One broody hen and the rest won't lay.

[RamHemiTX]

I am going to give a lot of information because I don't know what is relevant. Probably the most relevant piece of information is that I am new at this...

I have 6 Barred Rock hens that are 29 weeks old. The hens free range from dusk till dawn and then get locked in their palace of a coop at night. Inside the coop there are two roosting bars. Typically 4 of the girls sleep on the top bar and two of them sleep on the floor (sometimes in the nesting boxes). They have been laying between 4 and 6 eggs per day consistently for the last 4-5 weeks and I generally collect the eggs around 5-6 PM. Five days ago, I did not make it into the coop until about 8:30 PM. When I opened the nesting box lid, two of the nesting boxes had hens sitting on eggs and one of the boxes had two hens squished in together and sitting on eggs.

Egg production the next 3 days was down to 1 egg. For the last two days I have not had any eggs. Only one of them seems to be broody and trying to spend the whole day in the nesting box. I just cannot figure out why I am getting no eggs at all...

The girls have plenty of fresh water, and a supply of layer crumbles available. They do seem to be eating and drinking.

I have looked all over the yard for eggs and see no evidence that they are laying in the yard. I am just wondering what may be going on..

 

[sourland]

Try locking them in the coop until noon, and then watch them closely when they are released. They can be real good at establishing hidden nests.

 

[RamHemiTX]

Try locking them in the coop until noon, and then watch them closely when they are released. They can be real good at establishing hidden nests.

I can do that, but I assure you there is no where in the yard that I have not looked. They also fight a lot when I leave them in the coop. There are two in particular that are just mean. They are not aggressive towards people, just the other hens. They won't let the others eat or drink without attacking them. I have one that I believe to be partially blind because of those attacks. She pecks at the air constantly. When I try to hand feed her she will peck at my fingers and miss the food. If I put a pile of treats on the ground she doesn't see it at all.. She is one of the ones that won't go up on the roosting bar at night.

 

[sourland]

Do you have multiple feeding and water stations so that the picked upon birds get enough to eat? The dominant hens may be keeping them from eating and drinking as much as they need for egg production.

 

[RamHemiTX]

Do you have multiple feeding and water stations so that the picked upon birds get enough to eat? The dominant hens may be keeping them from eating and drinking as much as they need for egg production.

Duplicate post, sorry...

 

[RamHemiTX]

Do you have multiple feeding and water stations so that the picked upon birds get enough to eat? The dominant hens may be keeping them from eating and drinking as much as they need for egg production.

I do have two feeders and multiple nipples on the "water pipe". They only fight when kept in the coop. When they are free ranging, they come and go and eat and drink without incident.

 

[RamHemiTX]

I am trying an experiment. I have locked 3 hens in the run/coop and the broody broad outside. One of the hens I locked in immediately went into the coop and headed right to a nesting box. I wonder if the broody broad is scaring the rest of them away when they try to get in the coop??

 

[RamHemiTX]

Yep, one egg laid....

 

[DanEP]

Some broody's are fairly mellow some are meaner than a snake. You don't mention having a rooster or having fertilized eggs if not I'd break her. If you do want her to set you may want to move her to her own nest away from the others. Have you checked under the broody to see if she's sitting on a lot of eggs.I had one broody that would tuck eggs under her wing and take them back to her nest emptying the other 9 boxes every day till hers hatched.
You may find that your feeders and water nipples are close enough together for one hen to keep the others off them.
don't lock your girls in the coop just don't open the run till noon. I have an ee that still tries to lay somewhere in my shop every day.we have a routine she try's sneaking in, I chase her out and then she goes straight to the coop and lays.On days i'm not on my game I will find eggs all over the shop on and under saws, work benches and even found one on the drill press in a pile of metal shavings.

 

[RamHemiTX]

Some broody's are fairly mellow some are meaner than a snake. You don't mention having a rooster or having fertilized eggs if not I'd break her. If you do want her to set you may want to move her to her own nest away from the others. Have you checked under the broody to see if she's sitting on a lot of eggs.I had one broody that would tuck eggs under her wing and take them back to her nest emptying the other 9 boxes every day till hers hatched.
You may find that your feeders and water nipples are close enough together for one hen to keep the others off them.
don't lock your girls in the coop just don't open the run till noon. I have an ee that still tries to lay somewhere in my shop every day.we have a routine she try's sneaking in, I chase her out and then she goes straight to the coop and lays.On days i'm not on my game I will find eggs all over the shop on and under saws, work benches and even found one on the drill press in a pile of metal shavings.

Dan,

No rooster or fertilized eggs is correct. I won't be able to build a "time out" cage until this weekend. I am thinking I may just pull her out of the run in the morning and leave all the others in until noon. That way, if it was her running them off they should be able to get in the coop and lay. I do plan to build two more of the feeders. Currently, my setup holds almost 1/2 a bag of feed. Adding two more would let me have all the feed out there and not have to store it. That could help if a moody bird was trying to keep the others out of the food.