HELP!!!!!!!!!!! ALL of my hens have stopped laying eggs!

[lauries]

My original comment was back in October 2014 saying my hens had quit laying earlier in August 2014. Well, the ladies have now fully come back on-line now - started getting an egg now & then late December but now getting 3-5 eggs a day. Sooo hooray!

Lost one of my New Hampshire Reds to ? I don't know what. After coming back into town Sunday after Thanksgiving my husband checked & fed chickens for me. Monday late morning I went out and found her laying on the ground under their roost - sorta like she just fell off. Husband said none of them were on ground when he went out day before and no one acting sickly or strange. Checked her out and no signs of outward trauma, pecking or otherwise. The other 9 have been doing just fine so don't have a clue as to what happened.

 

[Mauka]

Egg Sucking Snake. Case Closed.

Omg that gives me the heebie jeebies. We don't have snakes here in Hawaii, thank god.

 

[juliag103]

Hey all,

I am having quite the interesting dilemma with my flock of 16 hens and 2 roosters. We were getting 6-12 eggs per day, even through weeks of negative double digit temperature. On Monday, I gathered 9 eggs. No eggs on Tuesday. I let them out on Wednesday (I let them out around noon on nice days) and left the coop door open overnight; something I do quite a bit and have never had any problems. No eggs on Wednesday. On Thursday I put up a trail cam hoping to catch the culprit, and locked the chickens in. No eggs on Thursday. This morning I checked the trail cam; nothing. No eggs on Friday. This evening I set the trail cam up and baited it with three eggs. I had to buy the eggs...

There is absolutely NO trace of four days worth of eggs; no wet bedding in the nest boxes, no shell shards.

I see no abundance of feathers, and have no reason to think they're molting. They are all a year old.

They have free access to fresh water, layer feed crumbles and pellets, oyster shells and grit. They also get about 3 cups of scratch each day. On days when it's 20 degrees or colder, they get hot mash (their feed and some scratch.) They also get scraps; fruits, veggies, bread. None of this diet has changed; not even the brand.

I did clean the coop on Monday, but they are all friendly and are used to me cleaning the coop. I used the same softwood pellets for the floor and the same pine shavings for the nest boxes. None of this bedding has changed; not even the brand.

They have supplemental heat lamps on an automatic thermal indicator that turns them on at 15 degrees.

As for danger to chickens and eggs wildlife up here, we have bobcats, coyotes, fox, raccoons, opossums, weasels and skunks. All reptiles are still in hibernation.

I am completely at a loss here. No idea what is going on.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. I love my chickens, and I want to find out what's wrong

 

[Hen Maid]

I feel your pain, mine have been slacking almost a year.
My year old hens stopped laying last April, they molted in June and out of 13 hens-2-3 eggs a day if luck. They are now almost 2 years old, with 3 that are 1 year.

Do you have any hens eating the eggs? They could be gearing up for a molt, eggs take a lot of energy.

I'm trying the following this week-
I took a boil egg and dropped it on the floor of the coop to see if any went after it and sure thing-2 started going for it, so they are likely eating the ones they lay and the others too.
So I took plastic Easter Eggs and put 2 in each nest, to try and break the egg eating habit.
They say if the chicken can't break the egg, they should tire of pecking at it and hopefully stop. We will see. Then after they have been broken of the habit, I read one post that says to put milk in a dish and let them drink that for 2-3 days-so I'm going to try that too.
I'm planning on trying adding a little bit of salt-not much, to their diet for a few days-see if that works.

 

[lovethebawk]

Hi, I'm a long time reader, first time poster...

What happened with the milk?? What's it's purpose? I've never heard of that.

My chickens (4 Eastereggers) will be 1 year on the 19th. I typically get one egg a day from each, but about 6 days ago, that changed. I'm only getting one egg a day right now and for 3 days I got bumm eggs and found them in weird places. One egg was found downstairs in their run and it was broken open, but still had yolk/white inside the shell. The next day i found a softshell egg in the nest box, and then the next day I found a broken (pecked or stepped on only) egg under the roosting area (outside the nests). Now, three days with just one egg per day. I feed organic layers feed, meal worm/oat mix as a treat or to get them back in their coop, some scraps, but not tons, and about once a week I make them oatmeal. I mix ACV into their water too.

Do you think I should be worried, or just patient??

 

[mommyrocks74]

Here is a mystery for you. I have seven hens, all good layers. Four lay brown eggs three lay white. For over a week now I have only gotten brown eggs, no white ones or even shells to be found. What in the world?

 

[RBee]

I have the same problem with my 3 hens. They are only 3 yrs old & were great layers until a few months ago. We did find a rat snake eating an egg & relocated it. No problems since but hens have still not laid a single egg. They get to free range part of the day & get plenty of treats, mill worms, sunflower seeds, oats, watermelon & table scraps. Miss my eggs!

 

[dill1150]

Try feeding them smashed egg laying mix and oats in the summer and in winter give them bread and WHOLE corn and they should start laying in no time

 

[CochinLover1]

Well, a couple of things can cause this. First, check your hen's vents. Make sure they don't have prolapse (doubtful you will find it in young hens or even all of them) but its still good to check. They also might be molting. Mine stopped laying not too long ago but now they're back on line. Heat. Heat is a major factor, if you are having a hot week or weeks, hens will stop laying. Another thing, if anything happened to the birds' waterer, dehydration can put a hen out of lay faster than most other things. Check for mites. Bugs on chickens are very uncomfortable and suck a lot of blood out of the bird. That can also be a possible factor. Check your hens for sneezing,watery eyes, runny nose, or any abnormal droppings. Check for sickness or worms. Also, if hens are too fat then they will stop laying too. And you can check that by just weighing your bird. I would really check on all of those and if you find any of those then you can fix it. (Except prolapse.) If none of those things apply to your birds, give it some time then check again.

 

[NewChickenworld]

I got my chickens May 1st 2015. Two weeks ago our one white chicken started laying eggs. She laid everyday for two weeks and then she stopped. She hasn't laid an egg in about two weeks. The other three chickens haven't started laying yet. Is it normal for her to stop laying eggs? Is it normal that the other three that are the same age hasn't laid any eggs yet? The kids and I get so disappointed when we go to the coop and there are no eggs in the nesting boxes for us