All my chickens have stopped laying

[acts4me]

You asked for causes of your problem, crowding can be a serious problem and often the cause of stress which in turn can cause illness and cessation of lay.
Many newbies don't understand the space needed for a healthy flock so it's often the first questions asked and possible causes inquired about.

Yes, I'm facts and figures .....and female

......and was in no means or way trying to 'attack' you.

I did not mean that you were attacking me aart. I was speaking of the first couple of posts one of which the person deleted what they said or edited it. I was stating to you that I understood your posts but did not believe it was the problem as I have been keeping chickens for the better part of my 52 years on this earth. I am sure that can be a problem but it would not cause my chickens who have been laying to suddenly stop. On top of that as I stated my Light Brahmas who live in a 10x16 area also but there are only eight hens and a rooster in that coop. The reason I originally posted was because I have never had all my chickens stop laying at the same time. I've had them to slow down ( when they are molting) but never stop. lindalouly how do you add protien?

 

[lindalouly]

M

I did not mean that you were attacking me aart. I was speaking of the first couple of posts one of which the person deleted what they said or edited it. I was stating to you that I understood your posts but did not believe it was the problem as I have been keeping chickens for the better part of my 52 years on this earth. I am sure that can be a problem but it would not cause my chickens who have been laying to suddenly stop. On top of that as I stated my Light Brahmas who live in a 10x16 area also but there are only eight hens and a rooster in that coop. The reason I originally posted was because I have never had all my chickens stop laying at the same time. I've had them to slow down ( when they are molting) but never stop. lindalouly how do you add protien?

I add meal worms and dinner scraps to their feed in the morning... It doesn't take much. Others use a higher protein feed that has less calcium and just supplement with oyster shells... I can't remember the kind of feed it is though.... Also make sure there are no mites in boxes.. That can cause a sudden drop in eggs too. I hope this helps.

 

[marktoo]

Lots of conflicting information out there on the web. Drove me nuts as I was starting out with my 4, a few years back till I found this site. Don't come here very often anymore but there are a lot of nice friendly folk here who are willing to help as best they can. Many people probably viewed without responding cause they didn't have an answer. No one starts out as a newbie with 200 birds. Do they? You probably have more experience than all but the most expert of us. Therefore, what could most say that would be of benefit to you? Lots of info is lost in the written word. Without hearing tone, seeing facial expression etc. it is often easy to misinterpret what is truly being said. The topic caught my eye as my 4 have now stopped laying. Pretty sure it is cause they are molting. Tensions in the hen house are running high & all are easily annoyed!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

If they have all stopped at the same time perhaps you have a predator, either animal or human, just a thought.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I have a very mixed flock of Polish, Silver and gold laced wyandotte, Orpingtons lavender buff and splash, Arcona's, Easter Eggers, Black sexlinks, Bantams, Large fowl cochins and Jersey Giants. I am sure I forgot someone. I have multiple pens that are 10 x 18 with attached houses that are 5 x5x 10. They free range at least a couple times a week. All of these birds are between 22 and 26 weeks old. I also have a flock of light brahmas that are eighteen months old. I feed laying pellets now to all of them (Country acres) from my local feed store. The chickens are broke to about 35 birds per coop. I think that answers all your questions. Thanks for any help you can offer

That's all good information to work with, thank you for the answers. Sorry I didn't get back to this faster, but I had lost track of the thread a bit and then it seemed to have blown up and I wasn't sure you were going to be coming back to read.

Which of the birds (breed wise) had started to lay? Were the brahmas actively laying and stopped as well or just the ones that had started are included in the ones that stopped? You mention you are feeling laying pellets "now" - was that a recent change and, if so, how recently was it changed? Given the ages involved I would imagine those that had started did not lay very long at all prior to stopping as it's been two weeks since they stopped laying - how many days/weeks was it you actually got any eggs from them?

Not to belabor the point, but the fact is that your birds are in a situation where the space available to them is not optimal. You have about 1.5 square feet in the coop and 5 square feet per bird in the run given the measurements you've given (and that's assuming that your feed and water stations are located such that they are not occupying any of the internal space). While industrial poultry farming will often assert that such an amount of space is sufficient, or even generous in comparison with the conditions of battery birds, from a practical standpoint it could definitely give you happier, healthier birds to increase the amount of space the birds have to themselves. A more commonly accepted guideline (outside of commercial producition or the horribly misguided measurements quoted by the pre-fab coop industry) is to try to allow at least 4 square feet inside and 10 square feet outside for each bird for standard large fowl birds - more for larger breeds (which you do have). While birds can certainly survive in less space than that, the goal (especially when you are wanting to increase production) is to have them thrive - rather than looking at meeting minimum standards, providing more than squeaking by (or cramming in).

Really, most of your birds are still very much within the window where a lack of production is not all that concerning - except for those birds that did start and then stopped. While starts and stops are normal when a bird first enters production, the fact that it has been two weeks with no eggs is a bit outside the norm for even the rather erratic production you can see at first. There are many factors that can contribute to a lack of production - for your birds it may be that most of them (after all, 15 out of 200 total is not that many birds to have seen start/stop and assume there is a more generalized/flock-wide problem) simply are not yet ready. You have a bit of a mix of breeds as far as the expected point of maturity. Do you ahve photos of the birds that you can share so that we can help you assess where they are in regards to closeness to production? If the birds truly are at the point where they *should* be producing and are not, that is when you start looking at the other factors that can cause issues - internal/external parasites, stress, nutritional issues, etc.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hi acts4me,

Your dimensions are precisely what I thought, but thank you for clarifying.

