Hi, l am new to keeping chickens, l bought two pol Colombian black tails, it took a few weeks before they started laying, but l was getting two eggs a day for nearly a fortnight, but they have not layed now for over a week, l have supplemented their diet of layers pellets with a soluable poultry supplement, they don't seem ill, the routine is the same, they are not moulting. Any ideas please. Thanks
stopped laying
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3441sussex
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It sounds as if something is stealing the eggs. The same thing happened to me last year. I set up a video camera and it turned out to be a crow. It could carry the eggs off whole in its beak.
I solved the problem by hanging a dead magpie up outside the pophole. The same has happened this year and I have had to do the same again. I don't really know why it works, but it does.
Your chicken don't need supplements, the layers pellets provide a balanced diet.
Hope this is of help.
I solved the problem by hanging a dead magpie up outside the pophole. The same has happened this year and I have had to do the same again. I don't really know why it works, but it does.
Your chicken don't need supplements, the layers pellets provide a balanced diet.
Hope this is of help.
rick
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Mine were pretty sporadic when they started laying. I had a few, then some soft ones and then nothing for a while. It wasn't as long as a week but then I have 3 which I guess ups the odds.
Give them time, they're young and often it takes a while of them to settle down properly to laying. C.Bs are generally very good layers, the ones I've had have been fantastic layers of large eggs in proportion to their small size. I agree about not giving supplements, just provide good quality pellets, clean water and daily greenstuff.
I just wonder if you've wormed them with Flubenvet yet? How old are they? If they were POL when bought, they would be about 25 weeks by now or thereabouts, and should be wormed by that time. If they were actually older than that and you don't think they had ever been wormed properly, then doing so might make a real difference. A worm burden will usually pull a hen down and may well affect lay. Herbal tonics are not effective and don't actually kill worms. Flubenvet is easily available in the Internet and you don't need a prescription.
See articles on worming on thecPouktrykeeper website
http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens
I just wonder if you've wormed them with Flubenvet yet? How old are they? If they were POL when bought, they would be about 25 weeks by now or thereabouts, and should be wormed by that time. If they were actually older than that and you don't think they had ever been wormed properly, then doing so might make a real difference. A worm burden will usually pull a hen down and may well affect lay. Herbal tonics are not effective and don't actually kill worms. Flubenvet is easily available in the Internet and you don't need a prescription.
See articles on worming on thecPouktrykeeper website
http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens
Thankyou some good advice, l was told they were vaccinated and wormed, maybe l am just too excited and need to be patient. I have definately been bitten by the bug and plan to get a couple more so they might feel happier in a bigger group.
Good that they were wormed - did you find out what was used, as some breeders may just have given ACV or a herbal tonic, not a proper week-long course of Flubenvet. Did he say when they had it? I would give them another course anyway, if they were mine, I think.
If and when you add more, do think carefully and perhaps ask for help about the best way to do it. Once chickens have settled in they never welcome newcomers to the flock and the process needs to to be managed so the new ones are separated for a couple of weeks, in sight of the others but not so they can fight. This is also for quarantine reasons, as moving them is always stressful for the new ones and their immune systems are sometimes lowered, so what looks like a fit bird can go down with various viruses etc. the arrival of newbies is more likely to make the laying problem worse than better, in your present birds, as they will be stressed as well. Once the pecking order is disturbed by new arrivals, it can take a while for them to settle down.
how much run space do you have, bearing in mind that each hen will need a minimum of 2 sq. metres? Overcrowding leads to various problems such as fighting, stress and feather pecking as well.
If and when you add more, do think carefully and perhaps ask for help about the best way to do it. Once chickens have settled in they never welcome newcomers to the flock and the process needs to to be managed so the new ones are separated for a couple of weeks, in sight of the others but not so they can fight. This is also for quarantine reasons, as moving them is always stressful for the new ones and their immune systems are sometimes lowered, so what looks like a fit bird can go down with various viruses etc. the arrival of newbies is more likely to make the laying problem worse than better, in your present birds, as they will be stressed as well. Once the pecking order is disturbed by new arrivals, it can take a while for them to settle down.
how much run space do you have, bearing in mind that each hen will need a minimum of 2 sq. metres? Overcrowding leads to various problems such as fighting, stress and feather pecking as well.
chrismahon
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Might be something scaring them during the day or night. Predator, pet, loud noises or a variety of other simple things. Even shutting them out of the coop by accident stopped our Wyandottes laying for two weeks.
