Are they losing any feathers? Do you have 14+ hours of light for them in their coop? This time of year, late summer, early fall, is the natural time for a chicken to go into molt. Shorter daylight hours are a natural signal to a chicken that it is time to take a break from laying and rejuvenate themselves. When this happens, they quit laying regularly and lose their old feathers which are then replaced with new. Since eggs are only produced when a hen has an excess of the nutrients needed to survive, that excess is directed into new feathers and bringing her body back to tip top shape so she can start laying again. You can fool a chicken into NOT molting this time of year by providing 14+ hours a day of artificial light in their coop. By doing this they miss natures signal and keep laying into the winter. The downside to this is that the hens "wear out" sooner. The upside is a more predictable amount of eggs from your flock. Any kind of added stress in your flock can bring on a molt. The fact that yours were recently sick plus the shorter daylight hours of this time of year makes me think your lack of eggs is probably due to molt. Since they were sick they need a little extra time to "heal" and get back to tip top shape. Make sure to give them plenty of good food and water (you might fortify their water with vitamins like you would give baby chicks) to give them an extra boost to get back to prime laying condition.
Mark
Celebrating the Second Amendment one fine firearm at a time.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 6:48 PM
Subject: [CHICKENS-101] my sick babies
first of all, thanks to all of you that answered me two weeks ago about my babies. they were all congested, wheezing, and had eyes swollen shut. i ended up giving them .5ml of tylan 50 and .5ml of B complex, and they have all recovered. again, thanks to all that responded.
HOWEVER, i have another issue now. prior to them getting sick, they were cutting back eggs to 2-3 aday. (i have 11 hens and they will all be a year old the last week of november). for two weeks now, we havent gotten any eggs at all. i understand them not laying while ill, but they have been well for at least a week now. but i am still not getting any eggs.
does anyone have any suggestions or words of encouragement or experience that they could pass along to me?? i am feeding them purina laying crumbles and oyster shells and whole kernal corn as scratch feed thrown into the yard. thanks in advance for the help
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