Ok, so I am feeling the shame of buying store-bought eggs when I have two perfectly healthy (seeming) egg-laying hens.
I have 4 chickens: a year old giant Blue Cochin hen, an almost year old Silver-laced Wyandotte hen, a 3.5 month old Americauna pullet and a 3 month old Red Sex Link pullet. Up until a month ago my Cochin lady laid an egg nearly every day and between the two hens I was getting almost a dozen a week. But after the new pullets moved in to the coop, not immediately but shortly after, the egg production out there ceased. I've already lost one hen to egg-bind, so I know it's not that. These ladies are looking great, eating fine, roaming the yard. Every thing seems fine, but still no eggs. Oh, the Cochin did go through about a week of shedding feathers everywhere, but that seems over too.
So far the advice I've gotten is: 1. I need a rooster and 2. They need a heatlamp in their coop. I don't know, I live in California. It is NOT that cold here even on the coldest days. Some days are very warm and others are cold and wet. And I live in city limits and can't have a rooster. They have a clean, warm coop and get plenty of food and water.
What else could be causing this egg strike?
I have 4 chickens: a year old giant Blue Cochin hen, an almost year old Silver-laced Wyandotte hen, a 3.5 month old Americauna pullet and a 3 month old Red Sex Link pullet. Up until a month ago my Cochin lady laid an egg nearly every day and between the two hens I was getting almost a dozen a week. But after the new pullets moved in to the coop, not immediately but shortly after, the egg production out there ceased. I've already lost one hen to egg-bind, so I know it's not that. These ladies are looking great, eating fine, roaming the yard. Every thing seems fine, but still no eggs. Oh, the Cochin did go through about a week of shedding feathers everywhere, but that seems over too.
So far the advice I've gotten is: 1. I need a rooster and 2. They need a heatlamp in their coop. I don't know, I live in California. It is NOT that cold here even on the coldest days. Some days are very warm and others are cold and wet. And I live in city limits and can't have a rooster. They have a clean, warm coop and get plenty of food and water.
What else could be causing this egg strike?