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My chickens sulk but then I am bound to have awkward ones, mine went off exactly the same way a fortnight ago and have now started a moult with no prior signs

Maybe the poor little buggers need a rest?

They haven't made a nest outside anywhere have they ?
Mine will always without fail "lay away" given half a chance, especially when it stops raining and the sun comes out.

Odsox wrote:They haven't made a nest outside anywhere have they ?
Mine will always without fail "lay away" given half a chance, especially when it stops raining and the sun comes out.

HEHE thats also true, mine makes a beeline at about 100mph to the neighbours nice comfty garage where he stores his hay, took me two months to work out where she had hidden her nest

Mine have stopped as well. I moved them about a month ago and they usually stop work in protest when I do that, but they normally resume service after a couple of weeks. The weather's been really good as well so I'm a bit flummoxed. They aren't eating them are they?

Zoe

SusieGee wrote: Can chickens sulk

Well they're female aren't they??



(with MKG being a bit subdued of late,I thought I'd pick up the baton,.....I appreciate the inevitable, relative, lack of panache.)

Any updates on this issue?Mine has also come to a standstill egg wise.They all look healthy enough,have fresh water and so on,havent seen any moulting evidence either????Ready for the pot or what?

Mine appeared to stop laying when I moved them into their new home back in February. I was convinced that they were eating the eggs when I wasn't looking. I tried various things such as mustard eggs and providing a new nesting box. It didn't seem to work but the signs were all there. Two have bright red combs, they're eating well, not moulting and not broody. The other did seem to be a little down but eventually moulted and is now picking up again.

I eventually tried filling a few egg shells with cement and putting them in deep straw in the nesting box. It appears to have done the trick. Now I'm getting one egg a day from the three of them but I'm hoping it'll pick up a bit.

Zoe

Any other ideas on this?

I have three chickens and a cockrell bought as POL. A Light Sussex, Dorking and a Cream Legbar hen and Cockrell. They were all laying up until the Sussex stopped about 6 weeks ago and then the Dorking about 3 weeks ago. My Legbar generally gives me 5-6 eggs a week.

I'm new to keeping chickens but they look in excellent condition and my dad is stumped and he's kept chickens for years.

The guy I bought them off says it's weather related and he's gone from 500 eggs a week to 200!

They've been wormed and are on the same food that they were laying on intitially.

Mine seem to have stopped again. For some reason they've taken against the nesting box. They chucked out all the bedding that was in there and, for a few days, laid on the floor of the house. I refilled the bedding with shredded paper and they've just chucked all that out as well and I've hardly had any eggs the last couple of days.

As soon as it stops raining, I'm going to clean out all the bedding and chuck some louse powder around the house and the nesting box. See if that does the trick.

Zoe

Mine get a cleanout every week and there's no sign of red mite or anything else untoward. No signs of eating the eggs and definitely not laying elsewhere. Will be in the pot soon, once I've sorted some more.

Ours have stopped too- for about two weeks now. I posted about it on an earlier thread about how they don't want to come out of the coop, but forgot to say they also have stopped laying.

We've given them a full health heck, plus wormed and dusted and they look as fit as fiddles, although their combs are now losing colour from the bright red they were a week ago. I wonder if it is the really odd weather we've been having?

I have stopped feeding ad lib and started giving food twice a day. They eat all of what I put down. I now have two laying chickens. Just hope the third starts soon.

All three now laying. I think a reduction in food and a return to settled weather have helped.

How's anyone else doing?

When I had chickens, they layed in the mornings, if I remember correctly. I now have quails and they seem to be laying in the afternoons. Is that normal?