10 chickens didnt lay at all today!

[boombotz]

I have 10 RIR hens that usually give me 9-10 eggs a day. Today, when my son got home from school, he told me that there were NO eggs at all in the coop. Is this normal? I mean, i can see just a few eggs, but NO eggs at all? What do you guys think?

Thanks
Tommy

 

[Bullitt]

Did your son accidentally drop the eggs and was afraid to tell you?

Are the hens molting? Maybe that is why they stopped laying eggs.

Did it get really cold or something? That could have an affect on them.

Or maybe the stars aligned just right and this happened to be that one rare day where all the hens did not lay an egg. (You will find out tomorrow.)

 

[tec27]

Did your son accidentally drop the eggs and was afraid to tell you?

Are the hens molting? Maybe that is why they stopped laying eggs.

Did it get really cold or something? That could have an affect on them.

Or maybe the stars aligned just right and this happened to be that one rare day where all the hens did not lay an egg. (You will find out tomorrow.)

The first questions seems legit. I would problem have done the same thing when i was younger. Haha. If not, then they all have their cycles sync'd

 

[terryg]

A sudden drop in egg production from good to zero is a cause for concern. Stress can do it - fear can stop the laying process in it's tracks (literally, the eggs get stuck in the reproductive tract.) A predator scare can do that. A sudden onset of a virulent disease can do it. Or, a predator could have come and eaten the eggs, too. Or, your son could have a side-business selling the eggs and you don't know about it
Molting is an unlikely cause - all hens don't molt all on one day, and it'd be rare this time of year. If you get eggs tomorrow, breathe a sigh of relief. If you don't, look hard for a culprit.

 

[jomoncon]

I also have RIRs - 8 of them. I've been getting 6-7 eggs per day. Yesterday was an alltime low. Only 2 eggs. Maybe today will be better. By 7: 30, I have 1 egg already, so maybe my other ladies will get the idea & lay also.

 

[terryg]

It takes about 25 hours for a hen to create an egg. They don't lay at night. So... you'll get eggs, later and later each day, and then the cycle jumps, skips a day and starts again. That's normal. But when a large flock goes from plenty to none, there's usually something else going on.