Will illness cause chickens to never lay ?

flymamma

Songster
10 Years
Jul 10, 2009
115
2
109
I have a Red Sex Link chicken , she was hatched March 28th . In July she got a nasty respiratory illness , her eye got full of cheesy gunk and went grey .. then the grey eye got pecked out . Since the eye pecking she lives happily in her own pen. I hear her singing the egg song every few days , and she has been doing this for nearly a month . But no eggs . Could it be that the infection did damage to her reproductive parts? I have no intentions of ever getting rid of her , she and all the others were intended for therapy animals for my special needs 3 year old . The eggs are just a bonus , but it would be nice to have one more layer .
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She lives alone? That is really hard on chickens since they are flock animals. I would see if you can re-integrate her back into the flock, or at least get her a friend. One of my chickens hatched out blind, and at first I had her separate with 2 younger chickens. Then the 2 flocks started free ranging together, and once that was peaceful, they are all in the same coop now and doing well. Helen can't see the others, so when they peck her to establish the pecking order, she just stands there. The aggressor seems to shrug and move on. They don't pick on her anymore, but they do treat her differently.
 
I also have one chicken living alone but in all honesty she seems to perfer it that way, I open the gates for everyone to free range and she goes out with others but always returns to her own little space. She also stays by herself when she is out, unless a person goes out then she runs to us. She would love to live in the house!

If your little hen is singing she is getting close to laying, it may have slowed her down some but she will most likely be fine. Is her comb getting red? Does she squat when you reach down to her?
 
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She does free range with the others and her pen is next to the others so they can see each other . She will go in the big coop with the others , but she stays on the roost ... and wont eat or drink .
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So she has play time in the big coop , and eat and sleep in the smaller pen . I am still wondering if there is any illness that can cause her to not lay permanently ?
 
I have a blue ameraucana, hatched Sept 2008... nary an egg from her. She's never been ill.

I suppose some just don't ever lay. Soon she'll be going to a farm to spend the rest of her days.
 
Mohonri, does your hen have a comb? or you know is it red? Does she look like a layer or is it obvious she is not a layer. I am just wondering, my little chicken has a very small pale comb, she has no meat on her bones, she is just a sad looking chicken but seems happy so she can just hang out and eat I guess. I am just thinking the above post may have a chicken who is undeveloped, and never will be, or it might just be a late bloomer?
 
My gal does have a red comb , it could be a bit bigger [ my other RSL's were just a bit bigger when they started , but when they started singing they were laying ] .. she does sing the egg song , but does not squat . I am not sure she will squat she has been handled so much because we had to put eye drops in multiple times a day , and spoon feed her meds for about 6 weeks ... she is now very tame . I think she sees me as a mother figure more than a dominant figure . My 3 year old son can pick her right up and carry her around , my 7 year old daughter can lay her on her back like a baby and pet her tummy till she falls asleep .... I am attempting to re-integrate her to the flock so that I do not have extra water duties in the winter and extra heat lamps etc .. She is healthy enough now to run when they start pecking at her , but I am not sure she is aggressive enough to force her way in to eat or drink .. I may have made her too tame .
 
You know it's hard for me to get this but my loner hen is so weak and thin although she eats that I worry when she is out with the others, but when I watch her I see her hold her own out there. If another chicken trys to take her spot or gets pushy she will peck them and they walk away, she is very tame as well, so yours might be more aggressive then you think too.
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