Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
Could this be due to some people letting off fireworks and scaring the
chickens?
We didnt have this problem last year.
There is no evidence of mites, but the chickens are quiet and seem
lethargic.
We changed their feed in September as last year to include wheat, as we
cannot obviously feed them exclusively on the diet of scraps from the table
and garden.

Baz

On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:34:37 +0000, Baz wrote:

Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.

What breed of chickens and how old?

Baz wrote:
Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
Could this be due to some people letting off fireworks and scaring the
chickens?

I would have thought it's because the days are getting shorter.
Our really reliable white chicken who used to lay nearly every day has
stopped laying. :-( She seems to have a bit of a bare bottom, so guess she
is either moulting, or someone is bullying her (which is a bit ironic, cos
she used to be the coop bully!)

In message , Baz
writes
Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
Could this be due to some people letting off fireworks and scaring the
chickens?
We didnt have this problem last year.
There is no evidence of mites, but the chickens are quiet and seem
lethargic.
We changed their feed in September as last year to include wheat, as we
cannot obviously feed them exclusively on the diet of scraps from the table
and garden.

Baz

Where I live, 5 miles from a city centre, this is easily the quietest
lead-up to bonfire night that I can remember. Maybe there is less
money to send up in smoke, maybe it's the ridiculous price of fireworks,
or maybe the blessed rain which has dampene the spirits of the small
explosive lover, I don't know.

Sorry, no chickens, but has it been a noisy year in your area by
comparison?
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

Derek Turner wrote in news:8jihe3FktaU2
@mid.individual.net:

On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:34:37 +0000, Baz wrote:

Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.

What breed of chickens and how old?


They are Rode Island Red but I am uncertain of the age. Certainly well
under a year.

Baz

wrote in
:

Baz wrote:
Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
Could this be due to some people letting off fireworks and scaring
the chickens?

I would have thought it's because the days are getting shorter.
Our really reliable white chicken who used to lay nearly every day has
stopped laying. :-( She seems to have a bit of a bare bottom, so
guess she is either moulting, or someone is bullying her (which is a
bit ironic, cos she used to be the coop bully!)

Its a rat, or a few of the sodding things.
Or it could be a cockeral, or both.
We came home late last night after a firework display and my torch found a
few eyes and they werent rabbits!
Also one of the little fluffy pullets bought to replace some which I am
told are getting old, turns out to be a cockeral.


After reading your bullying thing, we have seen that sort of behaviour and
bearing everything in mind with the rats we are definetly getting rid.

It has been a sound enough experience I would say but not for us at the
moment.
We will miss the eggs and their sh@t to compost.

Baz

On Sat, 06 Nov 2010 15:30:54 +0000, Baz wrote:

They are Rode Island Red but I am uncertain of the age. Certainly well
under a year.

Baz

OK then this is quite normal. It's a day-length thing, nowt to do with
fireworks. Hybrids will continue to lay through their first (and
sometimes second) winters but pure-breds such as RIR will stop laying
once the day-length shortens. Nothing is amiss, it's just nature working
as she should

Hybrids in commercial production are killed after two years. Mine reduced
their output in year three (and subsequent) winters but never quite
stopped.

Baz wrote:
Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
What breed of chickens and how old?

They are Rode Island Red but I am uncertain of the age. Certainly well
under a year.

Sorry, you say they're under a year, but the same didn't happen last year
.... ? Are they a different batch, then?

Baz wrote:
I would have thought it's because the days are getting shorter.
Our really reliable white chicken who used to lay nearly every day has
stopped laying. :-( She seems to have a bit of a bare bottom, so
guess she is either moulting, or someone is bullying her (which is a
bit ironic, cos she used to be the coop bully!)
Its a rat, or a few of the sodding things.
Or it could be a cockeral, or both.

No, I doubt it's either. It's the other chickens.

We came home late last night after a firework display and my torch found a
few eyes and they werent rabbits!

Yeah, we've had them in the past. But one of the opposite gardens has feral
cats in it, so I think we're being spared the rodents atm!

Also one of the little fluffy pullets bought to replace some which I am
told are getting old, turns out to be a cockeral.

Heh, useful. We've always bought ours at POL, except for the bantams, which
we were lucky turned out to be both female when they arrived at 6 weeks old.

It has been a sound enough experience I would say but not for us at the
moment.
We will miss the eggs and their sh@t to compost.

Oh dear, you're giving up the whole thing? We've found that the chickens
are mostly self-contained and require very little actual work, other than
checking up on them a couple of times a day to say 'hello', which is hardly
strenuous.

wrote in news:8jn91gF11jU2
@mid.individual.net:

Are they a different batch, then?

Yes, and a younger batch.
My son and family have the older ones we had last year and they lay very
well, despite recently being moved from their surroundings twice now.

Baz

I don't know whether it's completely due to the fireworks but you never know, it could scare them a lot, I should imagine those loud noises do when the poor chickens don't know what it is or it's coming from... However, I think it's because of the length of day..

Hens are very sensitive to the length of day, and particularly to the direction in which day length is changing, when it comes to laying eggs. Declining day lengths discourage the production of the eggs.

We've just come back from a holiday on a quiet Greek island. One morning we watched a ginger and white cat trotting purposefully across the field where the hens were, and then through the hole into the henhouse. There followed a bit of a kerfuffle, and we feared the worst - then out came the cat with a gigantic rat clenched firmly between his jaws.

Mind, I don't think I'd advocate introducing a cat to your hen run ;-)

"Baz" wrote in message
...
wrote in
:

Baz wrote:
Since mid October we have had only a few eggs.
Could this be due to some people letting off fireworks and scaring
the chickens?

I would have thought it's because the days are getting shorter.
Our really reliable white chicken who used to lay nearly every day has
stopped laying. :-( She seems to have a bit of a bare bottom, so
guess she is either moulting, or someone is bullying her (which is a
bit ironic, cos she used to be the coop bully!)

Its a rat, or a few of the sodding things.
Or it could be a cockeral, or both.
We came home late last night after a firework display and my torch found a
few eyes and they werent rabbits!
Also one of the little fluffy pullets bought to replace some which I am
told are getting old, turns out to be a cockeral.


After reading your bullying thing, we have seen that sort of behaviour and
bearing everything in mind with the rats we are definetly getting rid.

It has been a sound enough experience I would say but not for us at the
moment.
We will miss the eggs and their sh@t to compost.


I hope you're not considering get rid of your chickens because of a few
rats. You almost always get rats when you keep chickens, the food attracts
them.

I deal with this by getting the terrier men in every couple of months, we
had a rat hunt here at the weekend with 4 terriers, 3 Patterdales & a
Lakeland.
I used to use poison but decided it was cruel.
There are lots of men all over the country with working terriers who would
like to exercise them on your rats, a free of charge vermin control service.
If anyone is interested, just say, I'll give you a website.
Tina