Rooster gone now no eggs

[speckledhen]

I know they aren't vending machines. I know this was a terrible shock for them all but I thought since all of this happened in June they would be settled by now. I only brought the other two in because I thought it might make them feel better to be 6 again. I would never cause them stress knowingly.

I wasn't being nasty by saying that about vending machines. You'd be surprised at how many folks truly believe that hens must lay an egg every day or they should be culled. I heard that so many times here on BYC that it made me think of someone going to a vending machine every day for their egg. I even know of a man who killed hens who were molting and quit laying. He thought they were diseased.

Hens are affected by so many things in their environment and it sounds like a lot of changes for them, in addition to perhaps hot weather, which slows down my own here. The reality of it is that sometimes we just do not know why they do what they do. Plus, hens, especially hatchery stock, can be developing internal laying or have egg yolk peritonitis and look healthy and act normal at the beginning. The eggs just stop.

 

[robyn66]

I wasn't being nasty by saying that about vending machines. You'd be surprised at how many folks truly believe that hens must lay an egg every day or they should be culled. I heard that so many times here on BYC that it made me think of someone going to a vending machine every day for their egg. I even know of a man who killed hens who were molting and quit laying. He thought they were diseased.

Hens are affected by so many things in their environment and it sounds like a lot of changes for them, in addition to perhaps hot weather, which slows down my own here. The reality of it is that sometimes we just do not know why they do what they do. Plus, hens, especially hatchery stock, can be developing internal laying or have egg yolk peritonitis and look healthy and act normal at the beginning. The eggs just stop.

Thank you for saying that. I am always afraid of offending someone or just sounding plain stupid . Yes its true we dont expect an egg every day and I seriously underestimated the length of time the chickens would be stressed! I thought that if they were left alone since June it would be safe to bring in two more. They were kind of a rescue. Not a feather on each of their backs so we got them and covered them in bluecoat and are waiting to see if we will need to get something to protect their backs. So far they seem to be getting along. Hopefully they will settle in together. But no more changes now. As much as I would love to rescue that roo, it just isn't something we are equipped to do. But thank you for the good advice. I always get help from you lovely folks here and I appreciate it

 

[slordaz]

The cock/erel was removed in June...so 3-4 months ago.
When did the free ranging/lost bird/egg slow down happen?

Adding new birds causes stress which can affect laying habits....plus....18 month old hens will be slowing/stopping production about now prior to molting,
most mine haven't laid in a couple weeks.

or they are planning to pull a funny on you, I wasn't to worried thought my hens were all molting, but got one I found that was sitting on a nest we didn't know about, My flock laid awesome their first winter up until Christmas eve up north no extra light or heat no less with adding meal worm treats in so protein does make a difference, this molt they are a year and a half old so we will see as it seems to be longer than their previous one.They are trying to break in as they know the meal worms are in the house and when molting the need more protein that's why as soon as it starts cooling off a bit I switch mine to flock raiser for the higher protein and give them free choice oyster shell, but again each flock and set up will be a little different

 

[Criticalicious]

On my property, I've seen foxes, black bear, hawks, wild turkeys, skunks, raccoon, deer - it all wanders through my property. So my chickens do not free range unsupervised. They stay in a secured coop and run most of the time, which are surrounded by electric poultry fence. The electric fence prevents ground predators, especially the black bear, from getting the wrong idea. I let the chickens out of their covered run for an hour or two, when I can watch them, because otherwise they have little shelter from overhead predators. I only have 6 birds; I don't feel comfortable letting them free range on their own, because it would only be a matter of time before we suffered losses to predators.

 

[Geena]

Also, I agree that we are not prepared for another rooster. The one we had came with the other babies and we had no idea until it was too late. We werent going to harm him so we tried to raise him by hand and feed him peaches but I guess that was our biggest mistake because he looked at us as those who were there to serve him and not the leaders. We only wanted this particular rooster because the neighbors wound up with 10 roosters in a hatch of chicks. Their solution has been to shut the roosters out of the coop and "let nature take its course" This horrifies me and is very wrong. I have even offered to buy food so they keep him. He is very docile. I dont want to do anything to stress out my ladies more. I just wish I could help the roo.

By shutting the cockerels out your neighbor created a chicken buffet for predators and unfortunately your sussex got snatched up as well. Best not to free range yours for awhile, because whatever is taking their cockerels will keep coming back for more.
If you want to save the rooster go ahead and take him in. At this point with two flock members lost, and the addition two new ones, adding one more wouldn't be so bad. I find with chickens, if you're going to change things up, it's actually better to do it all at once. They'll settle down and be back to business as usual in no time.