16 hens and NO eggs

Are they molting? Mine are. I'm getting one egg a day, ironically from a RIR, out of the 14 hens I've got out there.

 

I know I've got a couple molting... there are feathers all over the coop. So I have hope for more eggs next month.

 

I have 4 EEs and 3 new pullets--a blue ameraucana, a buff orp and a welsummer. I have not had any eggs since the last of September. EE moulting is over already and the new girls are 34 weeks old. And all are enjoying layer pellets, treats and free ranging. Bought 2 dozen nasty white eggs at the grocery yesterday.

 

I won't buy from supermarkets anymore, fortunately there's a woman in the next town who raises 250 or so Golden Comets, she's always got eggs (and her farm is a lovely place for chickens). As for the EEs, they haven't graced me with a green/blue egg since mid-September This is their second winter.

 

Try light 14 hours a day & lay pellets mixed in with their food. May just do the trick.

 

This makes me feel better. I have 6 that were laying great until a few weeks ago. At Thanksgiving, one of the people there said they were still getting @5/day from their 6 chickens. My DH asked if she had a light on them, and she said no. I suspect she exaggerates. I didn't call her on it, but I was thinking, oh COME on...aren't they molting or something?!

Nice to know my sweet girls aren't just slackers.

 

So just how long does the molt take? We have been getting 2 eggs every other day from 18 hens. I have 3 california whites, 6 ee, 5 ameraucana, slw, br, rir,white rock, and bo/ee mix. I am getting 1 from the california white and rir, by the colors. Do they all have to be out of the molt before they start to lay again? The oldest ones are 18 months and the younger ones are 8 months.

 

I don't know how long it takes for the girls to lay after a moult--these are my first chickens in their second winter. I had 2 slow moulters who started end of August and were finished in about a month---a few feathers here and a few there. Then the next 2 girls whose feathers all fell out at once and were buck naked. They had new feathers all grown in quickly. But they still aren't laying. This is their second winter and last year they were very late blooming pullets---they did not start laying until January and were over 7 months old at that point. I didn't use artificial light last year so I am not planning to use it this year. Not really into artificial stuff. They all get layer pellets plus free range plus leftovers so they are quite content. They all just got wormed and are fat and healthy.

The other thing that is interesting is that the whole chicken world is being rearranged. My head hen is no longer in charge---a whole new pecking order has developed---along with problems with roosting. The new head hen kicked all the others off the roost every night and they were all sleeping and pooping in the next boxes since she would peck them mercilessly until they gave up trying to roost. I finally opened up my little bitty coop and oddly enough, she has gone off to roost in that coop all by herself every night since. It is very strange. And so now I have a coop with 6 chickens I am trying to re-train to quit roosting in the nest boxes and a little coop with one occupant.

 

I would advise not to push or try to force the egg laying with added light.

This is the time of year when the hens naturally slow down and often stop laying as we head into winter. Cold temps, shorter days, they are conserving their resources as well as their bodies need down time to heal, rejuvenate and simple rest. They spend a few month through winter as nature intended to get ready for the big egg push that comes with spring.

I'd let them rest. At 2.5 years of age they still have egg laying time to come but when you force the egg laying year round they tend to burn out and usually die early.

On average a hen lays about 280 eggs a year (and that is from a production type layer, not a run of the mill backyard chicken). Chickens need down time and mother nature gives it to them.