New member has problem with chickens

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rdaddario

rdaddario

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11 Years
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Nov 30, 2008
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Hello, my name is Richard and my wife, Cindy, have had chickens for six or seven years with limited success. We have them for the beautiful eggs they usually lay. We now have 10 hens and one rooster, most of them born in March 2008.

Up until a month or so ago they were laying eggs, although not as frequently as we expected, and the rooster was crowing and doing his rooster thing. Recently, however, we have had no eggs, and I can't tell you how long ago the rooster last crowed or was seen on the back of one of his hens.

Can someone help me with this situation? We have not changed their living environment or their feed and they have the run of the back yard which they like.

I know that they usually lay less in winter, but this total drought is unusual. Plus the rooster's behavior is puzzling.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Hey, and
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!!

What type of hens? Some lay better in winter than others. And, are they moulting?
 
They are Rhode Island Reds. Right now they are not molting.

Richard
 
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Just curious, are teh same chickens and roo youve had for 7ish years? if so, they may be nearing the end of any productive cycles. Just a thought
 
My thoughts exactly, Kim, I don't know anything about the rooster behavior (can't have one
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), but the chickens will naturally lessen how much they lay in the winter.

I use supplemental light in the hen house for my girls and they are still laying 2-3 eggs per day for the three of them.

It definitely depends on the breed. So what do you have?
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The breed is Rhode Island Reds. They are NOT the same flock we've had for 7 years, as we have lost many over the years to various predators. Nine of the hens were born in March 2008.

We have presented various laying opportunities in the form of nesting boxes, both in the coop and outside. But, the only somewhat consistent layer has been nesting under a overturned wheelbarrow. The others walk around about a 1-acre area all day long, eating and scratching and dusting - but, we have looked everywhere and they are simply not laying. In fact, they do not even crouch anymore when I attempt to pick them up. This is not just a winter occurrence as they have not been laying all summer.

Also, the rooster was born in March '08. At first, he was crowing and mounting the hens. Now nothing!

We are perplexed!!!

Could this be a disease?
 
Has there been any sort of recent traumatic event? Could be a move, change in routine, feed, illness (recovered or not), attack by predators, etc...
 
We frequently have hawks flying about and we did lose one hen to a predator about 1 month ago. Head only was taken - unlikely for a hawk attack.

Illness? Not that we've noticed.

Move/ change of routine? Nothing.

Has anyone ever had a problem with this?
 
I'm new to this forum -- as of yesterday! -- but in my experience with another forum, you might get more answers if you posted under another topic like - Chicken Behavior and Laying.

Good luck!
 

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