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dizandstell

My hens seem to have reduced their egg production and the yolk colour has gone pale.
Six of my hens use to lay everyday without fail, but in the past 2 weeks production has reduced to maybe 2-3 eggs per day and the yolks have gone pale yellow instead of the orange colour, some of the hens have stopped laying and one hen lays a soft shell egg whick breaks as she lays it while sat on her perch! They are about 15 months old. I thought it was due to them going through a moult but there is no obvious signs of that happening yet. They don't have any obvious signs of illness i.e coughs or runny noses. They don't appear to have any more lice than normal and they are regularly dusted. No evidence of mite and they are happy to go into the nest boxes and house whenever.
They could be laying outside the chook house as they are free range but why the change in yolk colour?
Is there anything we can add to their water or feed as a pick me up?

blowin · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 12:55 am Post subject:

I am very definitely not the best authority on this subject but , what the peck , I will put in my two-pennyworth anyway :
Dropping eggs from the perch suggests that rats might be in the normal laying area . There should be some good reason why they won't go to the ground or nest box . Are there even small holes in the base of the house ? Or gaps above eg where corrugated iron sits on the rafters ?
Soft shell generally means lack of calcium in the diet . What do you feed them on ? If not a commercial balanced food then you might need to add eg crushed sea-shell if you have access to beaches or even crushed eggshell -- but the latter can encourage them to cannibalise fresh eggs .
I think there was a very early thread on calcium intake but am not sure which keyword would find it .
Yolk colour will improve overnight if you do bit of digging someplace where they can then scratch and find worms . I find a good trick is to lay a few bits of old plank , polythene , or anything which is easy to move but won't blow away . Turn it over every couple of days , when the chooks are close to it , and watch how they enjoy the wrigglies beneath Wink

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phil · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 12:30 pm Post subject:

The birds are more than likely coming into moult,feed them good quality food and they should come back into lay fairly soon.
I wouldn't think that hens pecking at crushed egg shells would be encouraged to eat fresh laid eggs,that's like not feeding lamb to dogs in case they start worrying sheep.

chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

I have heard a lot of folks talk about a drop in laying of late. In part it may be due to the terrible weather but since your birds have been laying heavily probably since they came into lay in the winter or spring they are probably just taking a bit of a break. Heavy layers do get exhausted eventually.
Give them grit to restore their calcium supplies. Other good stuff you can give them is 2-3% brewers yeast added to the mash (extra protein, B vitamins, minerals) and 'nettle spinach' (take a good quantity of fresh nettle leaves stripped off the stalk; pour boiling water over them, let them sit for a bit, turn into mush with a stick blender and add to morning feed). Nettles are full of goodness (protein, vitamins, minerals incl. lots of iron) and should also help restore good yolk colour.

chook

dizandstell · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks, some great info.
The birds have laid ever since they first came into laying so they are probably taking a well earned rest. They also seem to be shedding some feathers, although no sign of a definate moult so just waiting for it to start. We have plenty of nettles so I will try the nettle tonic.
We are just not use to not having any eggs, we had got use to eating 6 eggs a day, there's a fight now when an egg is produced! I refuse to buy any though.
Thanks again for the help.