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Hi, just wondered if someone can give me some advice. I recently bought five hens to keep in the garden purely for laying eggs. I bought them from a good friends brother in law (probably not a good idea!) as I was told he'd bred loads and knew all about them. He said they were old english game breed and would lay approx one egg each per day within a month or so. However, I have had them over two months now and not had one egg. They are fed on layers pellets and dried corn to which they have access to all day plus water and they can free range outside in the day or go in their coop whenever. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Hi, there will be someone along a lot more knowledgeable than me, but do you know how old they are? that determines when they might start laying, at this time of year when the light levels are reduced they do not lay every day anyway.
I would cut back on access all day to corn its like sweets for kids only after they've eaten their meal. Layer pellets have all the nurtients and vitamins they need.

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I know that when people want an egg a day per bird they usually get a hybrid - even these have a bit of a rest over the shorter days. As far as I'm aware, you won't get so many eggs from Old English game birds. I don't know who has them, but try Google for more info.

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Have a good look at the wattles and combs on the girls. If they're young birds and the combs are still very small, they're not ready to lay yet. If they're older birds with fairly large combs and they're a bit on the pale side, then they're having a bit of a rest and they'll come back into lay as the days get longer and the temperatures go up a bit. One way to tell if a hen (or pullet) is ready to lay, put your hand on her back; if she crouches down then she's ready, if she runs away then she's not. The crouching action is an automatic response if she's ready "to receive a cockerel" and they won't do that if there's no chance of producing offspring

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we have a trio of OEG here, they are also known as Cornish in some older texts. We get around 100-150 eggs per hen per year in the first year, tailing to around 50 eggs per hen by year three.

If you were told you would get an egg a day, it could be a bit adventurous, you might find that the one egg was between all 5!

As Flummery says, if you want an egg a day you are best looking at the hybrids or any bird with a good utility Rhode Island Red in its make up.

The OEG was used to develop the Ross Cobb meat bird, bred for its ability to bulk up for meat, at the expense of producing eggs. A lot of people cross the OEG with a dorking or sussex to get the double breast gene which lays down a lot of meat on the breast, making a superb eater.

You get plenty of breast meat on the OEG anyways, as you will notice they have the "gunslinger" stance, with their wide apart legs. If you get some go broody in the summer, let them raise a few as hell hath no fury like an OEG mummy. She will defend those chicks to the death, unlike some broodies that will let mr rat just wander off with the chicks one by one without batting an eye lid.

What colours do you have? The OEG comes in many colours, the ost popular being a dark brown (almost black) and a pale orangey sandy colour, as well as the jubilee which is all sorts of speckly colours.

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Thanks to all of you for your information, I have attached (or tried) a photo of a couple of the hens if anyone wants to have a look. But it sounds like I should have gone and bought some hybrids as I wanted them purely for eggs so if anybody wants these then let me know!

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They don't look like OEGs, but very pretty I have to say. They look to me like golden Campines. I'm sure you will be able to sell them very quickly. Whereabouts are you?

They are very pretty indeed, OEG come in lots of different colours and the stance looks right for OEG but they don't look quite broad enough across the chest.

Here's a link on Campines. THey have white lobes which yours look to have too, and they are better egg layers generally than OEG. I would hang onto them! But that's just me Pure breeds don't generally lay as many eggs as hybrids, but they do keep going for longer - you'll probably find hybrids will lay lots of eggs for a couple of years, then nothing at all, and you either have to keep them and waste lots of feed on unproductive birds or cull them and start again.

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where are you based ford1990

They are bonny birds & look like a banty! If you were near to me I would deffo do you a straight swap for hybrids in lay at present as I got 20 eggs today (getting more each day!) and this eggy diet is doing my ed in!

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I just want to say thanks for all the help people have given me. It looks like my birds are golden campines after all and not OEG's! They are nice nice looking hens and I didn't really want to let them go, so I've just got to be patient and wait for them to lay!

On a different note, does anyone know anything about clipping wings? Obviously I wouldn't want to damage them but they love trying to fly and someone suggested to have them clipped.

Again, many thanks!

There's some good diagrams and pictures on how to clip chooks wings on this site Wing Clipping - Back Yard Chickens

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Gorgeous birds...but still look young. I'd just give them some time...and you could always get two or three P.O.L to go with them!

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Very pretty birds, might have to see if any of them are bred near me.

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Yeah they are lovely looking birds and great to watch cause they are so active, as soon as the back door opens they are all waiting at the front to see who it is! Do you think they would be ok if I added two or three POL hens of a different breed or hybrids?

You certainly can - but there WILL be fights! I should leave it to those who have successfully introduced new birds rather than be theoretical about it.

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www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 11th - My first Seed Guardianship

www.henheaven.blogspot.com - Updated February 27th - Rooftops and Caulis

if you want to introduce new birds, you are best to do it at night time when they are roosting in their house. Slip the new ones into the house under the cover of darkness and they should settle - UNTIL THE MORNING. when you let them out in the morning, all hell will break loose for a few hours whilst they sort out a pecking order.

keep your eyes on them. its usually a lot better than it looks. Only interfere if you see blood being spilled as someone is obviously getting carried away. It is always better to introduce several in one go rather than one at a time. i tried putting one in on its own and they all ganged up on it, whereas if you put 4 in at once, then it spreads the fun around.

After a couple of days, it will settle down and you will wander what the fuss was all about. however, do keep your eyes on them for any signs of one particular bird being left out or picked upon. this one may need pulling out and putting in a run of its own to recover.

Try and choose birds of a similar size to your campines as well. if you go for bantams they will get a royal a*se kicking, whereas if you go for huge great cochins for example, then the campines might get a kicking of epic proportions. (not that i have found cochins to be violent, just using them as a size comparision)

Also, keep away from "game birds" as they were bred for fighting many years ago and have the tools to inflict a lot of damage.

On a separate note, keep on to you campines and try and breed a few as they are very hard to come by and you can get a good price for them. For example, look at this listing for 3 silver campine eggs. currently at £15 for 3 eggs, thats a fiver an egg!!!!

Bid4poultry.co.uk - 3 SILVER CAMPINE HATCHING EGGS (RARER THAN CHOCOLATE ORPINGTON) Auction, Buy

if you do manage to breed some and get hatching eggs, let us know!!!

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Yeah i've been amazed by the interest they've got on here! It's a shame aswell cause I had the last five hens and there was a cockeral left but i didn't want it because of the noise, maybe one day i'l get that field away from everyone! I could possibly get a male but i have heard they are really noisy. Thanks again for the help, P.S. I managed to get a side on photo if you want to look, it was a bit wet and i was looking down at her!

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They are gorgeous looking birds aren't they? No wonder there's a lot of interest in them.

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Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 11th - My first Seed Guardianship

www.henheaven.blogspot.com - Updated February 27th - Rooftops and Caulis

Very pretty indeed.

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