Ok, so I got my chickens @ Easter time and only have 2 pullets. The EE started to lay a couple of monthes ago, the bantam cochin still has not laid. My EE was laying fairly frequently like every other day. Then 2-3 weeks ago nothing, zip, nada - not 1 egg in all this time..... At first I figured the weather change was to blame (I am in Utah), but now I am not so sure. I did catch (accidently) my bantam cochin in the nest box the other day, looks like she thinking about it. I noticed her comb and that started looking redder weeks ago. They act perfectly healthy, and are in a eglu so its not like they are laying somewhere I do not know about. My question is will a 30 week old EE just quit laying , if so how long? The only other thing I can think of is that someone is messing with me and taking the eggs. Its too cold out for snakes and I feel donfident that the eglu will keep anything else out...so what's the dang deal.....Any Ideas?
It's so frustrating isn't it. I would probably blame the shorter days. They need a certain amount of daylight to lay. You could try giving them supplemental light, but that might be tough in an Eglu, you wouldn't want to turn it into a little toaster oven. If it makes you feel any better, I've gotten 3 eggs in the last ten days from my seven hens, and one of them was cracked. I'm probably going to have to buy eggs at the end of the week.
I find that sometimes a 9 or 10 month old pullet will experience a sort of mini-molt. It has happened to my friend with her EE pullet who didn't start back till spring. It just happened with my Blue Orp pullet, Velvet, who quit for six weeks. I did see that she had lost some neck feathers just like my older molters and then I understood the break she was taking. She just started back last week-she was hatched Feb 1 this year. My RIR/Buff Orp pullet has stopped laying for the last two weeks and I see that she has lost her longest tail feathers, so same story with her.
OK, so not to be difficult, wouldn't there be signs if it was due to molting by now? As in feathers all over the place (in the eglu) and patches of feathers missing (on the pullet). Because this is not the case, she looks fully feathered and there are just a few feathers laying around.......
My 18 girls have been giving me ONE or TWO eggs a day for 5 weeks now. The feathers ALL over the hen house and coop are proof they are in the midst of a hard molt. I'm hoping they get over it soon. I don't want to have to buy eggs again. I agree with Speckled.
I saw no excessive feathers in the pen with Velvet, either, but there was a definite bare patch just under her jaw area, right where they always seem to lose feathers in a molt and it isn't pests, either. A mini-molt at her age won't necessarily show tons of feathers everywhere. I don't know for certain that's what's going on with yours, but is certainly could be.
I've been wondering about this myself. A silkie hen laid an egg every other day for about 2 weeks, and then just stopped laying at all. The EE's and one BO are laying pretty regular, but the silkie hasn't started back up. They can't free range, and I see no sign of eggs being eaten. Is this kind of thing normal for some 'beginner' layers? Or are silkies just not very dependable layers?
Hey, Nadine...I'm wondering the same thing for my 2 bantams. They hatched out March 26th...not an egg anywhere! It's a small coop and run, no place to hide. We have added light to their coop, a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what else I might be doing wrong? That's it, they're aliens in chick-suits! Tanya
Hey fellow Albertan, do you have snow yet? My dad and 1 younger sister still live in Calgary. Its 71 degrees here thats 21 for you. Beautiful day in downtown Salt Lake City. I think my cat got to them. Told them that he did not have to produce food for me out of his butt.....so they are on strike. What kills me is my easter egger was laying now nothing.....