10 to 12 eggs a day and then nothing, help me backyard chickens your my only hope ;-)

So I have a smallish flock of 13 hens, all Plymouth bard rocks. We got them from the local farm store March 10 2015. They started laying around July and then leveled out at a fairly consistent 10-12 eggs a day by August. About a week and a half ago I had a day that was only 6 eggs and then the next day only 2. a bit of a shock after 40+days of consistent production. I found a problem with my watering system, I use a 3 gallon bucket with the red poultry watering nipple and the inner pins had gotten stuck. They might have gone a day or two with limited water before I caught the problem that might have contributed to the drop. I am in OR so the days are getting shorter. I fixed the watering issue as soon as I found it and have been checking everyday to make sure it is still working and they have gone through 2 buckets now and seem fine. I also added a timer light to come on around 4 AM getting the light back up to about 14 hours a day. its been about 1 week now and still only one or none eggs. Am I just being impatient or did I completely screw something up?

I am not familiar with the breed, but maybe they are broody? If you read the threads on broodiness, you can see if thats what it is.

CT

Hens sometimes have hiccups in their laying, especially when seasons change and of course if they run out of water which is stressful, it can take a bit to get things going again, don't worry you didn't break them, they are too young for light to affect them, I would certainly check around for anything else that might stress them, I'm sure it will all get going again in a bit, I did enjoy you Star Wars reference, Princess Leia.

Thanks, I have been checking everyday to make sure the watering system doesn't fail again. I think a little bit of dirt got into the bucket and clogged up the nipples. I am still only seeing exactly one egg a day which is just weird, but I will hang tight and hopefully they will pick back up in a bit. they don't seem sick at all they are all running around the coop like normal. I did start the process of cutting a hole in the back of the nesting boxes for the eggs to roll out that might have messed them up a bit but they were still laying fine for a week after I did one of the four boxes.

I bet someone is excited for December 14th?

nerdtastic said:

Thanks, I have been checking everyday to make sure the watering system doesn't fail again. I think a little bit of dirt got into the bucket and clogged up the nipples. I am still only seeing exactly one egg a day which is just weird, but I will hang tight and hopefully they will pick back up in a bit. they don't seem sick at all they are all running around the coop like normal. I did start the process of cutting a hole in the back of the nesting boxes for the eggs to roll out that might have messed them up a bit but they were still laying fine for a week after I did one of the four boxes.

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Lack of water can put them off for quite awhile.
Do you free range?
Might they be laying out in the range area?