troxx45
In the Brooder
Hello you wonderful folks @ BYC! First-time poster long time lurker browsed the coop threads before building mine, which is working great...I believe or is it?
My situation is a complete stoppage of egg laying. I have three Australorps, and one Rhode Island Red, in the big girl coop, two silkies in the little girl coop, and finally 4 bantam chicks in the mini coop. In the big girl coop, I use to have three of each but I have recently lost two reds. I lost one on April 15th, I went out in the morning and saw all of my girls doing their thing and talking with me. My wife was out in the late morning early afternoon and saw all six girls, doing their thing. I came home in the late afternoon and found one of my girls dead at the run door. No idea what happened to her. My other girl passed away a month later with a respiratory illness. Upon the discovery of her illness, I quarantined her from the rest of the flock and treated them all but lost the battle with her. Before the loss of my two girls, I was averaging 7-8 eggs daily.
Now I have three Australorps and one red. I was averaging three eggs a day, and one silkie egg but now I'm left to one silkie egg every other day. My Red is being pecked at and is hiding in one of three nesting boxes. I pull her out of the nesting box and let her roam around in the yard, along with my silkies, while under adult and dog supervision, once a day. I cannot let them free range the yard because we have roughly 20 feral cats, thanks to our neighbor. My Brittney cocker, Moose, nearly killed a feral cat yesterday when one jumped the fence into the yard, while the girls were out. He leaves the girls alone but if you get anywhere near them, and you are a cat, well need I say more?
So with that what am I doing wrong? My girls are being fed Purina Layena crumble. I recently added some Purina scratch grain to their food but the decline in egg production was already in full swing, getting one big girl and one silkie a day on average. The combs of the Australorps was pale for two of them but all three are back to bright red. Their water is changed out every other day, 5-gallon buckets with nipples, with ACV added.
Thank you for any ideas.
Sean
My situation is a complete stoppage of egg laying. I have three Australorps, and one Rhode Island Red, in the big girl coop, two silkies in the little girl coop, and finally 4 bantam chicks in the mini coop. In the big girl coop, I use to have three of each but I have recently lost two reds. I lost one on April 15th, I went out in the morning and saw all of my girls doing their thing and talking with me. My wife was out in the late morning early afternoon and saw all six girls, doing their thing. I came home in the late afternoon and found one of my girls dead at the run door. No idea what happened to her. My other girl passed away a month later with a respiratory illness. Upon the discovery of her illness, I quarantined her from the rest of the flock and treated them all but lost the battle with her. Before the loss of my two girls, I was averaging 7-8 eggs daily.
Now I have three Australorps and one red. I was averaging three eggs a day, and one silkie egg but now I'm left to one silkie egg every other day. My Red is being pecked at and is hiding in one of three nesting boxes. I pull her out of the nesting box and let her roam around in the yard, along with my silkies, while under adult and dog supervision, once a day. I cannot let them free range the yard because we have roughly 20 feral cats, thanks to our neighbor. My Brittney cocker, Moose, nearly killed a feral cat yesterday when one jumped the fence into the yard, while the girls were out. He leaves the girls alone but if you get anywhere near them, and you are a cat, well need I say more?
So with that what am I doing wrong? My girls are being fed Purina Layena crumble. I recently added some Purina scratch grain to their food but the decline in egg production was already in full swing, getting one big girl and one silkie a day on average. The combs of the Australorps was pale for two of them but all three are back to bright red. Their water is changed out every other day, 5-gallon buckets with nipples, with ACV added.
Thank you for any ideas.
Sean
The run is 16'L x 8'W x 6'H. 
