Well, I have a buff orpington and a black sex link of the same age.. about 8 months.. they both laid regularly - almost daily for about a month. suddenly the buff stopped about 10 days ago... the Black hen (midnight) is laying daily and the Buff- named vanilla shows no sign of discomfort or otherwise acting disturbed or unusual just no eggs.. the only difference being a white silkie pullet (weeble) turned out to be a male and started his morning rooter yelling about two weeks ago.
i don't think she(vanilla) is eggbound and am assuming that if she is otherwise healthy she will resume laying soon.. is there any reason for concern?
-joe-
How long is normal? when do I worry
Hi Joe! That's pretty unusual, unless she is laying in the nest because she had gone broody, but that is pretty young to go broody in my experience. Most hens don't go broody til after the first year. Other than that I would not worry, if she were eggbound she would show signs of it. Haystack
no, she is not broody.. loves walking around.. I didn't think to check for eggs elsewhere.. they free range in the evenings when I get home from work. - she may have found a better place to lay.
thanks
-joe-
Oh yeah, dollars to donuts she's got 'em stashed somewhere else...
She's probably not broody yet, but I'm guessing she doesn't like your taking her eggs and so she's hiding them... which means she cares and I bet she gets broody as she gets older. I had a great broody Buff Orpington hen. She'd draw blood if you tried to mess with her clutch.
great..... I was thinking she may be hiding them.. but they taste sooooooo good with the grits. i will search them out and let you know if i find any.. if i find she is hiding them, is there a good way to get her to lay in the coop, or just lock her in the run for some time....
:) lol most don't go broody till first year.. thats funny.. did i get the entire population that does! All of my 4 to 5 month olds that are laying have all been broody at some point. I'm getting tired of being the bad guy & stealing eggs from them while they are growling at me.
Maybe its something in the Missouri air. I am going to have to try the golf ball thing bc i suspect some of them are hiding eggs now that Clove went broody.
Well, keeping mine in the coop was not my 'issue'... making more nesting boxes for the other hens was, as Buffy the Vampire took over the old dog house I was using. And figuring out how to get the eggs out from under her... open the lid, grab her head, and steal the eggs. Oh, she hated me.
Pity I had no roo at the time... she would have been a fearsome mother.
i will try putting in another nest box.. maybe she's just picky
Another thought - she could be molting. Mine have just started their fall molt - well, a few of them have anyway, so it's quite possible that she could be doing the same, and they tend not to lay during that time.
that would make sense , if they don't lay when they molt.. some of the chickens have started to leave feathers around..
I am learning a lot today.. thank you for the tips so far..
hmm.. maybe mine are molting.. i've got enough feathers to stuff a pillow in the yard right now.
Me to but I thought mine was from the young roosters practicing on the hens
not mine.. i've got a near 2 acre yard.. & it looks like a feather bed exploded several times over.. & suddenly. but my girls aren't missing feathers.. that are noticeable at least. neither are the roos.
grey k - that sounds like my yard..you could make a mattress. i guess it's just a matter of waiting till they are done for the eggs to return?
unfortunately mine had just started laying when this started.. and they all thought they had to molt at one time! all 30 chickens.. So no eggs for me for 3 weeks now. :(
I was assuming my chickens would not molt this fall, since they are only 7 weeks right now. Am I correct?
some of mine did in the spring at two months..(the silkies)