Grow Your Own Magazine

As I've said before (I am so boring) i used to have 3 hens (3 french hens...ok suit yourselves....)
but two died - and i have one left who hadnt laid an egg in months.(Oct)
Well i've been away for two weeks..... back to engerland for xmas. Neighbours looked after hen...said she kept wandering into their garden for company. We got back NY eve late and partied immediately so didnt see hen but on NY day mid afternoon hen was nowhere to be found so whilst searching for her we looked into the corner of her sleeping hutch (not the laying nest box) and lo and behold there was a pile of 10 eggs!!!!! Hen was next door so we bought her back and gave her a thankyou cuddle and gave 5 eggs to neighbours.
Now i'm back she will probably stop laying again................
anybody had an experience with their hens like that?

I had something similar have a light sus about a year old never layed a egg thought she had a cold took her out the shed away from the rest and she layed a egg first on the first night

This fantastic hen would her name be GRACE

Funny...
her name is black hen, nickname Choock Choock but her original owners called her Abby

She hasnt laid since i got back....not one yesterday, nor today!

Hi there

I wonder if the stress of the change may make the chickens ovulate as they may think that a cockerill may appear? Just a thought...

Kind regards
Tracey

I think its something to do with my neighbour being a young (ish) woman

She layed this morning (the hen that is not my neighbour)
i do not and never will understand chickens

Jardiniere, try FEEDING her, I bet she's getting hungry by now (you've not mentioned that you feed her in any of your posts!). Firstly, chooks do go off lay in the cold weather, ours are only producing about 2 eggs each a week. If she is stressed in any way, she will go off lay, this can last for several months. The stress may be because she is on her own, so some chook companions may be in order.

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Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

Cheek! Of course I feed her - best quality laying pellets and extra corn also she has the run of the garden sometimes so gets worms and currently loads of cabbage.When she is in her pen she gets apple cores and vegetable bits etc.
cant get new chooks til spring.
and she stopped laying while she had company so i still say there is no way you can understand them...........

you've probably already checked, but I thought I'd ask anyway - might she have lice? I know it made my hens really uncomfortable and they stopped laying - I couldn't understand why and when I found out, it was easy enough to deal with. Might be worth giving them a dusting of louse powder jsut in case?

How's the weather where you are? It's cold and damp up here, I've found that when my hens lay, it's usually when it's dry outside.

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

Thank-you for all the assistance - she appears to be laying regularly again and has taken to practice her flying .....she escaped by jumping onto a wall and off again and into the alley which leads to the road twice yesterday.
Dont think she has lice ...she seems in really good form.