Why Aren't My Chickens Laying? Here Are Your Answers!

[speckledhen]

In fall/winter, especially, this question is sometimes asked several times a day. The article has your answers!

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/20763/pnw565.pdf

Generally, your answers are:

Decreasing day length
Molt
Broodiness
Flock health
Age
Poor nutrition
Stress

See article for the full explanation of each cause.


Adding articles to supplement the first one since some don't feel it was entirely correct--the main problem is that you can't generalize about all hens, but you have to consider the general information as your starting point. The basic causes listed are correct.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps029
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/723/troubleshooting-egg-production-problems

 

[speckledhen]

Just remember, hens are not vending machines. They are living creatures that are affected by all sorts of external and internal stressors/cues. We are not at 100% capacity every single day and neither are they.

 

[speckledhen]

That is a general article with most of the main causes for lack of eggs. Just as I mentioned, chickens are living creatures, not machines, therefore, there may be other reasons and every bird isn't a textbook example. I've had birds lay their first egg at 18 weeks and I've had them lay at 40 weeks. When folks post the same question often about this same subject, I want to say, "They're not laying because they aren't laying." Sometimes you just can't find the cause and sometimes, usually in older birds, it's internal laying, a reproductive malfunction. No amount of worrying will make them lay, LOL. They generally do slow down after two or three years old. I do have a couple of five year old hens who are still laying two to three eggs per week. I lost one recently who hadn't laid an egg in 14 months and she was almost five as well. They are just individuals.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

What a great idea for a sticky! I know this comes up all the time.

There are also two reasons that people think their chickens aren't laying, when they really are. This comes up when people have low production. They're also things that commercial flocks in confinement don't usually deal with, so they don't get mentioned in articles.

The chickens are free ranging and laying out in the yard.

The chickens are laying, but an egg predator is stealing the eggs.

 

[speckledhen]

Naturally, birds are individuals. Age of the first egg is a general rule; most of my birds have started laying between 18-22 weeks old, but I have some who did not lay till around 40 weeks old. Some of it may depend on the time of year they hatch as well. And of course, the point is that, though they generally begin to lay within a certain age range, they are subject to all sorts of influences, external and internal. It also may depend on the breed, the nutrition, the season they approach maturity, the external stressors, etc., which is mainly the point of this thread-- to reiterate that there are many reasons that a hen may not be laying and, barring a reproductive malfunction such as internal laying/egg peritonitis, they lay when they lay and there isn't much to be done to change it. Just maintain their nutritional levels and wait.

 

[bmunson]

I was experiencing a major drop off about 2 months ago (about the time the daylight really started to drop). I installed a 40w light in the coup and put it on a timer. It took a couple of weeks to tweak out the timing, but now I've got it set. I'm on the east coast, so I have it come on about 6am and off at 10am, then again at 4pm and off at 8pm. I have been getting 6eggs from 6 chickens every single day for over a month now. I have a red mix that I picked up from TSC. Hope this helps!

 

[416bigbore]

In fall/winter, especially, this question is sometimes asked several times a day. The article has your answers!

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/20763/pnw565.pdf

Generally, your answers are:

Decreasing day length
Molt
Broodiness
Flock health
Age
Poor nutrition
Stress

See article for the full explanation of each cause.


Adding articles to supplement the first one since some don't feel it was entirely correct--the main problem is that you can't generalize about all hens, but you have to consider the general information as your starting point. The basic causes listed are correct.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps029
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/723/troubleshooting-egg-production-problems

Great Information, I was getting worried, I thought I was going to have to hang a picture of Colonel Sanders up in the Coop for inspiration!

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Wow.
Sigged.
Some folks here seem to forget that.

I seriously doubt anybody forgets that. I think that's why we get concerned... we know they're not machines. We know they're living, breathing creatures with certain anatomical and physical expectations, just like humans. If a human was unable to produce children, she would be considered barren & a health screening would ensue. I am very concerned over the health of my chickens, which is why I am concerned that they are not laying when they should be. They were old enough to lay 2-3 months ago.

BTW, what does "sigged" mean?

 

[HHandbasket]

Hi, I posted my response on the original thread but am going to add it here, as well.

That article is, in my daintily humble opinion, not useful at all.

According to that article, chickens are pretty useless within two years, and they all start laying at 18 to 20 weeks. That goes against virtually every single thing I have ever read about chickens on here and in books. CERTAIN breeds lay early, most start around 25-26 weeks in reality. I have also read NUMEROUS threads from experienced chickenkeeprs on here that have had their hens laying eggs regularly for years and years, not a lousy 18 months as is stated in the article!

Also according to that article, if that info were accurate, when the days shorten, EVERYBODY'S birds should slow down. Buuuuut they do not. Not everyone's birds slow down or stop.

My chickens have met all the criteria required in the article and still no eggs. I think there is something amiss in Mother Nature because there are SO many chickens that were hatched this spring.... an inordinate number of them... that are not producing eggs here as we near the end of the year! And it's not just my part of the country. All you have to do is read the BYC threads to know that there are lots of us doing all the 'RIGHT' things & still not getting any eggs. It's like there's a worldwide chicken egg-laying strike. LOL.

I think that there may have also been something amiss, maybe, in a hatchery & a buncha barren birds might have been produced? I don't know for sure, just saying that something's gotta be amiss somewhere. I have 8-month-old RIR and BR pullets that don't look or act any closer to laying than they did in July. I was concerned maybe they aren't laying because I switched them to layer food at 20 weeks & maybe they need more protein, so I upped their protein and changed their food to grower/flock finisher with free choice oyster shell. They eat the oyster shell and the food, seem to be really healthy and happy birds... just not gonna lay any eggs is all.

 

[TNBarnQueen]

Ok...I am new here....where are the "stickies"? I just love this site and the people here.

Also....I am another one of those frustrated with my hens not starting to lay. There are 6 different breeds and are now 5 months old. I do have one Mutt hen...this hen has only missed 5 days in a full year in laying a Jumbo egg for me. Hope all my others will take note of this and follow her lead!!!