Should I be concerned?

[shell3]

Hi guys, looking for people's experience about egg laying,
I've got three chickens, 2 started laying some time ago and the third about a month latter, we've had rubbery eggs and weird shaped ones and ones spekled with white crust, also some thin shells since she started laying but then we got lots of normal ones and we were getting 3 eggs a day, sometimes 4 from 3 chickens! But in the last week we have only had 2 eggs every day so one chicken appears to have stopped. My question is, are they normally expected to lay an egg a day? Or could it be that it's a different one laying each time? I don't know who's laying what and have never seen any of them laying because they do it early before I let them out of the coop. They all seem happy and healthy, all eating and drinking. So should I be concerned? Are there any things I can look for to see if any of them have a problem? One seems to have a bigger crop under her neck than the others but she is the biggest bird and it doesn't look abnormal or hurt her when touched. I don't care how many eggs we get btw I'm vegan anyway so don't actually eat them but just worried it could be a sign of Ill health!
Any advice,opinions, experiences would be very helpful and appreciated .

 

[featherz]

HI!!

First off, what kind of chickens and how old are they? What are you feeding them?

If they are not 'production' breeds, I would say 2/3 per day is actually pretty good (especially if these are pullets that just started laying). Only my high production factory breeds lay an egg each and every day, so it's possible that you could have different hens laying those two eggs. If you narrow it down to one hen not laying any eggs at all then you could have an issue which could range from diet (needs more calcium), stress (weather/temperature) changes, new additions), molt (some birds do a mini molt at 9 months), illness or parasites (plumbing problems, worms, etc)..

 

[shell3]

Well the breeder when I contacted him said they are rir crossed with new hampshires, and they are six months old. They eat layers pellets mainly but also broccoli carrots greens grass weeds scrambled eggs and ready brek made with soya milk, I also crush the egg shells and give them that. Thanks for replying

 

[shell3]

Also it has suddenly goten colder,could that effect laying then?

 

[Red Barn Farms]

It might possibly be due to the change in weather and days are starting to get somewhat shorter 'light' which can lead to a drop in egg production. I'd say give them more time, they are still young and after they molt I'd think ya'll get eggs daily since they are production cross pullets.

 

[marianne7]

You didnt mention if you ad any grit to their diet other than the egg shell ?

 

[shell3]

Yes they have a bowl of store bought chickens grit in the run and I just top it up when it get low but they don't seem to eat a lot of it.

 

[shell3]

Also I give them corn on the cob but I don't cook it first, should I cook it? And I've only given them that twice but never found a used cob! Do they eat the cob too?

 

[Red Barn Farms]

What type of feed are they getting? If feeding something like flock raiser you'd need to add oyster shell calcium to their diet for harder shells. If your feeding layer food extra calcium is not needed.

 

[shell3]

I give them layer pellets and they eat their own eggs and shells