Stopped Laying Eggs, Not Eating Pellets

[rblythew]

Hello,
I'm new to raising chickens and byc.com so I apologize if my questions are repetitive or obvious. I am excited to learn all I can. I recently bought 8, 9 month old, barred rock hens to add to our flock of 4 Americanas who were around 4 months. We realized that trying to combine the flocks was a mistake so we sold the Americanas. The first week we had the barred rock hens, they laid 5-6 eggs a day, they seemed to be eating pretty well and were active. They stayed together as a group and adapted well to their new location. The second week they suddenly completely stopped laying eggs. We haven't had an egg in almost two weeks. They are not eating much of their food either. We thought it might be because we were feeding them a different feed than the original owners, so a few days ago we switched to the exact same food as they had been getting. They still are not eating much but they scratch all day and if I bring out a treat like fruit or lettuce they go crazy over it. I see yellowish, gold looking loose stool daily, but not a ton of it. Yesterday I noticed that one the hens was missing. I found her sitting on the ground by herself in front of a fan we put out for them. I've been checking on her and she is always just sitting off in the corner by herself. If I bring her food then she eats some of it, but I think only then. I can't see any obvious signs of illness, but I haven't picked her up because I don't want to stress her out. The others are still active, but they don't eat much and are not laying. What should I do? It's very stressful and discouraging. I want to provide them with a happy home but everyday things seem to just be getting worse. Any comments are extremely appreciated.

 

[oesdog]

First off

Learning to keep chickens is a big thing and sometimes we all make mistakes and get things wrong so don;t beat yourself up over this.

You said you bought the new birds to "add" to your flock. But then you sold the original birds?????? Why????? The Americanas would have been an established group and would have their own pecking order. Introducing new birds would naturally upset that ballance and cause some upset to both groups as they worked themselves out again. It is possible to mix groups it just takes time! THe other thing I was a bit concerned over was that you mixed the hens - did you quarantine the new girls???? I mean keep them seperate for a number of weeks or did you just bring them home and put them in with your flock??? If you did that is not a good idea because it can spread diseases.
You say one of the hens is sitting down and not very active and yet you say you see no sign she might be ill? Chickens that are not feeling well often go off and sit - that IS a sign of something being wrong. Have your girls got enough water?????? Is it very hot! This can cause them to feel listless and not lay as they get dehydrated. You mention Poo here is a site that you may want to have a look at. http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

Hope this helps you a bit. - there is a section here about flock management which could help you to intagrate birds sucssesfully in the future. Please also look at the section on diseases and the prevention and treatment of them as this will help you figure what is wrong with your little flock. Do remember chickens naturally go off the lay and they start to molt their feathers. This can also make birds feel unwell and tired.

Oesdog

 

[rblythew]

Wow, the poo site is very very helpful! Thank you for responding so quickly! We sold the original four because they were not integrating with the new 8 and because of this they would not sleep near each other, so the original four were pooping and trying to sleep in the nest boxes that the 8 were laying in. I think with time we could have got it right, but being new to all of this, we thought it would be easiest if we just focused on our same age, same breed girls. Beginners mistakes I suppose.
We have plenty of water available to the girls and I see them drinking often but we live in florida and it is sooo hot. They have a lot of shade and spend most of the day in it. Plus it rains every stinking day and I they like to hang out in the rain and cool off.
So since, it is clear that my one girl is ill, should I separate her? Thanks again for your help!

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
I think you should seperate her just incase. How long have you had the girls???? Did you just put them all together or did you take time to quarantine them?????
I don;t know what is wrong with your bird but if she is ill you don;t want it spreading. If you remove her from your group she will be bottom of the pecking order when she returns - THIS IS NORMAL!!!

Hopefully someone else will be along to give better advice on your sick chick.
You might want to introduce yourself on the newbe thread!! That way you will make some new friends fast!!!!!!!!!

Oesdog

 

[NanaLantana]

It's common for hens that have been moved/relocated to a new home to stop laying. They seem to finish the few eggs that are already formed inside of them, then they take a break. This is due to the stress caused by change. When they begin to feel safe and at home, they will resume laying. I hope your bird who seems sick will recover and cause you a lot of happiness

 

[rblythew]

Here are some pictures. According to her poo, she must be either over-heated or not eating too much. My guess is that she is not eating enough, since I don't think any of them are. I picked her up and she seems very lethargic and tired. She is nothing but bones and feathers. How do I get her and my other chickens to eat! Poor girls.

 

[rblythew]

My sweet little birdie friend passed away last night. I feel terrible.

 

[oesdog]

Oh I am so sorry -

I think maybe the girls have something wrong and this one was weaker than the others. You have to try to get them to drink. You might try to give them infant vitamin drops in the water ( But NOT vitamins with IRON as its bad.) Get them to eat - try scrambled egg/ plain natural yogurt. Put another post on this thread and title it urgent help and advice needed one dead in new flock. - someone will get back to you to try to help identify the cause of the problem. I am sorry I don;t have all the answeres but I do know you can introduce quite nasty illnes into your flock by popping new birds in. Sad but you could have bought sick birds and sold healthy ones.

Oesdog - learning curve don;t feel bad we all went through this learning stuff.

 

[rblythew]

Thank you so much for the support and advice. I will try the vitamins and different types of food.