Anyone here know much about chickens?

[shadowboy]

We had 4 ex bats and 2 died about 6 weeks ago so we went out and bought 2 more chickens this time 2 x speckled hybrids. They were 17 weeks when we got them and are now about 20 weeks old. They are bigger than our ex bats and beautiful birds. The ex bats are still the 'top' of the pecking order but have stopped laying since the new girls arrived. They have plenty of room - two 1m wide x 2 m long x 2 metre high 'pods' connected by a 4m long wire run that follows out back hedge. So in total they have 8m long length to run around in. Any reason why the older girls may have stopped laying?

 

[Casey76]

Production red hens are specifically bred to lay early, lay prolifically and unfortunately, because each hen has a finite number of eggs stop laying early. Farmers tend to get rid of hens at 80 weeks of age as they are considered "spent" i.e. no more eggs left. When you rehome exbats you should never do it with the thought of getting consistent eggs, you should really do it to let the girls have a nice retirement (rather than being made into dog food), and count any eggs you get as a nice bonus.

Your older hens have probably been put of lay by the disruption of new hens arriving. It often happens. It might take a few weeks or them to come back into lay. Watch out for any sneezing or bubbly eyes. Mycoplasma is now rife with the upsurge in the number of backyard flocks, even if the hybrids came from a reputable source and were vaccinated.

How wide is the run for the hens? By the time you have feeders and waterers, a dust bath and other enrichment areas, I would personaly recommend at least 2, preferably 3sqm per chicken.

 

[shadowboy]

Thanks for the reply. Yes we were aware they wouldn't keep going for ever but it was the sudden stop that was a surprise. The run is a metre wide. My husband thinks it's more like 15 metres in length in total (apparently women always under estimate size! &#128521 I obviously massively underestimated!! Will keep an eye on them for sneezing - they are such fantastic friendly birds - it won't be difficult

 

[jrp204]

Your ex batts should not stop laying, their egg production will ease off and the eggs generally get larger and the shell will be thinner which makes the making the 'grade A' less likely so they are not so viable. They should continue laying for 2 to 3 yrs. We used to run 3000 free range hens, I still have some of our last batch which we got rid of in Jan 2013 and they are still laying. Give your hens a bit of time, i'm sure they will start laying. Make sure they have 24 hr access to food and water.

 

[touchstone]

Could be just the stress of the new arrivals, the heat, or they may be getting ready for a moult. A bit of poultry spice might perk them up a bit.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Ditto answers above.

You could try a bit of "VermEx" liquid in the water, this will deal with any worms or whatever and is a general tonic/conditioner for poultry.

Have the hens got a source of grit & oyster shells? They need to grit to go in their crops so they can break down food, and the oyster shells is to help them re-calcify due to egg-laying. I usually put say a teaspoon of each in their feeders so they can pick out what they want.

Ex-batts are quite easily unsettled and this may be why they've stopped laying? Give it time, as others have suggested.

 

[shadowboy]

Thanks all, will wait and see- hopefully they will feel less stressed soon.

They have oystershell grit in their 2 feeders daily and non dissolvable grit generay as they are on sand and grit as the base of their area.

 

[YasandCrystal]

Another suggestion is could you have red mite? I was horrified and still am at how resilient and persistent red mite is. I feed Red Stop in my hens water but because they free range a couple of acres I can't stop them sourcing other water and one of the coops was absolutely infested. I jet washed and sprayed with red mite chemical and then did a smoke bomb and liberally puff red mite powder in there daily and I am still finding red mites in the morning on the woodwork which I again religiously spray to kill.
Red mite is notorious for affecting laying and can kill birds too.

 

[Samboy1004]

Hi sorry nothing about chicken but noticed that yasandcrystal had a post about crag sand at £13 a ton please could u let me know as to where u got it 😋 the cheapest I can find is £24 a ton witch is crazy thanks very much Lou x