thethingswellmake
Chirping
- Oct 17, 2022
- 20
- 104
- 59
Hello,
This is probably my favorite hen, Copper.
She's very friendly and always the first to come greet me every day. She normally actually likes being held and likes to jump up on my shoulder sometimes when I'm sitting on the ground. (She's starting to weigh a lot, though!)
Anyway, I got her as a 6-week-old chick at the beginning of April. She is a Bignee hen which appears to be a Spanish breed of "superlayers". I've had this breed in the past. We sadly lost Penny to a predator who was new to the area and have since built a new coop and have better safeguarding measures. She was a lot like Copper and we raised her in the same way. Our other Bignee hen, Ruby, looks nothing like the others. We also got her in April, but she was around 4-5 months at the time. She is much smaller and goes broody a lot, but constantly lays (small) eggs when not broody.
Ruby and Copper in April.
Ruby started laying eggs right around 5 months. I had calculated Copper to start laying in August.
In August she showed all of the signs of being ready to lay at any time. She crouches when you approach her and her waddle and comb are developed and red.
Still, we've never seen her lay an egg.
She actually goes to the nesting box for a while almost every day and often even comes out singing as if she's laid an egg, but when I go look, there are no eggs there.
About 2-3 weeks ago, she had a prolapsed vent. I was scared for her, but ended up being able to clean it and put everything back in place. She was inside with us for a day and separated outside for another day until she found a way to escape. When I found her with the others, I noticed she was prolapsed again. I started all over and separated her better, and now, about 2 weeks later, she's looked normal and hasn't had any more issues.
I thought the prolapse might have been from trying to lay a first egg, but there are no signs of eggs anywhere. During the 5-6 days or so that I had her separated, she didn't lay any eggs either. (I stuck my finger inside her and didn't feel any eggs either.) The picture above shows her in her separate area during those days.
It seems so strange that she hasn't laid any eggs yet, despite having practiced in the nesting box for weeks now.
Does anybody have any idea about what might be up with her?
We only have 4 hens and our egg production isn't what we'd want...
I already have another hen (Diamond) who rarely lays and has had reproductive issues for years now. (She's almost 4 now and more of a pet. We actually saved her once by removing egg material from her abdomen with a syringe a couple of years ago. She rarely lays, and when she does, the eggs are malformed and often have weird matter within them.)
The other hen of the same breed as Diamond (Biblue) was raised with her from 6 weeks too. Shadow lays huge, perfect eggs daily still.
Ruby, the other young Bignee (just under a year old), is broody yet again. She has already gone broody 4 times this summer and she's a very stubborn broody. She does lay small eggs regularly when not broody.
And then there's Copper, but I was hoping to not have another only "pet" hen.
We ordered 3 more hens to arrive this week to help increase our egg production as our only constant layer is our 3-4-year-old, Shadow.
Over the years, all of my others have been great at laying eggs. We don't have as many feed options here in Spain, but I give them an organic feed for hens and they free range.
This is probably my favorite hen, Copper.
She's very friendly and always the first to come greet me every day. She normally actually likes being held and likes to jump up on my shoulder sometimes when I'm sitting on the ground. (She's starting to weigh a lot, though!)
Anyway, I got her as a 6-week-old chick at the beginning of April. She is a Bignee hen which appears to be a Spanish breed of "superlayers". I've had this breed in the past. We sadly lost Penny to a predator who was new to the area and have since built a new coop and have better safeguarding measures. She was a lot like Copper and we raised her in the same way. Our other Bignee hen, Ruby, looks nothing like the others. We also got her in April, but she was around 4-5 months at the time. She is much smaller and goes broody a lot, but constantly lays (small) eggs when not broody.
Ruby and Copper in April.
Ruby started laying eggs right around 5 months. I had calculated Copper to start laying in August.
In August she showed all of the signs of being ready to lay at any time. She crouches when you approach her and her waddle and comb are developed and red.
Still, we've never seen her lay an egg.
She actually goes to the nesting box for a while almost every day and often even comes out singing as if she's laid an egg, but when I go look, there are no eggs there.
About 2-3 weeks ago, she had a prolapsed vent. I was scared for her, but ended up being able to clean it and put everything back in place. She was inside with us for a day and separated outside for another day until she found a way to escape. When I found her with the others, I noticed she was prolapsed again. I started all over and separated her better, and now, about 2 weeks later, she's looked normal and hasn't had any more issues.
I thought the prolapse might have been from trying to lay a first egg, but there are no signs of eggs anywhere. During the 5-6 days or so that I had her separated, she didn't lay any eggs either. (I stuck my finger inside her and didn't feel any eggs either.) The picture above shows her in her separate area during those days.
It seems so strange that she hasn't laid any eggs yet, despite having practiced in the nesting box for weeks now.
Does anybody have any idea about what might be up with her?
We only have 4 hens and our egg production isn't what we'd want...
I already have another hen (Diamond) who rarely lays and has had reproductive issues for years now. (She's almost 4 now and more of a pet. We actually saved her once by removing egg material from her abdomen with a syringe a couple of years ago. She rarely lays, and when she does, the eggs are malformed and often have weird matter within them.)
The other hen of the same breed as Diamond (Biblue) was raised with her from 6 weeks too. Shadow lays huge, perfect eggs daily still.
Ruby, the other young Bignee (just under a year old), is broody yet again. She has already gone broody 4 times this summer and she's a very stubborn broody. She does lay small eggs regularly when not broody.
And then there's Copper, but I was hoping to not have another only "pet" hen.
We ordered 3 more hens to arrive this week to help increase our egg production as our only constant layer is our 3-4-year-old, Shadow.
Over the years, all of my others have been great at laying eggs. We don't have as many feed options here in Spain, but I give them an organic feed for hens and they free range.
