21 chickens and all of a sudden NONE of them are laying

[RGEISENDORF]

Most of the girls are a about 2 and about five of them are older and probably don't lay much anymore... The most eggs we have gotten is 12 in a day but in the last 3 days we got 2 then 4 and then nothing today. No changes, they are fenced into 1 acre and sometimes we let them totally free range. Layer pellets, scratch, water... 15 nesting boxes ... I have scoured the pen daily and no eggs, no broken eggs in the bottom of the nesting boxes. We use straw in the boxes and clean the coop 10x8 every other week. The weather has been in the 70's in the day and 50;s at night-we are in WA state. We have a Border Collie who gets along with them great (they go into his dog house with him in fact) so because of the dog we don't have any predators and nobody looks hurt. We had a large group of chickens before and they almost all layed everyday but these girls just never seemed to kick into gear, we got them as babies at the feed store. RIR, Silkies Barred Rock Americanas Polish and a couple Banties(I know I am spelling these wrong) HELP what is wrong with these girls... are they duds? ha ha

 

[Creaking pines kids]

Hi! Maybe your chickens are molting. They do not lay when they molt. My chickens are molting right now and I am getting 0-2 eggs a day from 15 hens. I hope this helps.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Since the autumnal equinox of last month, the nights are now longer than the days. A chicken, being photo reactive, depends upon sunlight to trigger the retina/brain/glandular system/egg laying. The typical pattern for older birds is to moult at their second autumn and go into a period of rest, which includes not laying.

To be assured of a continuous supply of eggs, it is common to always have some "spring chickens" or first year pullets in the mix. Pullets do not moult their first autumn and remain somewhat regular, even in lower light conditions. Hope that helps.

Of course, parasites, stress and other factors also need to be factored.

 

[RGEISENDORF]

Maybe that would explain why it looks like they got in a pillow fight with feather pillows.... ;-) Thanks... so how long does this take? Frick'n chickens.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Maybe that would explain why it looks like they got in a pillow fight with feather pillows.... ;-) Thanks... so how long does this take? Frick'n chickens.

Yup.

How long? 6-8 weeks.

 

[Creaking pines kids]

Usually molting lasts several weeks. Hope you start getting your eggs back after they molt!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Plus, by the time they recover from moulting, the days will be even shorter. Bear that in mind. Heaving laying often does not return until March. Yep, it's true. You'll see in a month or so what happens. Until then, good feed, a bit heavier on the protein, would be helpful in feather re-growing.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

If they're not molting maybe something is scaring them, chickens usually stop laying for awhile if something is scaring them.

 

[Chuckleberry]

A friend of mine says that her chicken have stopped laying and she knows why - they've all got an infestation of red mite, which she is in the process of treating. She said to look for evidence of them around the perches in the coop, where they often form clusters. Hope your problem is something easier to deal with, though.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

I've heard about those redmites, two words, Diotomatious Earth, look it up, that stuff is great.