks on the 17th and one of her sisters had her comb come in and turn bright red over the last couple of weeks. (And she never had a fart egg before she laid wrinkly eggs, but not fart eggs).
So in the meanwhile, we've blocked off the deck--which seemed to be the most likely spot she was laying but we never found any eggs there)
My question is -- is it possible that she laid for a week and then just stopped laying? The fact that we cooped her up for close to a week without an egg (and NO signs of being egg bound--I've felt around her gut and vent and even apply lube around her vent just in case) makes me wonder if she just stopped laying. I am 99.99999% sure she is the one who laid early because the other girls still had pink combs and her's was bright red when the third egg started coming.
Anyone else experience a new layer just stop laying for no apparent reason?
Here diet is the same and our other girls are literally laying 7 days a weeks without fail. There didn't seem to be any stress prior to cooping her up for a week. Obviously daylight isn't an issue and neither is molting, brooding, etc.
So in the meanwhile, we've blocked off the deck--which seemed to be the most likely spot she was laying but we never found any eggs there)
My question is -- is it possible that she laid for a week and then just stopped laying? The fact that we cooped her up for close to a week without an egg (and NO signs of being egg bound--I've felt around her gut and vent and even apply lube around her vent just in case) makes me wonder if she just stopped laying. I am 99.99999% sure she is the one who laid early because the other girls still had pink combs and her's was bright red when the third egg started coming.
Anyone else experience a new layer just stop laying for no apparent reason?
Here diet is the same and our other girls are literally laying 7 days a weeks without fail. There didn't seem to be any stress prior to cooping her up for a week. Obviously daylight isn't an issue and neither is molting, brooding, etc.
