Rubber Egg / Chickens Laying less - Help!

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leddy

leddy

In the Brooder
5 Years
Aug 12, 2014
14
1
31
NW Oregon
My Coop
My Coop
My husband and I recently bought a home that came with 7 chickens - they are about 6 months old now. 6/7 Chickens are laying and we are averaging about 4-6eggs per day. Then yesterday happened. The weather turned yesterday to much colder/wetter and we only got two eggs and one rubber egg in the corner under their roosting spot - which led me to believe that maybe Fluffy (the 7th chicken who hasn't started laying yet) is starting to lay!! I then checked their water and realized that it had gone dry from that morning. So, that led me to believe that perhaps they just didn't get enough water intake that day and therefore couldn't produce eggs - and I felt horrible that my girls went thirsty! I bought a bigger water dispenser so we now have two big water dispensers so that doesn't happen again. Anyways, today we again only got two eggs! No rubber eggs yet. What do you think? Any advise would be so helpful!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


Yes, letting the chickens dehydrate can stop the egg laying for a week or more! An egg consists of a lot of water and if the chickens run out of water, it will dehydrate the yolks along with their bodies. So expect some down time on the laying for a while. This can also send them into a molt as well. So hang in there and hopefully the eggs start being laid again soon!

Welcome to our flock!
 
With 7 ladies they will go through up to 2 gallons per day! Have you thought of making a 5-gallon bucket waterer with the horizontal water nipple system? It has literally saved my back, not to mention not having to clean up yucky waterers every single day. Here's a few pics of my setup, let me know if you're interested:







They are super easy to make, too.
 
Thank you so much for your reply! I still feel terrible for allowing my girls to go thirsty for afternoon, but I'm happy to know it's not a bigger issue. So excited to be a part of the flock! :)
 
That is PERFECT! So much better than the set we inherited. I am definitely up for making one of those. Our girls would go nuts over this!
 
welcome-byc.gif
Glad you joined us!

TwoCrows and Iwiw gave you good advice. Running out of water may certainly have been the cause of your chickens not laying. I hope they start laying well for you again soon!
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