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Karen
: I have a broody Maran hen who is not a problem, I just pick
her up and take her down to the pond where she drinks and
then goes for a dust bath before running back to the nest
box. My problem is that since she took over the nest box my
other Maran and three barnvelders have stopped laying. My
ex-batts gave up long ago and the three Hybrids are on and
off. When they do lay they go in the Eglu which I put her
in with a couple of duck eggs but she went back. So I left
it opened up as an alternative, if any are laid in the box
my Maran sits on them and that includes any duck eggs, (who
are still laying as normal). Is this because she is the top
hen and so the others, like some animals, wont have babies/lay
eggs, or am I in for a very early moult with all the upside
down weather we have had? Why have my hens stopped laying
as soon as she went broody? |
My Reply
: General reasons for a lack of eggs, assuming they are
not just eating them or hiding them up somewhere, are often
related to nutrition (ideally they should be on a layers feed
for at least 90% of their daily intake) and light (spring/summer
is usually the best laying times as there are less daylight
hours in winter). Stress can also affect things and might include
extremes of weather and parasites. Persistent harassment from
roosters can also cause stress and so perhaps if they feel harassed
by the broody hen then that might affect their laying but I
haven't heard of hens stopping laying out of respect although
I am always learning new things so it may be possible and I
just haven't heard of it before.
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