Does anyone know how long it will take for egg production to pick back up after Broncitis went thru my flock? It has been about 4 weeks and I am only getting around 15 eggs out of 165 girls. Anyone have any suggestons?
Egg production after Broncitis
Production will recover in 5 or 6 weeks, but at a lower rate. Some of ours took up to around 8 weeks to kick back in.
thanks silkiechick. Is there anything I can do to help them recover? more protein etc.?
do u know for sure u have no carriers and they have built immunities? is there any signs or symptoms of any still sick? how did u get them through it and how do u know they had it? more calcium might pick up the egg laying. how r they eating and how does their weight look? if they get hit with it at the right time it can cause reproductive problems in some but noway in that many in one flock.
Well, I will start with the first question. No one is showing signs of sickness now. all are eating and acting normally good weight and active. I had it go thru the flock last year the effected ones were about 8 months old. This year the ones effected were 7 months old. It did not go thru my established flock that had it last year or were all exposed. The only ones that died were from Ideal hatchery. All the uneffected were, adults that were exposed last year or juviniles from Stromberg's hatchery. I had 75 juviniles that I got from Ideal and they were the only ones that came down with it. I treated them with Sulmet and lots of vitamins. I lost 19 of the 75. My friend in Pensacola had it go thru her flock just before it went thru mine and she had the same % of loss in her flock. (Pensacola is 3 1/2 hrs away). The only hen I have still sick is one I got from my friend who is recovering from wet pox. She had the big ball of yucky pussy stuff in her troat that I got out and am now swabbing her troat with iodine daily. she is hangning in there. but is skinny. tough old bird.
Could the egg thing just be the time of year and I integrated my 2 flocks? I introduced 40 chickens into my established flock. just after the broncitis went away
I'm a newbie.. but from what I've read... here is my impression..
Recovery was gonna mess with the laying..
Weather is another issue.. time of year. Hours of Light?
Introducing the new ones is another stress... even if it's ever so slightly, I am under the impression it will affect egg production.
My understanding is that there were 3 influences in delaying egg production...
Am I right?
I spoke to a woman locally who said just moving the pens put her hens on strike!
ok, i was worried for a minute,lol i thought mabe some still might be sick. they should start to pick up soon then but yes zz is right many things can cause laying to not kick in. moulting, not enough lighting, stress, moveing them, young stock not ready to lay yet, low calcium, broodiness just to name a few can cause laying to cut down or stop or not lay when they should be.
This message was edited Oct 16, 2008 10:15 PM
Cool!! Thank you Silkie! I hope this helps InBetween. I hope your gals are layin again soon.
PS.. Silkiechick.. Tomorrow is day 21 for my first hatch! 2 of your showgirls and 3 of your Seramas are due to come out and see me!
already!!! holy cow that went fast,lol. keep me posted and i'm dieing to see pics, can't wait!!!
Hi InnBetween - I never had IB in any of my birds before so I can't answer your questions, but I will return to this thread if and/or when I do have IB in any birds, so that I can learn from it. How did you know it was IB? What symptoms did they have? I have a bird that sneezes sometimes for no apparent reason....
there is many signs and syptoms of IB. i vaccinate my flock for IB/Newcastle disease now but there is several strains of it and a few different vaccines for it. different strains hit different parts of the country.
Some thing I have noticed with mine, If there is a lot of a lot of foot traffic in the pens that might upset the chickens. Like say little kids or yelling could stop the laying.
For the most part now I am the only one in the yard with the chickens now. NO kids allowed anymore.
I wonder if the # of birds has anything to do with how quickly they settle down and lay? If they had to meet and greet each new bird first it could take a while.
wow! thanks for all of your thoughts. I was wondering if I should play music for them or something. they seem to be all just fine, but NO eggs. Maybe up the protein a little?
Or maybe the calcium too? Are they getting oyster shell or something similar?
I'd be inclined to up 'em all -protein, grains, calcium -nothing like food for stress.
At least that way you'll know they can take it if they need it. What do you feed them precisely?
Yeah, comfort food - give 'em mashed potatoes and macaroni cheese and lemon meringue pie. Oh wait, no, that's for me. :-)
umm, I'll send you pecans if you send me some of that comfort food...yummmm...
Yum, I think I go live in the hen house! Yes, I do give them oyster shells and all the grains they can eat. I also get veggies from the local whole food store when it goes over it's sell date. They love cauliflower! I am going to start putting a wake up light on for them in the morning a little early to see if that won't jump start them. Anyway, thanks for all the great suggestions.
Good luck! Update us please!! And go get your nickname so we can razz you too!! please?
Yeah!! I second that motion
Yeah, third that! I bought a solar light to install inside my coop. I haven't installed it yet. It has a remote!!! LOL!!! I am hoping to be able to turn it on/off from inside the house. That way I don't have to go out in the cold to give them their egg-light.
That is so cool!!!! Do you have a link?
I've been trying to dream up something like that.. I was thinking Solar Christmas lights.. but I don't wanna go turn em off every night..
It's very similar to this but it has a remote control. It was less than $30. I got it at Menards which is like a big box hardware store that is a little cheaper than Home Depot and Lowe's.
http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-81095-Solar-Shed-Light/dp/B000CIADL6