"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-08 18:37:49 +0100, "Christina Websell"
said:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-07 18:07:24 +0100, "Christina Websell"
said:


From previous hen keeping experience (RIRs) as far as I can see just
about
anything puts them off laying if they take a hissy fit! ;-) I think
the
New Hampshires got a good rating for being 'friendly' and good egg
producers on some site or other the grand daughter found. I'd like to
add
a couple of Marans but she doesn't seem too keen for some reason! Now
all
I have to do is find a coop and run that doesn't cost the same as a
house
in the 1930s! I'm haunting ebay.

Don't bother to do that, Buy a 6x4 shed, put perches in and home made
nestboxes and build a run on and a pophole. Even I managed that, but if
you
can't, find a man who will. It will probably not cost you as much as
anything on ebay and they will have a lot more room.

Tina

Er, right. I'll ask 'the men' and think I can imagine the answer, given
all the other work going on round here! But thank you and yes, I'll
suggest it. The grand daughter's ideas might be a touch more grandiose,
however. I've explained to her I'm not an MP..... ;-))
--
If the men you have don't have time, buy one in to do it. It will still be
cheaper and better than anything on e-bay.
Tina

Btw, Tina - Chickeny seems to have completely recovered and is back to her
old self now. I think she's still not laying, but that's not a problem.
The drugs she was on said she's not to be eaten now anyhow.

Came home yesterday to a shell-less, yolk-less egg in the box. :-(
A small one, so we're assuming it's from one of the bantams, although there
was a brown feather there, so it /could/ be Chickeny giving it another go, I
guess.

Can't be calcium deficiency in one and not the others, since they eat the
same, and afaik, none of them are picking the grit out of their food to be
uber-fussy. Hoping it's a one-off, but not had any small eggs today, so
hard to say.

We went away last week and they seem to have missed us. Apparently their
laying was very low ("they even laid 4 one day!!" - we /often/ get 4 a day,
and one day there were none, which I don't think we've ever had!) whilst we
were gone.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
Can't be calcium deficiency in one and not the others, since they eat the
same,
Are they all the same age? Calcium deficiency is age related; it
happens when a hen has laid so many eggs her reserves are used up

Yes, they are all betweeen 1 and 2 years old, and the bantams are the
youngest (we got them last spring as 6 week olds - they were /tiny/!)

One of the bantams does lay better than the other, I think (it's a bit hard
to tell, as the eggs are identical!), but I'm still strongly suspicious that
this odd egg may be an attempt by Chickeny (the original, now-non-laying
chicken) to try again. There was a suspicious brown feather underneath the
egg! (the bantams are white)

wrote in message
...
Janet Baraclough wrote:
Can't be calcium deficiency in one and not the others, since they eat
the
same,
Are they all the same age? Calcium deficiency is age related; it
happens when a hen has laid so many eggs her reserves are used up

Yes, they are all betweeen 1 and 2 years old, and the bantams are the
youngest (we got them last spring as 6 week olds - they were /tiny/!)

One of the bantams does lay better than the other, I think (it's a bit
hard
to tell, as the eggs are identical!), but I'm still strongly suspicious
that
this odd egg may be an attempt by Chickeny (the original, now-non-laying
chicken) to try again. There was a suspicious brown feather underneath
the
egg! (the bantams are white)

Janet will put you right. She knows everything about keeping hens.
My 30 years is redundant
Tina

Christina Websell wrote:
Janet will put you right. She knows everything about keeping hens.
My 30 years is redundant

Please don't punish my hens for someone else's behaviour, tina. :-(
(and please excuse the over-strong G+T I'm workign under the influence of
atm)

If you'd prefer to chat offline at times, my email address is valid.

wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
Janet will put you right. She knows everything about keeping hens.
My 30 years is redundant

Please don't punish my hens for someone else's behaviour, tina. :-(

Of course not, what was it you wanted to know?
Tina

Christina Websell wrote:
Of course not, what was it you wanted to know?

I forget now, can't have been important. :-}
Oh, I think I was commenting on finding a shell-less yolk-less egg, which I
thought might be Chickeny (the one who had been ill and was medicated back
to health - although apparently we're never allowed to eat her or her eggs
now! T'internet seems to be full of different views on the matter) having
another attempt. Nick was concerned it was one of the bantams due to the
size, but I think it's a case of it looking a lot smaller due to the lack of
a shell.

wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
Of course not, what was it you wanted to know?

I forget now, can't have been important. :-}
Oh, I think I was commenting on finding a shell-less yolk-less egg, which
I
thought might be Chickeny (the one who had been ill and was medicated back
to health - although apparently we're never allowed to eat her or her eggs
now! T'internet seems to be full of different views on the matter) having
another attempt. Nick was concerned it was one of the bantams due to the
size, but I think it's a case of it looking a lot smaller due to the lack
of
a shell.

If your hen has been ill the egg laying process often goes very wrong.
Lack of shell is not uncommon.
Tina