Grumpy Lady
Chirping
Hello Again BYC Friends,
I posted a while ago and need to add an update on Gemma, my Sapphire Gem, because I am still baffled.
I got Gemma and four other chickens last August. I was told they were all pullets born in March. To the best of my beginner knowledge I believe this to be accurate because their body shape was slender and they certainly filled out and matured in the months since. Gemma and two of the Blue Andalusians were laying when I got them. The white eggs from the BAs were small and have since grown to a medium sized egg. Gemma's was a nice medium/large brown egg. The Black Australorp starting laying shortly after, and I can tell the two brown eggs apart because one is lighter brown than the other. The final Andalusian did not start laying until March of this year at a full year of age.
Three of the four laying hens stopped production in November (I did not provide artificial light and our days were short and sometimes dark) but Gemma continued to lay consistently throughout the whole winter, approximately 5 eggs per week.
In the end of March she slowed her production a little bit, to four or sometimes three eggs a week. Then in the middle of April I lost one of my Blue Andalusians for unknown reasons. She was laying on the floor under the roost, alive but barely responsive, not struggling to breath but legs and wings not moving. Nothing broken that i could tell, and no apparent discoloration to comb and wattles. I checked for a bound egg by palpatating and then humanely dispatched her before I left for work.
Worried about avian flu, I kept a close eye on all the other four chickens, and started electrolytes in one of the waterers. My other chichens have seemed healthy happy and normal since. They have a 110 square foot enclosed run with roosts and tree stumps, and a 24 square food coop with 4 nest box options. They get 16% store food, have a flock block stratch block, free feed oyster shell, get sunflower seeds, grasshoppers and garden veggies scraps as snacks, and have two choices of fresh water daily (one with the electrolytes)
The same week that Amelia (andalusian) died, Gemma stopped laying eggs. Her comb stays bright red and large, she has not molted but her feathers are extrememly ragged at this point and some have been lost over time but nothing new growing and the lost feathers are not in the sequence of a molt. She also never molted last fall when the others did.
It has been 15 weeks now without a single egg from the Sapphire Gem. She still goes into the nest box and sits as if she was trying to lay.
I am guessing she can't be egg bound becasue she would be sick or die at this point if one was stuck. Her behavior is normal. I have checked for mites and fleas the best I can and treat the coop and around the run with diotamaceous earth (DE) and the chickens also have a big tote with a mix of dirt and ash from my fireplace for dust bathing. The base of the chicken run is course sand. She eats normally, clucks and talks to me normally, interacts with all the other chickens as usual, but no eggs.
At this point I think maybe she was older than the other hens and has reached the limit of her laying years???? Do I continue to give her a chance that she might just be taking a loooong break from the winter laying and might start up again? My philosophy and intent was not to keep these girls as pets (although they are named and i do enjoy them) and if they are not providing fresh eggs then they can provide chicken stock bone broth soup.
However I don't want to jump the gun if more experienced chicken owners can offer any ideas or share more knowledge.
It also might be difficult to introduce two new chickens to the flock (to replace Gemma and Amelia) so perhaps I just keep her around until next year and then replace all four hens with young new egg layers.
My husband says I over-think things, I am sure I do. I also over-explain, sorry for the very long post. And input or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
I posted a while ago and need to add an update on Gemma, my Sapphire Gem, because I am still baffled.
I got Gemma and four other chickens last August. I was told they were all pullets born in March. To the best of my beginner knowledge I believe this to be accurate because their body shape was slender and they certainly filled out and matured in the months since. Gemma and two of the Blue Andalusians were laying when I got them. The white eggs from the BAs were small and have since grown to a medium sized egg. Gemma's was a nice medium/large brown egg. The Black Australorp starting laying shortly after, and I can tell the two brown eggs apart because one is lighter brown than the other. The final Andalusian did not start laying until March of this year at a full year of age.
Three of the four laying hens stopped production in November (I did not provide artificial light and our days were short and sometimes dark) but Gemma continued to lay consistently throughout the whole winter, approximately 5 eggs per week.
In the end of March she slowed her production a little bit, to four or sometimes three eggs a week. Then in the middle of April I lost one of my Blue Andalusians for unknown reasons. She was laying on the floor under the roost, alive but barely responsive, not struggling to breath but legs and wings not moving. Nothing broken that i could tell, and no apparent discoloration to comb and wattles. I checked for a bound egg by palpatating and then humanely dispatched her before I left for work.
Worried about avian flu, I kept a close eye on all the other four chickens, and started electrolytes in one of the waterers. My other chichens have seemed healthy happy and normal since. They have a 110 square foot enclosed run with roosts and tree stumps, and a 24 square food coop with 4 nest box options. They get 16% store food, have a flock block stratch block, free feed oyster shell, get sunflower seeds, grasshoppers and garden veggies scraps as snacks, and have two choices of fresh water daily (one with the electrolytes)
The same week that Amelia (andalusian) died, Gemma stopped laying eggs. Her comb stays bright red and large, she has not molted but her feathers are extrememly ragged at this point and some have been lost over time but nothing new growing and the lost feathers are not in the sequence of a molt. She also never molted last fall when the others did.
It has been 15 weeks now without a single egg from the Sapphire Gem. She still goes into the nest box and sits as if she was trying to lay.
I am guessing she can't be egg bound becasue she would be sick or die at this point if one was stuck. Her behavior is normal. I have checked for mites and fleas the best I can and treat the coop and around the run with diotamaceous earth (DE) and the chickens also have a big tote with a mix of dirt and ash from my fireplace for dust bathing. The base of the chicken run is course sand. She eats normally, clucks and talks to me normally, interacts with all the other chickens as usual, but no eggs.
At this point I think maybe she was older than the other hens and has reached the limit of her laying years???? Do I continue to give her a chance that she might just be taking a loooong break from the winter laying and might start up again? My philosophy and intent was not to keep these girls as pets (although they are named and i do enjoy them) and if they are not providing fresh eggs then they can provide chicken stock bone broth soup.
However I don't want to jump the gun if more experienced chicken owners can offer any ideas or share more knowledge.
It also might be difficult to introduce two new chickens to the flock (to replace Gemma and Amelia) so perhaps I just keep her around until next year and then replace all four hens with young new egg layers.
My husband says I over-think things, I am sure I do. I also over-explain, sorry for the very long post. And input or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
