Eggless wonders

Good luck from me too Tweetypie. It is a risky time for a super egg laying hybrid. Their oviduct and, I think, particularly the shell gland gets tired and worn out. There might be some lining involved with the larger 'egg', maybe. They do shed it occasionally (resulting in one description of a lash egg). But its not bad timing, heading into late summer - if she stops laying soon and has a good rejuvenating moult.
... but whatever happens, do remember that you have already saved them in spades! Brown hybrids are absolutely lovely and if (when) I have an empty run again then I think Ill be ready for some rescues.
 
Because my lot are taking a very long time to mature, I bought a couple of POL Lohmanns from Rokers near Guiuldford. They are such lovely girls, gentle quiet and so well mannered and behaved, it is almost as if they had been to finishing school!!

I let them out the same afternoon I bought them, and the day before yesterday they each laid a perfect, medium, brown egg, same again yesterday. They talk to me all the time. And come and see me for a cuddle.

A great bonus I did not know I needed.
 
I was amazed to find another egg today from Sindy. A normal one. The crafty old bird, she must be doing all this scare mongering for attention!!
Because I only have 4 hens and they all have their unique egg colour and shape, it makes it easy to distinguish who laid what, apart from the odd occasion when I get mixed up if the egg colour is similar.
I do love those hens and especially my ex batts. They have more personality.
 
Yippeeee the egg laying machines are in full swing again, been getting 3 eggs a day for the past 3 weeks. I think Sindy lays the occasional gigantic one and on her day on, someone else doesn't lay, probably Barbie. Has anyone elses hens started laying regularly?
 
Feels like we have been waiting forever for an egg. They stopped at the end on November, if I remember right. Within the past week or so proper layers poops have been on the roost in the morning and only Lulu has no colour on her ear lobes now. Cant be long! I even wondered if they had a secret stash but there are very few, if any, places they could hide them (or bits of blue shell) in our garden and run. Over the past couple of months have been buying free range eggs from the shops - in fact the number of eggs consumed seems to have gone through the roof! Will be good to see them safely back into lay and, apart from anything else, sitting on the nest for an hour or so a day gives them something else to do!
 
Hi Rick, I think I am very lucky as my girls are laying well again. In December, I bought my first free range shop eggs after a year. I felt riddled with guilt. Lets hope your girls start soon. Can't be long now the lighter days and nights are coming.
 
Hi there, I now have this problem! For about a week now we have had varying numbers of eggs 0, 1 or 2 but not 3 for a while. They almost seem to be taking it in turns! I haven't changed their feed but they do seem to be off their food a bit. They usually come running when I go out hoping for treats but they mainly ignore me now.
Otherwise they seem as normal. They shelter in the shrubs part of the day and forage across the grass the rest of the time. They have started to go to bed earlier - they had been going to bed at 11pm and considering they are up again at 4am perhaps they were overtiring themselves. They certainly don't look ill at all but they are quite flighty and I can't get close. They are probably about a year old now. They all get on well and seem happy together. I think that's all I can tell you. Hope someone can help.
 
Hot weather, probably, Diane. With all that insulation, hens really feel the heat although they can cope really well with dry cold conditions. I expect they shelter in the shade of the shrubs to keep as cool as possible. Just make sure they have plenty of fresh cool water always available, and as much shade and ventilation as you can rig up for them. Imagine if you had to lay a daily egg which would be proportionate to your body weight, compared with theirs, - it would take it out of you, I expect. Just sitting around reading and knitting was all I could manage in the 30C. temperatures today!
 
Thank you, Marigold, I wondered whether it might be. It doesn't get very hot up here but we did have a couple of days 29 in the shade, normally it's more like 15 to 20. Thunderstorms at the moment so they went to bed at about 8pm! We'll see what tomorrow brings.
 
Don't worry, ours have been the same, just wanting to sit in a shady spot and drink rather than eat too much. Although they did enjoy an nice cold melon. 32C here today. We notice if it is very hot they lay much smaller eggs, and I don't blame them one bit.
 
Please test this out and correct my maths, (never my strong point) if I’m wrong as it sounds a bit incredible.
3-kilo hen lays a 60-gram egg most days = 5% of her body weight.
5% of the body weight of a 63.5kilo person (10 stone in old money) = 3.15 kilos.
Would you fancy laying a 3.15kilo egg every day?

An ostrich egg weighs 1.5 kilos.
No wonder hens go off lay when it’s hot, or when moulting, it’s just amazing that they keep that up normally for weeks in end.

See also http://safariostrich.co.za/2017/09/the-biggest-egg-in-the-world/
 
Good grief! The little things deserve medals! We had two eggs today, Skye and Izzie. I'm worried that Morag hasn't laid for days - could she be laying in the bushes? Sorry, silly question, obviously she could. The question should be, why?
 
dianefairhall said:
Hi there, I now have this problem! For about a week now we have had varying numbers of eggs 0, 1 or 2 but not 3 for a while. They almost seem to be taking it in turns! I haven't changed their feed but they do seem to be off their food a bit. They usually come running when I go out hoping for treats but they mainly ignore me now.
Otherwise they seem as normal. They shelter in the shrubs part of the day and forage across the grass the rest of the time. They have started to go to bed earlier - they had been going to bed at 11pm and considering they are up again at 4am perhaps they were overtiring themselves. They certainly don't look ill at all but they are quite flighty and I can't get close. They are probably about a year old now. They all get on well and seem happy together. I think that's all I can tell you. Hope someone can help.
Click to expand...

Hi Diane
I'm almost relieved you wrote this message. My hybrid ex battery hens have not laid an egg for 6 weeks... Barbie was like an egg laying machine so I found this very worrying for the first 2 weeks. One of my other hens, Mabel, who is about 16 months, has not laid an egg for nearly 3 weeks. Well, actually she laid one yesterday. The only hen laying is Miss Muffet who is the same age.
Barbie seemed to have missing feathers, wasn't moulting, that was last winter, I think she may have had lice? I treated them all for lice, disinfected the house etc and wormed them.
Sindy, the other ex batt, I think has sour crop, although the stuff that comes out when I tipped her to get rid of the watery fluid, doesn't smell. She might be coming to the end of her life. At least her 2 years with me have been good :-)
Anyway, I think it might be a culmination of things with mine, the heat being one cause, as Marigold has said.
 
Sorry to hear your ex-batts are poorly, but as you say, you have given them a few years of freedom and care that they wouldn't otherwise have had.

We had two eggs again today, same two birds, Izzie and Skye. Morag hasn't laid for about a week now. I'm going to have to search the shrubbery which will be a pain in the back, not to mention the backside.

I have received a consignment of Green Giant sweetcorn today and they were delighted. Maybe it will get Morag laying again!
 
Don’t overdo the sweet corn! It’s very fattening and will not have the desired effect on egg production. Small treats of sweet corn, (or the dried maize ‘corn’ in mixed corn), are OK in moderation, but overdoing it can lead to them laying down fat round their ovaries, with dire medical consequences in middle age.
(A lesson to us all.)
 
Try treating yourself to some melon, then giving the skin to your girls. You'll be amazed at how little is left by the next day- their idea of "finished" is very different to ours!!
 
Hi Tweetypie.
I'd say it looks like a lash. I've had a couple over the years; the hens were none the worse for it.
A word of warning: RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO BURST THE LASH TO SEE WHAT'S INSIDE. I only did it once; it squirted me and the smell was beyond vile & out the other side:-(
 
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