Freeloading Chickens
In the Brooder
I have a very small flock. Two, two-year-old Rhode Island Reds and two, one-year-old Americanas. Their pen/run spans half of our backyard and goes along the side of the neighbor's house. They have a lot of dirt to play in, which they love. All of our chickens began to lay when they were about four months old and there were no problems at first. The two one-year-old Americans lay regularly; we generally get one egg a day--I think they are taking turns. But the reds haven't laid since last summer. One of the reds, Missy, frequently lays soft-shell or no-shell eggs, especially in the coop at night. She will often sit in a laying box for hours during the day with nothing to show for it.
We feed them organic layer feed and give them sporadic treats of frozen corn, banana, or watermelon. They love watermelon but I think it gives them diarrhea. I've started to wonder if there could be an environmental factor at play. We dismantled an old fence (between the backyard and the side of the houses) that could have lead paint on it, and cleaned up all the paint chips. We clipped the neighbor's vine (honeysuckle, maybe?) that was vining over the top of the chicken's pen/run, thinking that it might be toxic. We dug out Callalily roots, even though they don't really seem interested in the plants, and I pulled up a mysterious weed that I saw one of the chickens eating. They definitely eat poop, I don't know if that could have anything to do with it. Otherwise, just grass, straw, and kale. I haven't noticed any insects on them at all, and only flys and ants in their pen. I can't figure out what we're doing wrong. Our immediate neighbor's chicken's laid all through the winter, and our neighbor down the street said the same thing. So it's just our chickens who are having issues. Back in April their former flockmate, Sunny, attacked their former flockmate, Atty. We kept Atty separate from the others at first then integrated her back with everyone but Sunny. Sadly, Atty didn't make it and after she passed, we gave Sunny away. I don't know if they're still upset about losing Sunny and Atty (our girls called for the other two for days). Any advice is deeply appreciated.
We feed them organic layer feed and give them sporadic treats of frozen corn, banana, or watermelon. They love watermelon but I think it gives them diarrhea. I've started to wonder if there could be an environmental factor at play. We dismantled an old fence (between the backyard and the side of the houses) that could have lead paint on it, and cleaned up all the paint chips. We clipped the neighbor's vine (honeysuckle, maybe?) that was vining over the top of the chicken's pen/run, thinking that it might be toxic. We dug out Callalily roots, even though they don't really seem interested in the plants, and I pulled up a mysterious weed that I saw one of the chickens eating. They definitely eat poop, I don't know if that could have anything to do with it. Otherwise, just grass, straw, and kale. I haven't noticed any insects on them at all, and only flys and ants in their pen. I can't figure out what we're doing wrong. Our immediate neighbor's chicken's laid all through the winter, and our neighbor down the street said the same thing. So it's just our chickens who are having issues. Back in April their former flockmate, Sunny, attacked their former flockmate, Atty. We kept Atty separate from the others at first then integrated her back with everyone but Sunny. Sadly, Atty didn't make it and after she passed, we gave Sunny away. I don't know if they're still upset about losing Sunny and Atty (our girls called for the other two for days). Any advice is deeply appreciated.
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