Where did my green eggs go??

[koiboydavid]

Hey guys,

I am new to chickens so bare with me. We have 5 hens of mixed breeds. 2 Dominiques, 1 gold comet (think thats what it's called), 1 brahma, and 1 Auracauna. My kids and I were excited to see our first eggs showing up about 6 weeks ago and have been enjoying them ever since. About 4 weeks ago, my 5 year old was thrilled when he found a green egg!! I have since learned that the Auracauna is the responsible party. Well, we are disappointed that we havent seen a green egg now in about 10-14 days. What happened? Is there something I am not doing right?

Thanks in advance?
David

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
The simplest answer is usually the right one. Maybe something is getting in at night to eat eggs. Rats, snakes, larger mice... ? Or something is wrong with the bird or the diet. Probrably isn't eggbound, unless it is acting funny... but it seems you would have mentioned that. Hens will stop laying to moult but seems you would have mentioned that. Are the others laying good? I had a neighbor stealing eggs durring this economy. So I pad locked the coops and viola! I got all my eggs the next day. There are alot of things, but start by illiminating some. Is your coop 100% closed up? Are the birds losing feathers? Does your Auracauna look or act odd?

 

[koiboydavid]

Thank you for the response. Yes, my coop and run are 100% closed up. I am getting 3-4 eggs a day from the other chickens so I really dont think anything is getting the green ones. I havent really noticed her molting. How can you tell? Do you just look for feathers? Starting to worry me.

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
Yeah, they will start to look... gangly. lol... and you should notice more feathers around.
It could be health related. Has she showed any signs of going broody? (Does she stay in the nest all day?)
Is she lathargic? Coughing? Sneezing? What does her poo look like?
As you can guess, there are quite a few reasons for a bird or even a flock to stop laying.
Has she been stressed by something? Moving her around ... maybe shows or something? Dog barking or maybe something disturbing them at night? Sometimes things that we don't even think about can stress them... maybe their coop is near the garage and the car starting bothers them... or the coop is near the neighbors and their kids bother them.
Is your water freezing and they go out of water for long periods of time? Is it extremely cold or even maybe extremely hot (if you have a heat lamp)?

 

[tammyd57]

She could be eating her own eggs.

 

[Bantimna]

Quote:
x2

 

[koiboydavid]

What would make her eat her own eggs? I give them ground oyster shell, and throw egg shells in there a lot. They eat the Dumor Egg laying food from Tractor Supply Company. Hmmmmm.

Thanks for all of the advice!

 

[BirdBrain]

Egg eating usually starts with an accidentally broken egg. They discover how tasty they are and take it from there.

 

[koiboydavid]

So is there a way to break this habit? I still havent seen an egg from her!

 

[chicmom]

Hi David-

Do you know how old your hens are? If you raised them as little chicks, and they just started laying, it's not uncommon for a chicken to lay an egg and then stop for a bit if she's a new layer. Also, hens establish a pecking order, and she may be low on the pecking order and is being kind of forced to lay her eggs in another place, so look around--she may have a hiding place.

As far as the moulting goes, that usually doesn't happen until the chickens have their second autumn season.

I'll bet you'll see another green egg soon.

Sharon