Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: tomgood99 on September 20, 2011, 10:03
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Hi there, we have three hens (one three years old and two about a year old) and from getting two or three eggs a day we are now lucky if we get one every other day. The eggs seemed to start getting less frequent about four to five months ago, gradually so we didn't really notice at first, and we are also getting more and more soft shelled eggs, although the one we do get normally has a decent, if slightly ridged shell. The birds seem ok otherwise although my wife thinks one of them has a slight cough.
Any advice please?!!
Thanks.
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What breed are they?
It might be that the one that was 3 years old was producing well and is now coming to the end of its laying cycle.
Could you tell which hen was laying which egg?
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Not really sure which one is doing the laying! We think that it could be the three year old, she is a Speckled hen. I think the other two are a Golden and a Silver Link?
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There are several possibilities here. In order to narrow them down it would be very handy to know:
- What are the chickens eating? This could be a nutritional deficiency so it will be important to keep them on a well balanced diet while you work out what's going on. The easiest way to get a balanced diet is to feed them on a commercially prepared layer ration (either pellets or mash).
- Do they have shell grit available to them at all times? Don't mix this in with their feed, just have it sitting around where they can pick at it when they feel the need. This allows them to regulate their intake of calcium
- When were they last wormed and what with?
- Are there any other signs of illness other than the sneezing? Are their combs and wattles bright and plump or have they faded to a dull pinkish colour?
- How long has the sneezing gone on? Have they had any other episodes of sneezing, runny noses, etc earlier in their lives?
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Check out this link
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/206500.htm
plus google Infectious Bronchitas (IBV) in chickens. The egg drop, coughing / sneezing and ridged egg shells are classic symptoms consistent with IBV. If just one bird was affected i'd say it was due to her laying days coming to an end but several birds all developing these symptoms sounds suspictious. Have you had new birds recently or visted other poultry or had other poultry keepers visit you?
Best of luck
HF
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thanks for the feedback guys. Regarding the IBV, the "coughing" is apparently only one of our hens and the wife says that it has been for several months. No new birds or other poultry keepers have been near them. Regards Lindeggs's comments, the girls are on a standard layers pellets although I've just bought an Organic brand (yesterday) to try and up the quality of their feed. They have a plentiful supply of oyster shell available to them. They haven't been wormed for quite a while, over six months or so? No other signs of illness, combs and wattles seem OK, maybe a little dull perhaps? The girls seem to run around OK though. As I said before I've not really noticed the coughing but apparently it's been several months. One last thing is that we've reduced the size of their run, they now have an area about 4m x 3m and there is very little vegetation (grass) left, just the bare earth although they do get a fairly regular supply of salad leaves.