New hens = no eggs

[Lorettachick]

I added 5 new hens to my flock last weekend and now nobody is laying....not even my 5 original girls who were just starting to lay more after winter break. Do newbies upset their laying??

 

[countrygoddess]

Yes, they're probably a little upset and that threw them off their game. Give them another couple of weeks and I bet they'll come around.

At the end of January, we had a week of super-cold weather (low of -15, high of 3) and a day or two after it started warming up a bit, my girls all stopped laying. I think the cold finally caught up with them. It took them about a week and a half or so and they started laying again. I'm still not getting the 7/9 I was getting before (yesterday I got 2/9) but it'll happen. Hopefully soon, though, because we're running out of eggs! LOL

 

[Lorettachick]

Thanks! I know, I was just starting to build my egg supply back up and now another strike. lol

 

[countrygoddess]

LOL I got one of those Egg Skelters but it's just not as pretty with only 5 eggs on it! :-S

BTW, love your avatar. We are down to one d'Uccle cock after having had him and two hens (a raven took one, and a raccoon got the other) for a couple of years. They are one of our favorite breeds--so sweet and cute! And our boy makes us laugh out loud when he runs down the hill between our house and their house: skip-trot, skip-trot, skip-trot! LOL We really miss the girls so I have more on the way in April. =)

 

[Lorettachick]

Thanks, our roo is Howard. He is so cute and has the cutest crow. Unfortunately his mate, Bernadette, got out of the pen while I was at work last fall (squeezed through a gape in the fence) and was killed by our dog. We were soooo sad! She was laying too. Cute little eggs. I would like to have a couple more hens. I'm planning on looking at a local trade day in the spring.

Those egg skelters look nice...esp full of eggs!

 

[bj taylor]

i have never added hens to my flock of originals. i only have four girls. how did you add the new ones?

 

[Lorettachick]

This is the first time that I have added to my originals too. I wanted some more layers so my Mother-in-law gave me 5 laying hens. I just put them in at night and they are getting along fine except for the disrupt in egg laying.

 

[countrygoddess]

I've added hens on a Saturday and hung out all weekend to make sure everything is fine. With hens, it's usually no biggie. Roosters are another story...

Here's our little Sharpie, crowing for all it's worth (and yes, they do have the cutest crows. Piercing, though! LOL):

 

[nok13]

same here.. twice ive added: once a small bantam, so i had to watch out they didnt do her any dammage (leghorns no problem but a bitchy RIR took her on a few times. i t took about two weeks for the bantam to come out and eat with them , as i set up a few feeding stations.), then i added the four shnitzels... but they were babies so they hung out together no prob. then i added two rescues... so no eggs for a few days now everyone is back to laying again... and now the RIR is showing broodiness, but no roo....... i still feed the injured rescue a separate meal inside the coop, but she is already showing signs of holding her own in teh feeding frenzy of the morning....

 

[Lorettachick]

Oh my, he is BEAUTIFUL!