- Aug 4, 2015
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Background:
I have an easter egger hen from March of this year. She started laying in July and was one of my most consistent layers. She stopped laying about 5 weeks ago and hasn't laid an egg since. She is a 2016 hen and is not molting at all. Additionally, all my other hens (both from last year and this past March) are continuing to lay with no issues).
Two things happened at that time(when she stopped laying):
1) We got a new rooster - she is at the bottom of the pecking order and got lots of attention from the rooster. We turned that rooster into soup 2 weeks ago.
2) We hatched a batch of chicks and put them in our outside brooding pen - the hens free range so she can see the chicks. Some of the chicks came from her eggs. Those chicks are still out there. She hangs out around the chicks a lot.
Question: Any ideas on what caused her to stop laying? I first suspected trauma from the rooster, but he has been gone for 2 weeks and still no eggs. I then had a random thought that maybe she thinks she is mama and turned on the broody instinct. I've put her with the chicks and she just eats their food - so not confident in that theory either. It's still in the high 70's here - so i'm pretty confident she hasn't shut down for the winter.
Any ideas?
I have an easter egger hen from March of this year. She started laying in July and was one of my most consistent layers. She stopped laying about 5 weeks ago and hasn't laid an egg since. She is a 2016 hen and is not molting at all. Additionally, all my other hens (both from last year and this past March) are continuing to lay with no issues).
Two things happened at that time(when she stopped laying):
1) We got a new rooster - she is at the bottom of the pecking order and got lots of attention from the rooster. We turned that rooster into soup 2 weeks ago.
2) We hatched a batch of chicks and put them in our outside brooding pen - the hens free range so she can see the chicks. Some of the chicks came from her eggs. Those chicks are still out there. She hangs out around the chicks a lot.
Question: Any ideas on what caused her to stop laying? I first suspected trauma from the rooster, but he has been gone for 2 weeks and still no eggs. I then had a random thought that maybe she thinks she is mama and turned on the broody instinct. I've put her with the chicks and she just eats their food - so not confident in that theory either. It's still in the high 70's here - so i'm pretty confident she hasn't shut down for the winter.
Any ideas?
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