Kitchen Garden Forum

My neighbour has four lovely Marrans, rescued from a battery farm early this year. They laid one or two eggs for the first few weeks but then stopped. They have been found to eat the odd egg but my neighbours don't think they are laying and eating a lot of eggs as the ones that have been eaten have been found squashed and partially consumed. Because the eggs were squashed they've added more grits to the diet but now there are no eggs at all and no trace of any eaten ones.

They're not overweight, they're not broody, they're eating layers pellets and look the picture of health.

Anyone got any ideas, other than roast chicken please ?

I was just wondering if it could be Crows or the like pinching them.

Chantal

Are they Marans as in http://www.poultrymad.co.uk/chickens/maran.html ?

Two things spring to mind:

Marans are sometimes erratic/poor layers (at least mine have been)

What were pure-breed hens doing in batteries?

They may just be having a rest period all need a few weeks off. But if they are free ranging they may be laying away, I should sit and watch where they go to, hens are very crafty and often prefer to find their own nest rather than the nest box.
Regards gracie

OH, the run has several trees growing in it, plus rabbit hutches and all sorts of logs and chicken/rabbit activity centre stuff. Not a lot of room for crows, but I'll suggest they run some wires over the top to eliminate that possibility.

Alan, No, they look nothing like that, I just believed what they told me but they look very like Warrens to me (I used to have some. Warren/Maran, maybe someone has misheard down the line.

Gracie, they are not generally free range but live in a very large pen with a few rabbits. They are allowed into the garden most days, but someone is always with them. I will however check out that possibility.

Thanks guys, keep the suggestions coming in

Chantal

I thought so

Battery birds are usually ISA Brown/Warrens - a hybrid bred specifically to lay 300+ eggs in its first year. That's why the producers "dispose" of them at about 72 weeks old. It could just be that the birds in question are coming to the end of their laying life - a hen only has so many eggs in her, and when they're gone they're gone. Or as "older" birds they may just be taking a longer end of summer rest than usual - or maybe they're going into moult.