Suddenly almost no eggs

[billfields]

I have 21 hens. 15 of them are 2 years old, 6 are their chicks from last year so a year old. We have always had a rooster but about a month ago he died (natural stuff, he had had a lame leg from the time he was small and was declining all winter). We bought a new one and quarantined him for a week then introduced him to the hens. That was about 2 weeks ago. In the last week they have gone from spring like production of 13-17 eggs a day to none today…4 yesterday, 1 the day before and 6 the day before that. Four days ago it was probably 10 or 11. Not enough of a drop to notice. Two are starting to go broody, the same two that hatched chicks last year. In general the flock seems lethargic. They eat but not as eagerly and there are two that are fluffed up and kinda snake their heads up, open their beaks and gape. The rooster is healthy. I dusted him for mites the day I got him. No change in anything else, they are in the same coop and run they have alwaysd been in with the proper space. Only nerw thing is the rooster and he behaves pretty much toward them like the old one did. If anything there was more fighting and squabbling when there was no rooster. Any thoughts?

 

[Judy]

Although it's not very common, because of the gaping, and because they are very serious, I would check for gapeworms, first of all. You simply swab out their mouth and throat gently with a Qtip. If they are present, you will see some on the Qtip. They are reddish, rather long and skinny, not particularly hard to see.

There could be a lot of things wrong, and it could all be simply their reaction to a new flock member. One week is not reall long enough for quarantine; sometimes a month isn't long enough. I hope he turns out not to have a disease.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12751/urgent-reminder-please-quarantine-newly-acquired-birds/0_20