Chooks off the lay

[davey]

I bet a million bucks this topic hasn't been covered here guys. My chooks or chickens as the yankies call them are not laying. Feeding them the best laying pellets money can buy and still 6 chooks and I'm lucky to get one egg a day. Walking around swearing at them with a sharpened axe under my arm has had no effect whatsoever.

Now everyone says they must be old chooks and that's the reason but alass they are only about 2 years old and should be in the prime of life.
A guy at the produce store suggested worming the chooks so heck I bought the worming medicine (roughly the going price for about 100 eggs) and it only pissed off the one chook that was laying and I had no eggs for a couple of days.

"They need roughage" a long lost cousin of mine suggested recently as he stayed a couple of days on his way to Queensland. Another 100 eggs worth and a kilo of roughage passed through the ungrateful feathered fiends, and still nothing!
"Christmas is coming" my unsympathetic wife scoffed as I wistfully searched all the empty nests this morning. A couple of the fat ones would be great for Christmas lunch".
It was this exchange that suddenly made me realise. I loved these chooks and no-one was going to harm a feather on their pretty little heads.

"Don't even think about it" I retorted as I realised I even had nick names for everyone. I'll just keep them as ungratefull pets.

 

[BingoT]

I would feed them Gold Dust.......
This is what I get out of them........

 

[StaceyLee]

Love chooks and loooove fresh poached eggs. Lots and lots and lots of treats from the scrap bins at the shopping centre will bring em back - lettuce, lettuce, lettuce and more lettuce.

Good luck.
StaceyLee

 

[just play]

Walking around swearing at them with a sharpened axe under my arm has had no effect whatsoever.

Why don't you walk around with a bouquet of flowers telling them how much you love them?

 

[Jasminebed]

I have a friend that raises a few free range chickens, and while I have no advice to offer to increase their laying, my friend sends them to a packer where they are prepared and shrink wrapped and return looking just like supermarket chickens.

This way she avoids thinking of them as pets, and can't identify individuals... e.g. that was Daisy that always pecked at my shoelaces.

 

[jod5413]

Hey Davey!

There are lots of good sites on line that can help you figure your "chooks" out.

Here are just a couple...

URL Not Found / Outdated

[ame="http://askville.amazon.com/chickens-lay-eggs/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=2475912"]How often do chickens lay eggs?[/ame]

Good Luck!

 

[chayton]

You could try a subtle threat - like sharpening your axe in front of them and muttering things like, "I'd rather eat eggs, but...."

Seriously though, when I was a kid we had chickens - they were cooped but a few of them would escape occasionally and they'd find secret places to lay their eggs.

Another thought - I don't know what kind of wildlife you have there but could you maybe have snakes or weasels or something going in and getting the eggs before you? I suppose there'd be some evidence of that though. Maybe it's your neighbor!

 

[taysh075]

You could try a subtle threat - like sharpening your axe in front of them and muttering things like, "I'd rather eat eggs, but...."

Seriously though, when I was a kid we had chickens - they were cooped but a few of them would escape occasionally and they'd find secret places to lay their eggs.

Another thought - I don't know what kind of wildlife you have there but could you maybe have snakes or weasels or something going in and getting the eggs before you? I suppose there'd be some evidence of that though. Maybe it's your neighbor!

Was just going to suggest that Chayton. Chooks are really timid creatures and very easily stressed. Unfortunately stress = no eggs. Check to make sure that they are not being harrassed by noises or other animals at night.

I would also not recommend the axe threats. This might scare the sh*t out of them but will not scare the eggs out of them .

 

[same_old]

I know the answer to this, Steve Irwin did an episode on this.

What you need to do is sneak up on them from behind and stick your thumb right up there asshole.

 

[davey]

stress could be it!

Hi Taysh

You could have hit the nail on the head Taysh, I recon that's it. We just added 2 chooks to the mob and they are only about 12 months old. The older chooks give the young ones a hard time pecking the s...t out of them and generally being extremely unfriendly. That stresses the new guys and probably doesn't do the attackers any favours either. Maybe wait a month or two for them to either get on or kill each other and my troubles will be over.

Cheers
Davey

 

[mattsgame]

I bet a million bucks this topic hasn't been covered here guys. My chooks or chickens as the yankies call them are not laying. Feeding them the best laying pellets money can buy and still 6 chooks and I'm lucky to get one egg a day. Walking around swearing at them with a sharpened axe under my arm has had no effect whatsoever.

Now everyone says they must be old chooks and that's the reason but alass they are only about 2 years old and should be in the prime of life.
A guy at the produce store suggested worming the chooks so heck I bought the worming medicine (roughly the going price for about 100 eggs) and it only pissed off the one chook that was laying and I had no eggs for a couple of days.

"They need roughage" a long lost cousin of mine suggested recently as he stayed a couple of days on his way to Queensland. Another 100 eggs worth and a kilo of roughage passed through the ungrateful feathered fiends, and still nothing!
"Christmas is coming" my unsympathetic wife scoffed as I wistfully searched all the empty nests this morning. A couple of the fat ones would be great for Christmas lunch".
It was this exchange that suddenly made me realise. I loved these chooks and no-one was going to harm a feather on their pretty little heads.

"Don't even think about it" I retorted as I realised I even had nick names for everyone. I'll just keep them as ungratefull pets.

Great post as Taysh has said chooks will not lay if stressed at all, I remember when we used to have a few on a property down here in Vic.

The poor buggers used to get harrased by cats at first,then a ferret some how manged to get a hold of a few and terrorized the rest ,then the pesky foxes decided to have some xmas cheer and wanted there xmas lunch After each of these occasions the rest of the chooks would not lay for quite a few weeks..

So Threats of death may not work in your favor

I know the answer to this, Steve Irwin did an episode on this.

What you need to do is sneak up on them from behind and stick your thumb right up there asshole.

LOL I think this would be my last train of thought!

 

[Brooklyn]

I know the answer to this, Steve Irwin did an episode on this.

What you need to do is sneak up on them from behind and stick your thumb right up there asshole.

:notworthy

 

[chayton]

Question for the Aussies - if you're having a chicken sandwich do you call it a chook sandwich? Or is chook only what you call a live chicken? No reason I'm just curious!