I have a Bovan Brown production chicken who is about 2 1/2 years old. I adopted her along with two other 1-year olds in May of 2014. I lost the other two within the last two months (5/14 and 6/12), one likely due to internal laying and the other with a large tumor of some type.
Prior to this the last surviving chicken was laying quite regularly, up to 8 days in a row sometimes. Over the last couple months, she has slowed production, and now maybe lays an egg every other day and occasionally two or three days in a row. Sometimes on her day off she will go sit in the nest about the time I would expect an egg, but after 45 min. to an hour, she just gets up and acts normally. She isn't egg bound and there is no evidence of any fluid accumulating inside her, so I don't think she is laying internally. I have a good idea of what that's like with the other one who just passed away in May, as she had to be drained and treated with antibiotics.
I did discover she had roundworms (visible in her droppings), and she is being treated for those. I had Safe-Guard equine paste on hand, and my vet's recommendation for that medication is treating her for 3 days (pea-sized dollop each day), 14 days off and another 3 days (withdraw eggs for 17 days after last dosage). The first three days were on 6/24-6/26 and her second round is coming up in a couple days. She expelled about a half dozen dead roundworms in her droppings during and shortly after the first 3 days of Safe-Guard. I haven't noticed any more since then, and she is pooping and eating normally.
Anyways, I realize her egg production could be affected by any or all of the stresses she has had lately (flock mates dying, roundworms), but my more general question for you production hen owners would be what is the typical slowing down pattern for these "egg laying machines" (e.g., do they skip a couple days and then lay for several, do they go to every other day, is the slow down rapid or gradual, do they sometimes nest sit without laying, etc.). I'm just curious what others have experienced. When I first got her a little over a year ago, she laid for 72 days straight before taking one day off and then was back at it for another long stretch! It's a miracle she has any eggs left in there.
Prior to this the last surviving chicken was laying quite regularly, up to 8 days in a row sometimes. Over the last couple months, she has slowed production, and now maybe lays an egg every other day and occasionally two or three days in a row. Sometimes on her day off she will go sit in the nest about the time I would expect an egg, but after 45 min. to an hour, she just gets up and acts normally. She isn't egg bound and there is no evidence of any fluid accumulating inside her, so I don't think she is laying internally. I have a good idea of what that's like with the other one who just passed away in May, as she had to be drained and treated with antibiotics.
I did discover she had roundworms (visible in her droppings), and she is being treated for those. I had Safe-Guard equine paste on hand, and my vet's recommendation for that medication is treating her for 3 days (pea-sized dollop each day), 14 days off and another 3 days (withdraw eggs for 17 days after last dosage). The first three days were on 6/24-6/26 and her second round is coming up in a couple days. She expelled about a half dozen dead roundworms in her droppings during and shortly after the first 3 days of Safe-Guard. I haven't noticed any more since then, and she is pooping and eating normally.
Anyways, I realize her egg production could be affected by any or all of the stresses she has had lately (flock mates dying, roundworms), but my more general question for you production hen owners would be what is the typical slowing down pattern for these "egg laying machines" (e.g., do they skip a couple days and then lay for several, do they go to every other day, is the slow down rapid or gradual, do they sometimes nest sit without laying, etc.). I'm just curious what others have experienced. When I first got her a little over a year ago, she laid for 72 days straight before taking one day off and then was back at it for another long stretch! It's a miracle she has any eggs left in there.
