Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[MaryJanet]

It's a thing I've wondered about with those hens that keep going in the nests like they are going to lay, but don't. First, I thought it was pretense. Then when both Cannelle and Brune did it and got infections I thought it was a sure sign of disease. Then, after that I also saw chickens doing it but not really showing certain signs of being unwell. Like Kara, who doesn't seem to be ill although she had issues laying. So I'm not sure how worrying it should be.



Do people who have heritage or cross chickens have ever noticed this behaviour without it being at all a sign of a health issue ?

Didn't @BY Bob 's Hattie do that a lot? Her health problem is not related to her reproductive health.

On the other hand, at my house Sandy used to sit on a nest without laying or being broody. She had reproductive health problems leading to euthanasia.

It's only two data points but they don't agree.

I think that if sitting without laying or brooding were a health indicator, it would be known to the vets by now.

 

[ManueB]

The old handbooks talk about 'false layers' who behave as if they're laying but actually don't.

That's interesting.
When I thought for a time hens were pretending, I thought maybe it was a way to help them maintain their status in the flock.

On the other hand, at my house Sandy used to sit on a nest without laying or being broody. She had reproductive health problems leading to euthanasia.

I think I caught your thread after Sandy was gone. Wasn't she a layer breed ?

It's only two data points but they don't agree.
I think that if sitting without laying or brooding were a health indicator, it would be known to the vets by now.

I am not sure vets are so aware of chickens behaviour ! It's something that backyard chicken keepers who can spend time with their chickens in the morning might spot easily, but that would not be seen in an experimental context.
Or, it could be that both are true. That in combination with other worrying signs, it's something to watch, but that it can also happen for purely social reasons.

Maybe one should be more careful when it's a production layer that is having that behaviour.

 

[MaryJanet]

I think I caught your thread after Sandy was gone. Wasn't she a layer breed ?

Yes, she was a red hybrid laying hen. Selectively bred to lay fast and die young.

I am not sure vets are so aware of chickens behaviour ! It's something that backyard chicken keepers who can spend time with their chickens in the morning might spot easily, but that would not be seen in an experimental context.

I was thinking that it would've been studied by avian scientists (the vets). I was guessing that economic interest in optimising a hen's productivity would've motivated studies. But maybe you're right and it remains unknown in the scientific sense.

 

[MaryJanet]

Maybe one should be more careful when it's a production layer that is having that behaviour.

For sure. They're just so vulnerable.

 

[Perris]

Yes, she was a red hybrid laying hen. Selectively bred to lay fast and die young.

I was thinking that it would've been studied by avian scientists (the vets). I was guessing that economic interest in optimising a hen's productivity would've motivated studies. But maybe you're right and it remains unknown in the scientific sense.

those old handbooks were keen to identify the false layers to eliminate them from the flock, and modern commercial concerns have the same drive. Battery cages were adopted by many because they revealed the false layers. It's becoming an issue again for commercial concerns giving up cages and going over to 'colonies', barns or whatnot - the false layers are hidden again.

Apart from the obvious explanation that illness can temporarily or permanently stop a hen laying, I've never read a serious study on why there are false layers. What I've learned by experience is that hasty culling of non-productive birds (as in a commercial setting, given commerce's fixation on the short term) would have been a big mistake here. Usually a hiatus in laying has been temporary, and when the hen has got over whatever has been challenging her, she resumes and lays as well or better than she did before. Edited to add: there's a bonus too in that they've then got natural resistance to that disease to pass on to their young, if they have any.

And if it turns out to be permanent, no matter; I don't begrudge the tiddly amount of feed and house space needed by a chicken who performs other services, like eating garden bugs, turning over compost, making organic fertilizer, scarifying the lawn etc.

 

[RoyalChick]

Babs has a different false laying profile.
She often (about once a week but not on a rigid schedule) will wake up at 3am and walk down the ladder, across the coop and get into a nest box.
Sometimes she stops for a snack on the way, but not always.
She stays there for the rest of the night.
Then later in the day she goes back to lay an egg.
She has laid almost every day for nearly a year now (just a handful of one day breaks in that time) so of course I worry about her.
I only figured out that she wasn’t laying at 3am when she switched boxes. She has a box she naps in and she lays in a different box.
I have no idea why she would march in the dark to sleep half the night in a nest box.
She isn’t sharing her thinking - apparently it is none of my business what she chooses to do at 3am.

 

[Molpet]

I don't begrudge the tiddly amount of feed and house space needed by a chicken who performs other services, like eating garden bugs, turning over compost, making organic fertilizer, scarifying the lawn etc.

And this is why I have 60 some chickens.... just got an egg yesterday, first since the 16th of January and I was only getting one or two a day since the solstice... I have 2 pullets

 

[ManueB]

Beautiful light this morning.

Weird chicken food stuff :
Yesterday the hens found the left over Jerusalem artichokes (we picked most of them out and cut the stems) and ate them. It's the first year I see them do this.

Today, they ate the left over persimmons that went bad, from the wooden crate we picked at Gaston's place before Christmas.
The chickens had not wanted anything to do with the persimmons when I found them perfectly ripe, in spite of several attempts. I still gave it a try with those almost rotten ones before throwing them in the compost. It was a great hit .

 

[BDutch]

Babs has a different false laying profile.
She often (about once a week but not on a rigid schedule) will wake up at 3am and walk down the ladder, across the coop and get into a nest box.
Sometimes she stops for a snack on the way, but not always.
She stays there for the rest of the night.
Then later in the day she goes back to lay an egg.
She has laid almost every day for nearly a year now (just a handful of one day breaks in that time) so of course I worry about her.
I only figured out that she wasn’t laying at 3am when she switched boxes. She has a box she naps in and she lays in a different box.
I have no idea why she would march in the dark to sleep half the night in a nest box.
She isn’t sharing her thinking - apparently it is none of my business what she chooses to do at 3am.

View attachment 3742425

I love these creatures who are different and stubbornly do as they please.

 

[lightm]

Babs has a different false laying profile.
She often (about once a week but not on a rigid schedule) will wake up at 3am and walk down the ladder, across the coop and get into a nest box.
Sometimes she stops for a snack on the way, but not always.
She stays there for the rest of the night.
Then later in the day she goes back to lay an egg.
She has laid almost every day for nearly a year now (just a handful of one day breaks in that time) so of course I worry about her.
I only figured out that she wasn’t laying at 3am when she switched boxes. She has a box she naps in and she lays in a different box.
I have no idea why she would march in the dark to sleep half the night in a nest box.
She isn’t sharing her thinking - apparently it is none of my business what she chooses to do at 3am.

View attachment 3742425

Babs is so cute.