2 yr old speckled sussex hens not laying for months

[Dville Chix]

We have two speckled sussex hens that are now 2 years old. They both stopped laying midwinter and have never restarted. They were laying reliably for over a year before that. Our other 2 hens (one olive egger and one barred rock) are laying fine and did so through the winter. (Light in coop) There are no broken shells to indicate that either they or a predator are eating them. We get eggs consistently from the other two, and if something were eating the eggs, some of the BR and OE eggs would be disappearing. All of our birds free range some days, but sometimes are kept in for several days straight, so we don't think they are hiding the eggs in a secret free range nest. When they gradually stopped laying midwinter, the eggs were a bit misshapen. We have inspected them for external parasites, and found nothing. If they have internal parasites, we would expect the OE and BR to have those too, and presumably be showing reduced egg production. We are feeding a balanced layer feed, so they should be getting plenty of calcium. During the winter we augmented the feed with corn, but we stopped that 2 months ago. Any ideas?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In my experiences they are poor layers. I see that up front good production than they stop with an occasion egg. They aren't exactly good for egg production in my experiences.

 

[aart]

Our other 2 hens (one olive egger and one barred rock) are laying fine and did so through the winter. (Light in coop)

How old are these birds, in months?
Did the older birds molt last fall?

How did you manage the lighting?
Date of start and stop.....and hours of daily duration?

 

[sourland]

It may be a breed/strain related thing, or they may just be taking an extended break in the laying cycle. If they don't resume laying after they molt, their productive years may be over.

 

[Dville Chix]

They molted in the fall -- It was not a dramatic "nearly naked" molt, but there were a lot of their feathers about and they definitely looked ragged before looking shiny and new. They are exactly 24 months old. The winter lighting was a 40W bulb on a timer inside their small coop (~1 cubic yard--We have a "bungalow" coop from MyPetChicken.) That same winter lighting worked for the other 2 hens this year and worked for all 4 hens the previous winter. We moved the coop a few days ago and did a complete clean-out of bedding. In the old bedding we did find what looks like egg yolk in two places, but absolutely no shell. We are now suspicious that the girls aren't eating enough of the layer feed to get sufficient calcium to make eggshells. That is suprising since we only free-range them for a few hours a day, and not every day. The only food they have access to most of the time is the layer feed. Even if those were two shell-less eggs, that is still only two eggs over the three week span of the bedding. We will get some oyster shell as supplement, but I still don't think that is the only thing going on here. We tried adding extra oyster shell during the winter when we were allowing them corn, and it didn't help then. These birds are only 24 months old. They definitely should not be "past their prime". They appear to be perfectly healthy and happy, they just aren't laying. If they are taking a break, how long do breaks typically last? We like the birds and hate to slaughter if they will eventually start up again, but we only have 4 hens in a small coop, so we can't add more birds to increase production unless we cull these.

 

[aart]

~1 cubic yard--We have a "bungalow" coop from MyPetChicken.

So 3' x 3' x 3'?
This Coop?
That's a pretty small space for 4 birds.
Do you have a run too?

The winter lighting was a 40W bulb on a timer

More details please?

Date of start and stop.....and hours of daily duration?

 

[Dville Chix]

Yes, that coop. It has an attached run that doubles the overall space available. Started the light in December, ended it late March or early April. It was on a timer that shut off at ~9:30pm. That gave them about 14 hours of light daily. The bulb was in a brooder type lamp suspended from the interior ceiling of the coop.

 

[aart]

Did the eggs stop when the light went off?
A drop in daylight length can definitely stop/slow laying.
Crowding stress can do the same....3x6' total space for 4 birds is tight.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I have one Speckled Sussex named Sadie. She lays eggs, but only about once a month! She laid her first egg when she was over a year old! I know when she lays because she lays a specked egg and none of the other girls looks like hers. I just think the breed is not a good regular laying breed. Sadie is so cool, she acts like a little dog when I'm around and follows me everywhere. If I sit out with the chickens she always jumps up on the back of the chair and churps in my ear! I don't care if she doesn't lay, she is just too cool to be without!

 

[Dville Chix]

Update 7 months later: Neither of the two specked sussex ever resumed laying. The birds stopped laying at age 18 months and they are now 30 months old. One of the two came down ill three weeks ago. She clearly had intestinal issues or a blockage because her crop would not empty. She would not eat or drink willingly. Her poo was mostly urates and was the color of hard boiled egg yolk. We thought she had coccidiosis and/or necrotic enteritis and spent three weeks providing intensive care that included hand feeding with a syringe, probiotics, and antibiotics. Her abdomen was distended, but we thought she had gas rather than ascites because the pressure seemed to be reduced when she passed gas. She also did not have reddened skin, so we didn't think the enlarged belly was ascites or heart disease. Initially the antibiotics helped and she rallied. A few days ago she began a rapid decline and then died yesterday. We conducted an amateur necropsy and discovered a few things. 1--the pressure was clear brown fluid, not gas. 2--she had advanced ovarian cancer which had spread to her intestines. 3--Her gizzard was still full of milo and millet seeds fed her over three weeks ago. (We occasionally give wild bird seed mix as a treat) The cracked corn, wheat berries, and whole sunflower seeds in the mix were absent, so apparently she was able to digest those. #3 is probably not too important. The main thing I wanted to share is that I had not realized how common ovarian cancer is in chickens (10% - 35% depending on breed, age, and diet). Nor did I know that ascites is a symptom of late stage ovarian cancer. I now suspect that both my sussex hens had developed ovarian cancer and it is only a matter of time before my 2nd sussex presents with similar symptoms. I now believe that they stopped laying at age 18 months due to cancer. It is odd that they stopped around the same time, but perhaps one was laying longer than the other. There was little difference in the eggs between the two birds, so I might have missed one stopping before the other. Perhaps this breed is more susceptible than others? I am tempted to say I won't get another speckled sussex, but they have such a terrific personality, I probably will (but NOT from the same hatchery). However, I will probably only let 3 months go by after a bird stops laying before harvesting. Harvesting would have been a much more humane death than what our poor girl went through at the end.