no eggs

[steve555]

i have 5 hens approx 2 yrs old and for the last 6 weeks or so i only have 1 egg a day and i am sure this is the same hen.
occasionally i get a rubbery effort that looks more like a chicken nugget than an egg
they are free range and have mash and layers pellets
there combs are very red and are healthy enough although the colour of there feathers has faded badly
they live with the cockerel should i take him out of the way for a while?

[Mo]

Umm. Seems odd that they all stop laying at once yet still have red combs.
If your getting a regular 1 a day it doesn't sound as if they're eating them either.
Maybe someone else will have ideas.

[Willow]

Could they be laying them elsewhere?...
Tina

[steve555]

i have checked where they sit outside and there are no sign of any eggs they live in a stable and i have seen 3 at the same time settling down to lay although not very often and still 1 egg.
last year we had 5 eggs every day.
like i said perhaps the cockerel is putting them off laying as he is always busy!!!!
why shouldnt you eat fresh eggs if the cockerel is about as i would have thought they are not forming for 10 days

[Mo]

People always used to keep cockerels and still eat the eggs. I never thought you shouldn't. (Though you might get a surprise if you kept on e too long, too warm I suppose)

[steve555]

i put some olive oil in the mash yesterday and sweetcorn and 2 eggs tday first time in weeks also ayolk but no shell so some improvement

[steve555]

i am back down to 1 egg a day off 5 hens but at least 3 are sitting as though they are laying and one of them clucks loudly after an hour or so as though she has just laid but there is never an egg.
anybody had this problem before?

[Mo]

I know mine sometimes eat eggs. Don't know how often. Sometimes I get as many eggs as hens, sometimes one sits but I don't get an egg, an now and then I catch then at it.

[Mo]

Mine are more likely to eat them if they lay them in the wrong place, not in the dark nest box, I think.

[Dave]

are they moulting
i have 15 birds and last week for
about 4 days i only got 6-7 eggs
then all whent back to normal
but i have noticed lots off new feathers comming through

[Mo]

That was a quick moult.

[Dave]

i was asking if his birds were moulting
not saying that mine were
i was just saying that i had a low egg count for a few days!
so he might just be having a blip