Hi all,
We had a horrible event last night: a raccoon got my buff orpington. It was terrifying for both me and my ladies, but it has sort of freed me up to identify another problem I've been having. For the longest time, I've only been getting two eggs a day out of my three birds, but since I can't be out there watching the girls every day, I had no way to figure out who had stopped laying. Well, now I only have two birds, and I caught one of them laying an egg today. So I know my barred rock is good. Now I'm left with a Rhode Island Red, who may not be laying eggs. She didn't lay today, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. There are so many possibilities besides this being a chicken who's outlived her useful egg-laying life. So I thought I'd come here and ask a few things:
1. Do some chickens get so scared after an attack that they would stop ovulating for a short time? I could totally see that happening to me after what they went through!
2. Do some chickens slowly ramp down production, only laying eggs maybe every few days or so?
I just don't want to jump to any hasty conclusions and send her to the soup pot prematurely. I suppose time will tell me anyway, because it's not like she's going to be made into soup tomorrow - that would leave my barred rock alone. I have to sort out the problem and introduce new hens before making any decisions. I just wanted to get any answers you guys may have before I let time answer me.
We had a horrible event last night: a raccoon got my buff orpington. It was terrifying for both me and my ladies, but it has sort of freed me up to identify another problem I've been having. For the longest time, I've only been getting two eggs a day out of my three birds, but since I can't be out there watching the girls every day, I had no way to figure out who had stopped laying. Well, now I only have two birds, and I caught one of them laying an egg today. So I know my barred rock is good. Now I'm left with a Rhode Island Red, who may not be laying eggs. She didn't lay today, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. There are so many possibilities besides this being a chicken who's outlived her useful egg-laying life. So I thought I'd come here and ask a few things:
1. Do some chickens get so scared after an attack that they would stop ovulating for a short time? I could totally see that happening to me after what they went through!
2. Do some chickens slowly ramp down production, only laying eggs maybe every few days or so?
I just don't want to jump to any hasty conclusions and send her to the soup pot prematurely. I suppose time will tell me anyway, because it's not like she's going to be made into soup tomorrow - that would leave my barred rock alone. I have to sort out the problem and introduce new hens before making any decisions. I just wanted to get any answers you guys may have before I let time answer me.