One hen not laying.

[philchave]

hello, this is my first post.
Last August I built a hen house and run and bought 4 POL warrens. Within a few days they started laying and we were getting 4 eggs a day regular as clockwork.
I feed them layers pellets, they have unlimited access to feed, water, grit, and are allowed outside to roam the garden and lawns during the daytime to forage.

One hen then layed several rubbery eggs. Luckily I managed to remove them from the nesting box early in the mornings. I assumed she was a bit awry and would sort herself out with some oyster shell grit which I mixed in with the food.

The rubbery eggs then became just a membrane and after treading on them we started to get an egg eating problem.
I would often catch the girls in the act of eating the egg and was able to scrape it up in good time, so much so that they never took a shine to the good eggs.

Now she has stopped laying altogether.
I know it is one hen out of 4 because the others are so clear with the colour and size of eggs, it is obvious they are coming from the same hen each day.

I have had 3 eggs per day right up to today 18/01/16, the other one has just stopped laying.
I've read on the forums that light will make a difference, but this seems like something else altogether.
I'm wondering if her insides didn't develop properly, as I was expecting to see signs of sickness in one of them, ie egg binding, but so far all four are fit as can be and looking very healthy. They all eat for England and so I've not been able to determine which one is not producing.

I'm planning to do a separation test as I have several sheds and ring the ones that are laying, to reveal the one that isn't.
But I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about what I could do if anything..
Sorry this is long, thanks for any comments.
Regards, phil

 

[boskelli1571]

Hello - sounds like your hen has a medical issue. Her reproductive machinery doesn't seem to be working well. The rubber eggs, followed by parchment shells doesn't bode well.
Although she may appear to be fine, monitor her carefully, she is at risk for egg yolk peritonitis.
As for fixing it - I'm not aware of any magical cures, so likely you will have a 'dud' on your hands.
To find out who has the issue, try trap nesting, good luck and let us know what shakes out....

 

[chicklover 1998]

hello, this is my first post.
Last August I built a hen house and run and bought 4 POL warrens. Within a few days they started laying and we were getting 4 eggs a day regular as clockwork.
I feed them layers pellets, they have unlimited access to feed, water, grit, and are allowed outside to roam the garden and lawns during the daytime to forage.

One hen then layed several rubbery eggs. Luckily I managed to remove them from the nesting box early in the mornings. I assumed she was a bit awry and would sort herself out with some oyster shell grit which I mixed in with the food.

The rubbery eggs then became just a membrane and after treading on them we started to get an egg eating problem.
I would often catch the girls in the act of eating the egg and was able to scrape it up in good time, so much so that they never took a shine to the good eggs.

Now she has stopped laying altogether.
I know it is one hen out of 4 because the others are so clear with the colour and size of eggs, it is obvious they are coming from the same hen each day.

I have had 3 eggs per day right up to today 18/01/16, the other one has just stopped laying.
I've read on the forums that light will make a difference, but this seems like something else altogether.
I'm wondering if her insides didn't develop properly, as I was expecting to see signs of sickness in one of them, ie egg binding, but so far all four are fit as can be and looking very healthy. They all eat for England and so I've not been able to determine which one is not producing.

I'm planning to do a separation test as I have several sheds and ring the ones that are laying, to reveal the one that isn't.
But I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about what I could do if anything..
Sorry this is long, thanks for any comments.
Regards, phil

Hello welcome to BYC as boskelli1571 said it is probably a reproductive issue.