More bad news, although one of the hens has begun to lay again, the other has developed sour/impacted crop and is going down hill fast.
It's the same hen that had a prolapse when she started laying. The advice I've had is to cull.☹
It's the same hen that had a prolapse when she started laying. The advice I've had is to cull.☹
I'm so sorry to hear this, Cleo. It's not all that uncommon for some hybrids to prolapse when laying their first eggs, because often the early ones are much larger than they will be once the bird settles down, and may contain double yolks. This is because two egg cells have been released at once, instead of only one, resulting in a huge egg. However, with careful management this shouldn't be a terminal problem in a young pullet. Did she come back into lay after prolapsing, and how did you treat her when she had the prolapse?
Sour or impacted crop an usually be treated by gently trickling olive oil down the hens throat, taking care not to choke her, and then massaging the crop to soften the blockage. Impacted crop can be caused by a hen eating long grass or similar vegetation, as she then can't pass the resulting hard mass. Or sour crop can be a digestive upset where stale food ferments in the crop and if it's this, there will be a really bad smell from her mouth and her crop will feel soft and squishy. Others on here have had nor experience than me with dealing with these problems, and will probably advise you. Probiotic yogurt may help if it's sour crop, and a vet may possibly prescribe antibiotics if he thinks it might be a bacterial infection. Who advised you to cull her, I wonder, was it your vet? I do agree that often this is the kindest thing to do, but it depends on the nature and severity of the crop problem, and also whether you feel her prolapse problem was completely resolved.
Have you contacted the breeder you got them from, about the problems? I'm sure it's not your fault, and possibly it might be a problem that at least one of them came with, which has been developing in the past few weeks.
And what about the worming issue? Are you certain that she has been treated with a recent full course of Flubenvet, as otherwise worms may also be involved, for both of them.
Sour or impacted crop an usually be treated by gently trickling olive oil down the hens throat, taking care not to choke her, and then massaging the crop to soften the blockage. Impacted crop can be caused by a hen eating long grass or similar vegetation, as she then can't pass the resulting hard mass. Or sour crop can be a digestive upset where stale food ferments in the crop and if it's this, there will be a really bad smell from her mouth and her crop will feel soft and squishy. Others on here have had nor experience than me with dealing with these problems, and will probably advise you. Probiotic yogurt may help if it's sour crop, and a vet may possibly prescribe antibiotics if he thinks it might be a bacterial infection. Who advised you to cull her, I wonder, was it your vet? I do agree that often this is the kindest thing to do, but it depends on the nature and severity of the crop problem, and also whether you feel her prolapse problem was completely resolved.
Have you contacted the breeder you got them from, about the problems? I'm sure it's not your fault, and possibly it might be a problem that at least one of them came with, which has been developing in the past few weeks.
And what about the worming issue? Are you certain that she has been treated with a recent full course of Flubenvet, as otherwise worms may also be involved, for both of them.
dinosaw
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I would echo what Marigold says, none of these conditions need necessarily be terminal but with crop problems time is of the essence regarding treatment as the bird will starve to death if untreated. For impacted crop the easiest way to get oil down a chicken is to dip its beak into the oil not quite to nostril level and it will normally drink itself by reflex action unless it is very ill in which case you syringe, then you massage the lump gently and repeat the action regularly and hope for the best, something I haven't tried but which has been reported to be successful is to feed the chicken white maggots which eat the blockage. For sour crop there are a number of suggested remedies but no single one that everyone agrees on, probiotic yoghurt, garlic, red wine and oregano oil in water have all been tried successfully by different people or you could get the vet to prescribe an anti-fungal. I am surprised that whoever has suggested you cull cannot tell difference between a sour and impacted crop.
As you've started another thread about this, Cleo, I will move both threads to the Chickens Health section, and also lock this thread so that the conversation can continue on just your most recent thread.
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