- Oct 28, 2013
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About a year ago my 3 chickens all of sudden stopped laying eggs completely. At the time I thought this was just down to the winter months kicking in, however the egg production didn’t start again in the spring. With still no sign of a single egg from November – May I thought the chickens were too old to lay anymore and gave them away to a local farmer. (Even though they were only 2 years old at the time) There were no obvious signs of illness.
.
Between May and September the house and cooped remained empty. I disinfected the house and cleaned the feeders and drinkers.
At the end of September I bought 4 new, different breeds of chickens from a local pet shop and were told they were 26 weeks old.
After having them just 2 days, I got my first egg and was very pleased. However it is now the end of October and I am yet to have egg number 2!!
I’ve been doing a lot of research into what the problem could be. I first thought the house might have mites/lice. So I again disinfected the house, and treated the birds, coop and house with mite killing powder. (Although I have never seen any signs of mites)
I have also been treating the ground with nontoxic powder to kill off any harmful bacterial.
The chickens are feed layers pellets and have 2 containers of fresh water. In the last few weeks I have stopped feeding them vegetable peelings from the house, to encourage them to eat more layers pellets. I also don’t feed them corn. I have been adding a few drops of “tonic” into their water to give them extra vitamins.
I’ve just done some more research today and found out that tomato plant leaves are poisonous to chickens. Whilst the coop was empty between May and September a number of large tomato plants grew, which my new chickens ate all the leaves off.
Some of the chicken poo is normal, however some of the chicken poo is diarrhoea. (This began the first day I had them)
Is it the tomato plants that are stopping my chickens from laying? Now the leaves have been eaten will they eventually start to lay? How long will I need to wait? Is the ground in the coop toxic to them now because tomato plants recently grew there? Do I need to dig up the roots? Should I move my chickens to a different location? Or is there another reason why my chickens don’t want to lay anymore?
.
Between May and September the house and cooped remained empty. I disinfected the house and cleaned the feeders and drinkers.
At the end of September I bought 4 new, different breeds of chickens from a local pet shop and were told they were 26 weeks old.
After having them just 2 days, I got my first egg and was very pleased. However it is now the end of October and I am yet to have egg number 2!!
I’ve been doing a lot of research into what the problem could be. I first thought the house might have mites/lice. So I again disinfected the house, and treated the birds, coop and house with mite killing powder. (Although I have never seen any signs of mites)
I have also been treating the ground with nontoxic powder to kill off any harmful bacterial.
The chickens are feed layers pellets and have 2 containers of fresh water. In the last few weeks I have stopped feeding them vegetable peelings from the house, to encourage them to eat more layers pellets. I also don’t feed them corn. I have been adding a few drops of “tonic” into their water to give them extra vitamins.
I’ve just done some more research today and found out that tomato plant leaves are poisonous to chickens. Whilst the coop was empty between May and September a number of large tomato plants grew, which my new chickens ate all the leaves off.
Some of the chicken poo is normal, however some of the chicken poo is diarrhoea. (This began the first day I had them)
Is it the tomato plants that are stopping my chickens from laying? Now the leaves have been eaten will they eventually start to lay? How long will I need to wait? Is the ground in the coop toxic to them now because tomato plants recently grew there? Do I need to dig up the roots? Should I move my chickens to a different location? Or is there another reason why my chickens don’t want to lay anymore?
