2.5 year old chicken not laying

[Wannabee Offgrid]

Hi all! Any and all help would be appreciated.

Back story: April 2021 got 2 chickens that were approximately 1 year old. One was reddish brown, second was speckled tan/white. They may have been purchased from tractor supply. They are kept in a Omlet chicken coop with 12 x 4 ft run and let out to free range during the day. Feed was laying pellets. Brown chicken laid a large brown egg daily, speckled chicken usually laid an extra large egg every 1-3 days. Coop washed out weekly with new bedding replaced.

Fast forward 1 year: April 2022 A bobcat got the red/brown chicken one afternoon. The Tan/white chicken continued to lay about 2 eggs/week but by the end of the month stopped laying altogether. The weather was warming up to about 85 degrees F (North Texas). By June I began to switch to a mixture of BOSS, oats, corn and wheat. Then I began fermenting the mix.For about 2 weeks she devoured the fermented food, but tapered off as time went on. I've tried adding both dry and fermented laying pellets and oyster shell. She never laid another egg. I've looked over the months and there aren't any nests outside the coop. She would go in like normal to "lay" but never produces an egg.

Last Month: I had to go away for a while. My Chicken was kept in a friends "rough" coop with 1 rooster, 2 laying guinea hens and 3 Easter Eggers, nonlaying (4 months old). My chicken laid 1 egg within the first 24 hours then no more the entire month. She was just fed laying pellets during this time. Coop was small ( 10 x 10) with just a shelter to keep out of the rain. Not allowed to free range. Fed collectively so not sure how much food she got.

Last week: I brought my chicken home. She's back to her solitary life, clean coop, allowed to free range. She feels a little lighter but acting normal.

My questions:
Have I waited too long to do anything about her not laying?
If not, what can I do?
How much should a solitary chicken be eating daily?
Should I be leaving her cooped up all day in a 12 x 4 run?
How can I provide dry bath material if moving the coop around? Since this is a closed system where the poop is contained, I just move the coop and run around so that she has a new area to scratch occasionally.
Would getting 2 young Barred Rock chickens help or complicate matters?

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Hi all! Any and all help would be appreciated.

Back story: April 2021 got 2 chickens that were approximately 1 year old. One was reddish brown, second was speckled tan/white. They may have been purchased from tractor supply. They are kept in a Omlet chicken coop with 12 x 4 ft run and let out to free range during the day. Feed was laying pellets. Brown chicken laid a large brown egg daily, speckled chicken usually laid an extra large egg every 1-3 days. Coop washed out weekly with new bedding replaced.

Fast forward 1 year: April 2022 A bobcat got the red/brown chicken one afternoon. The Tan/white chicken continued to lay about 2 eggs/week but by the end of the month stopped laying altogether. The weather was warming up to about 85 degrees F (North Texas). By June I began to switch to a mixture of BOSS, oats, corn and wheat. Then I began fermenting the mix.For about 2 weeks she devoured the fermented food, but tapered off as time went on. I've tried adding both dry and fermented laying pellets and oyster shell. She never laid another egg. I've looked over the months and there aren't any nests outside the coop. She would go in like normal to "lay" but never produces an egg.

Last Month: I had to go away for a while. My Chicken was kept in a friends "rough" coop with 1 rooster, 2 laying guinea hens and 3 Easter Eggers, nonlaying (4 months old). My chicken laid 1 egg within the first 24 hours then no more the entire month. She was just fed laying pellets during this time. Coop was small ( 10 x 10) with just a shelter to keep out of the rain. Not allowed to free range. Fed collectively so not sure how much food she got.

Last week: I brought my chicken home. She's back to her solitary life, clean coop, allowed to free range. She feels a little lighter but acting normal.