My understanding is that each coop needs to have 4sq. feet of space per bird. If you have 40 birds inside the coop, that would mean the coop should be 10x16 to allow enough room for the birds to settle and not be stressed.

In addition, the run should allot at least 10 sq. feet per bird (if they are locked up in all day as mine are), and for 40 birds, that would be 400 square feet. If yours are able to free-range, I don't think the size of the run is going to matter really.

But I would still be concerned with over-crowding in a coop that has 50 square feet for 40 birds when it should be 160 square feet. They might be very stressed in that situation.

I am unsure how to use common core to solve math problems. But back when i leaned how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide using a dinosaur's rib cage, 10 feet multiplied by 16 feet is equal to 160 sq feet. 160 square feet divided by 40 birds equals 4 square feet per bird.

But the real question that needs asking here is, "What is the goal that you have in mind for your birds?" If you want egg production then i am afraid that you may need a different brand (strain) of hen. 120 years ago the average hen laid 83 eggs per year. This (or less) is still the standard of many "heritage" chicken breeds. Then again until modern times no one thought that a mere human could ever run a sub 4 minute mile.

 

[lilbeastpdx]

I am unsure how to use common core to solve math problems.  But back when i leaned how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide using a dinosaur's rib cage, 10 feet multiplied by 16 feet is equal to 160 sq feet.  160 square feet divided by 40 birds equals 4 square feet per bird. 

But the real question that needs asking here is, "What is the goal that you have in mind for your birds?"  If you want egg production then i am afraid that you may need a different brand (strain) of hen.  120 years ago the average hen laid 83 eggs per year.  This (or less) is still the standard of many "heritage" chicken breeds.  Then again until modern times no one thought that a mere human could ever run a sub 4 minute mile. 

Yes. Your math is the same as mine. (Am I misunderstanding you?) I was saying that the coop is too small at 5x10x5 for forty birds. The run should be bigger too.

As far as why they've stopped laying, have they ALL stopped? Molting, diminishing daylight, stress from tight quarters all seem likely contributors to the problem.

 

[lilbeastpdx]

That's all good information to work with, thank you for the answers.  Sorry I didn't get back to this faster, but I had lost track of the thread a bit and then it seemed to have blown up and I wasn't sure you were going to be coming back to read.


Which of the birds (breed wise) had started to lay?  Were the brahmas actively laying and stopped as well or just the ones that had started are included in the ones that stopped?  You mention you are feeling laying pellets "now" - was that a recent change and, if so, how recently was it changed?  Given the ages involved I would imagine those that had started did not lay very long at all prior to stopping as it's been two weeks since they stopped laying - how many days/weeks was it you actually got any eggs from them? 

Not to belabor the point, but the fact is that your birds are in a situation where the space available to them is not optimal.  You have about 1.5 square feet in the coop and 5 square feet per bird in the run given the measurements you've given (and that's assuming that your feed and water stations are located such that they are not occupying any of the internal space).  While industrial poultry farming will often assert that such an amount of space is sufficient, or even generous in comparison with the conditions of battery birds, from a practical standpoint it could definitely give you happier, healthier birds to increase the amount of space the birds have to themselves.  A more commonly accepted guideline (outside of commercial producition or the horribly misguided measurements quoted by the pre-fab coop industry) is to try to allow at least 4 square feet inside and 10 square feet outside for each bird for standard large fowl birds - more for larger breeds (which you do have).  While birds can certainly survive in less space than that, the goal (especially when you are wanting to increase production) is to have them thrive - rather than looking at meeting minimum standards, providing more than squeaking by (or cramming in).

Really, most of your birds are still very much within the window where a lack of production is not all that concerning - except for those birds that did start and then stopped.  While starts and stops are normal when a bird first enters production, the fact that it has been two weeks with no eggs is a bit outside the norm for even the rather erratic production you can see at first.  There are many factors that can contribute to a lack of production - for your birds it may be that most of them (after all, 15 out of 200 total is not that many birds to have seen start/stop and assume there is a more generalized/flock-wide problem) simply are not yet ready.  You have a bit of a mix of breeds as far as the expected point of maturity.  Do you ahve photos of the birds that you can share so that we can help you assess where they are in regards to closeness to production?   If the birds truly are at the point where they *should* be producing  and  are not, that is when you start looking at the other factors that can cause issues - internal/external parasites, stress, nutritional issues, etc.

Thanks for this Ol Grey Mare! I wasn't aware that they can start/stop laying when they first begin to lay. That seems to answer my problem with my girl who started laying three weeks ago and has now stopped for the last six days (she started going broody at 24 weeks, and I broke her of that). She's eating and acting otherwise perfectly normal. Thanks for the tip!

 

[TNBielefelder]

I know my girls lay better when I supplement more protein into their layer food... We have had a drop off of eggs as well due to our weather..... But not completely... This might be something worth trying maybe....

What do you provide to supplement protein in your layer feed? Just curious

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Yes. Your math is the same as mine. (Am I misunderstanding you?) I was saying that the coop is too small at 5x10x5 for forty birds. The run should be bigger too.

As far as why they've stopped laying, have they ALL stopped? Molting, diminishing daylight, stress from tight quarters all seem likely contributors to the problem.

It is my impression that the total square footage including the run and the sleeping quarters is 210 square feet, total.