Posts Tagged thin shells of old hens

Hens have had lots of visitors this summer. Granddaughter Brooke loved Daisy!

I’ve neglected my hen blog the last few months. The three remaining hens from my original flock of six are getting older now and getting into much less trouble. I have less to report to their fans. Seems like unless a hen is sick or injured or unless there is some “coop” event, most visitors to this blog are content to just watch the hens and read my message board.

We’ve had a pleasant and somewhat busy summer in our back garden. We trust our Australian labradoodles (who are now over two years old) with the hens, and are able to let them all out together to wander the half-acre terrain that we call our backyard. Daisy, Poppy, and Sweetpea give the dogs a warning glance and a sharp “trill” if they come too close and the “doodles” find them less interesting or perhaps they consider them too much trouble to turn into a snack.

The hens were great layers in the late winter and early spring but are now slowing down to about 2-3 eggs a week. The shells of their eggs are thin and break easily in the nest boxes. This is not good and I have tried giving them oyster shells and their own eggshells but nothing seems to work. Perhaps thin shells are a sign of old age.

I’ve heard of hens living to be 6-8 years old but their laying career should be about 4-5. This means at 3 ½ our dear hens may be at the beginning of the end. I really need to consider getting a couple of pullets to keep my egg production going but we are enjoying the peace and congeniality of these three hens. They seem to like each other and like us too. So for now, the “good old girls” will have the coop to themselves.

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