No eggs for 6 weeks

I was curious if others are experiencing no eggs. I have 4 hens. Three are 1.5 years old and all of them recently molted and are back to fully feathered for about 2 weeks now, no eggs from any of them since late October. They are all Easter Eggers.

The oldest hen (will be 3 in March) hasn't laid an egg since August. Ginger is a Golden Comet.

They all appear healthy, have lots of free range space. Can the Golden Comet be done laying eggs completely? I looked, and last year at this time, she laid 19 eggs in November (we keep a spreadsheet). Even Marcia, Jan, and Cindy laid in November & December.

I am in Reno, NV. Coldest we've had so far is about 25 in the early a.m. But that was only a short time.

First year birds frequently lay through their first winter. Going into their second year and after a molt it is not unusual for egg production to drop once the day length drops beneath 14 hours daily. They will most likely lay again once the day light hours start increasing.

Thank you. I figured it was mostly winter and molting. Ginger though since May really dropped. I looked and through the summer laid 9, then 2, then 0, then 5, then nothing since. At just slightly over two years old, I was surprised. She has laid a total of 494 eggs though!

It's a totally normal time to rest and recharge for the hens. At this age, they usually molt and take the winter off. You can use supplemental lighting to bring them back into point of lay, but at this point Solstice is only a bit away and the days are going to lengthen on their own.

Some folks say their sex links have burnt out totally. I've never had that. All my birds (hatchery stock of various breeds) have continued to lay some, even 3 eggs a week, during the spring/summer/fall. I've kept them until 7 years in the past and they've continued to lay for me. Production does tend to slack off after the 2 year mark, though.

Thanks! We will just let nature take it's course. Nice to know that it is not unusual though. Ginger is our favorite and I hope she makes 7 years old. We had two Wyandotte's that only made a year and a Leghorn that made 1.5. She is our oldest. We got her at 10 weeks old. The EE'ers we got as 3 day old chicks.

Thakns for the help and I love your dogs pic in your avatar!

what has happened to your birds?

We got our original 3 pullets (at 10 weeks old) from the same person who raises her own. Ginger came from a Craigslist ad and he had gotten his from Tractor Supply. The original 3 were two Silver Laced Wyandotte's and the white Leghorn. Tammy (Wyandotte got a lump growing on the left side od her waddle. I took her to a vet and he drew fluid out of it (I didn't like the way he treated her so I didn't take her back), put her on an antibiotic but it never got better. She developed wry neck after that and I hand fed her and treated her as best as I could for two weeks in our spare bath tub (the chicken triage!). I figured after that that it wasn't fair to her or us to go on so I had her euthanized and a necropsy done. Didn't come back with anything conclusive so he called it Avian Luekosis (something like that).

With Maryanne (Wyandotte), she just look odd one day and at evening time when I "tuck them in" and close the run, she was outside on the ground. We put her in a large box in the garage and by morning I could tell she wasn't going to last long and she died later that day.

Mrs. Howell (you can tell my age by names from Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch) was several months later and she got slow, droopy comb, off balance. We again put her in the bath tub and tried to nurse her for about two weeks as well. She went down hill and we did the same, euthanized and necropsy. Again, nothing conclusive. I wondered since all three came from the same person if it was something in the breeding.

Ginger is the only original one left. She is awesome though. Very friendly and funny.

L to R: Jan, Marcia, Cindy