My questions:
Have I waited too long to do anything about her not laying?
If not, what can I do?
How much should a solitary chicken be eating daily?
Should I be leaving her cooped up all day in a 12 x 4 run?
How can I provide dry bath material if moving the coop around? Since this is a closed system where the poop is contained, I just move the coop and run around so that she has a new area to scratch occasionally.
Would getting 2 young Barred Rock chickens help or complicate matters?

I think she’s been under a lot of stress, you might get some eggs by spring, once the days get longer. Getting her some friends might stress her out in the short term, but most chickens enjoy having a flock.

 

[Wannabee Offgrid]

How do you "de-stress" a chicken? I've tried being out in the yard with her but that doesn't seem to change anything although she likes the company. I've fed her fresh spinach with she loves.

I'm only used to having dogs...can you tell?

Do solitary chickens produce eggs?
Would leaving her confined be better?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Does she have access to calcium like oyster shell? It might be a feed issue. If she is molting shs won't lay for a while and will require more protein to grow feathers. This time of year most chickens slow down anyway but if she laid when she went to your friend's that is a big clue-either the feed was better or she needs friends. Chickens aren't meant to be solitary. At her age she will slow down laying but you should be getting a couple eggs a week I suspect.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

How do you "de-stress" a chicken? I've tried being out in the yard with her but that doesn't seem to change anything although she likes the company. I've fed her fresh spinach with she loves.

I'm only used to having dogs...can you tell?

Do solitary chickens produce eggs?
Would leaving her confined be better?

The problem is you can’t really tell. Just do your best to make her happy, and she’ll hopefully be back to normal! When I’ve had solitary chickens they seemed almost depressed, and perked up when they had a flock to be around, so that’s my recommendation.

 

[Wannabee Offgrid]

Thank you for your reply's.

Yes I supplement with oyster shell grit and eggs shells. My friends were using the feed I gave them for all the birds.

I had hoped between the rooster and the guinea hens she would get the idea. I know the rooster was VERY interested in her and that she put up a fight. I assume he was able to get to her over the month but still after a month she had just laid the one egg.

The guinea hens had stopped laying when i picked her up, but their owner said they were molting. I'm hoping it wasn't her influence....

 

[Wannabee Offgrid]

Anyone know what influence free range vs coop has on a solitary chicken? I always feel bad that she is cooped up, however coming in December I will have a dog in my yard and probably have to confine her in a limited space.

What is an acceptable roaming area for 1-3 chickens?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have an 8' x 4' run for three chickens. They have additional run attached to their stupid prefab coop but its not worth mentioning. Some days I leave them in there and they are fine. Its not great so I also have maybe twice that on the other side of the coop but even when I open the door to let them into the big run they mostly stay in the attached run. It depends on the chickens. Some breeds prefer to range more. I let mine out in the yard in the evenings a few days a week but right now they are kind of quarantined because one of them has been sneezing.

 

[3KillerBs]

By June I began to switch to a mixture of BOSS, oats, corn and wheat. Then I began fermenting the mix.For about 2 weeks she devoured the fermented food, but tapered off as time went on. I've tried adding both dry and fermented laying pellets and oyster shell.

I *could* be misunderstanding your feeding method here, but that *sounds* like you've taken a minimal-protein feed, layer pellets, and diluted it with a lot of empty starch and fat.

You might consider switching her to a 20% all-flock or grower feed (making the change slowly over a week or two), and nothing else for several months to let her rebuild her body from the stress of the changes and potential molting.

 

[Shadrach]

One of the most common things to affect a chickens health is stress. High stress levels can cause depression to paralysis. One thing it can cause is a reduction in laying.
Strangely one of the things that does cause stress in confinement in small spaces.
I would consider getting her some friends. Try to find hens that are of a similar size and colouring. I would not confine her to a coop. However, you mention a run.
The fact that you have a strange dog arriving does not bode well.
I would decide on chickens or dog and then think about how to improve the keeping arrangements of either. I wouldn't go about introducing new chickens, building them some kind of run and then teaching the dog to leave them alone.