To cull or to wait?

[member 373180]

I have two bantam EE that are about 18mos old. After a year of nice, regular production, neither has laid a proper egg in at least two months. One (or both?) lay very thin-shelled eggs that are now to the point of being just membranes. These are breaking in the nest boxes, making a mess, and turning my the juveniles into egg eaters.

I don't see any signs of molt, but I guess they could be. What do you think, should I keep waiting for recovery or give up and cull?

More info: I feed a complete flock feed plus oyster shell. A handful of goodies from the garden in the am, couple handfuls of scratch in the pm. Also, there were two other bantam EE in this batch that I found dead in the coop (months apart) last fall. All my other (not EE) birds from this shipment and others have been fine this whole time.

Sorry for the long post, any insight much appreciated.

 

[DuckPro]

@Wickedchicken6? (I know you can help)

 

[Nupe]

Your juveniles are probably stressing them. Do they all have enough room to get away from each other? It may just be a matter of waiting until the youngins are mature and not so rambunctious.

There's really no way of knowing why your birds died last year without diagnosis then but if your new birds aren't getting sick, I wouldn't think there's still a problem.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I have two bantam EE that are about 18mos old. After a year of nice, regular production, neither has laid a proper egg in at least two months. One (or both?) lay very thin-shelled eggs that are now to the point of being just membranes. These are breaking in the nest boxes, making a mess, and turning my the juveniles into egg eaters.

I don't see any signs of molt, but I guess they could be. What do you think, should I keep waiting for recovery or give up and cull?

More info: I feed a complete flock feed plus oyster shell. A handful of goodies from the garden in the am, couple handfuls of scratch in the pm. Also, there were two other bantam EE in this batch that I found dead in the coop (months apart) last fall. All my other (not EE) birds from this shipment and others have been fine this whole time.

Sorry for the long post, any insight much appreciated.

A post with pertinent information is always helpful...so I think your post is very appropriate.

I have more questions for you;
1) how many birds do you have in total?
2) how big is your coop?
3) how big is your run?
4) have you noticed more feathers in the coop/run area?
5) what temperatures have you had?

 

[member 373180]

Thank you! Hm, I used to know these numbers...
there are 11 bantams plus one LF layers and then 6 10wk old LF (the juvvies - they'll be headed to freezer camp soon)
The run is about 120 (140?)sqft with lots of vertical space (ladders and roosts) and the coop about 32 I think.
No more feathers than usual.
Pretty normal summer weather for here. Couple weeks in June and July that got into the high 30s degC but mostly around 30 give or take 5.

I don't think it's social stress, it's very mellow in there, even at bedtime, the birds in question behave very normally with everyone else. I was thinking that maybe I got a bad batch of EE? There was actually one more, I culled her a couple weeks ago thinking she was responsible for the weak eggs. She seemed to have more fluid in her abdominal cavity than normal, I'm wondering if this could be a genetic thing and all the EE from that batch have it?

 

[Wickedchicken6]

The coop is a bit tight, but they're bantams...so they "technically" won't be taking up as much room as LF. If they have access to the run through the day, that should average things out for space. And like you're mentioning...they don't seem stressed.

I have EEs and some of them have backed off laying in the hot weather. 30C is pretty warm for a chicken; fully feathered...that puts a stress on them we can't fully comprehend. We're fortunate that we get to dress for our conditions.

I also have one or two of mine that seem to be laying a weaker shelled egg. Whether it's because they're eating outside and not eating the oyster shell...or whether it's because of the warmer weather here, I'm not sure. I don't usually have weaker shelled eggs in the cooler parts of the year, so I'm considering it's from the heat.

If you really like your EE bantams, I'd be inclined to see wait until it cool down and see how they lay. The first year is usually a good year of laying for the most breeds. You also mention about the cause being the particular genetic line and it could be that also. It's very difficult to know unless you keep them to see. If you are not particularly fond of the two bantam EEs and you have limited space/resources...I'd cull them in whatever fashion that works for you and refill those spaces with new birds.

 

[member 373180]

I hadn't thought it might be the heat, though I think it's been going on since before it got hot this year. I wish I'd written down when the thin shells started appearing but I feel like it was months ago. My EE from this year is plugging along at almost an egg a day.
Ha, as a transplanted Canuck, be assured that some days we cant get UNdressed enough to get things done around here. I don't blame them for not wanting to lay. The good part is that it's nice enough to be outside all year.
Thanks for your input. I hope your EE get it together once it cools off for you.

 

[lazy gardener]

Could be heat stress. Also, it sounds to me like they are getting more than their share of hand outs between AM and PM treats. What is their protein %? I believe that calcium is a very small part of the egg shell equation. I'd suggest putting them on a multi vitamin. I also think that your space is quite tight, and that could be part of the issue. do they get to free range? Have access to green vegetation? If not, I recommend turning their run into a deep litter run.

 

[Abriana]

Maybe separate her and see if she is just going through a phase. Sometimes hens will just go though soft shelled phases that only patience will cure. Don't cull!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Maybe separate her and see if she is just going through a phase. Sometimes hens will just go though soft shelled phases that only patience will cure. Don't cull!

Culling doesn't necessarily mean kill...it can mean rehome as well.
Culling just means removing it from the flock.