New layers, one has stopped

[Tomhusker]

I did a search on this subject, but some of the behaviors is not addressed.

My four 26 week old BR's have been laying for about 3 weeks now. They have been pretty regular, laying 6 out of 7 days. Over the last 4 or 5 days 1 of the girls has not layed an egg. She has been going to the nest box and sitting for an hour or so every day, but no egg when we check. (We check frequently as we have another BR whose eggs we have to dispose of due to the waiting period after antibiotic treatment.) Her behaviors are normal, she eats and drinks normally and free ranges with the rest of the flock all day long. She is not lethargic or displaying any signs of illness. I felt her abdomen this morning and didn't feel anything strange (other than I have never squoze a chicken before).

I would not be concerned if she didn't visit the nest box every day. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Judy]

No way to be sure, I'm afraid. She could be working on a serious problem with the egg laying machinery. But I'd guess it's more likely that she is reacting to the shorter days, or going through a partial molt (this can be next to impossible to see) or both. Maybe she just sits on the nest because she is programmed to, or because she sees others do the same.

BTW, if my family ate all my eggs, and none were allergic to the antibiotic in question, I'd eat the eggs anyway. JMO.

 

[Tomhusker]

Quote:
I have been debating this is my mind. The package of Duramycin 10 says wait 4 days before slaughtering, but the company says wait 21 days before eating the eggs. Thursday will be 7 days. I know others on here do eat them. I hate throwing them out.

 

[Judy]

I am not allergic to tetracycline so I would eat them. It's not like you would be getting a heavy dose. I've never given a chicken an antibiotic, but nothing happened to us when we ate the eggs after ivermectin (unless we got wormed.)

I'm no vet and this is hardly professional advice, of course.

 

[tuesdays chicks]

My girls go on the nest every day whether they lay or not, are you sure that she started laying?

 

[carrlr]

Not sure exactly where you are in MO., but I'm in Illinois just across from St. Louis and my girls have seriously slowed down on production. I was averaging 10/day for my 12 girls, until Saturday when we had only 4, then on Sunday/Monday only two eggs. Today, none so far. I'm thinking it's the cooler weather since our first freeze was last week. I've upped the additional light from 2 to 4 hours just in case.

 

[Tomhusker]

Quote:
I have never seen her lay, but we did get 4/4 eggs one day. I have a light timer in the coop to add a couple of hours of light in the evening and morning. I have noticed that she is not squatting now, and I am pretty sure she was before. We just banded the BR's for ID purposes so MAYBE she never was, but I am pretty sure that all were squatting.