3 Year Old hens haven't laid in years!!!

[Max Forister]

So we have one very large rooster (Unknown Breed), 6 Buff Orpington hens (2 of which are 5+ yrs old), 2 Leghorns who have just started laying, a New Hampshire Red, a Sapphire Splash, and a Barred Rock. The 4 younger Buffs are 3 years old (About to be 4 this spring), the 2 Leghorns are mature enough to lay sizeable eggs, the New Hampshire and Splash are slightly older than the Leghorns by a couple months, and the Barred Rock is slightly older than the previous 2 hens mentioned, all of these are not even a year old. The Barred Rock began laying right around the 6 month mark, and didn't stop until about two weeks ago when the Leghorns both laid on one day. Now only one Leghorn is laying an egg a day, and the rest of the flock hasn't laid any eggs in years! Please help I have tried giving them more food, scratch grain, herbal teas, and we regularly give them table scraps. They have full exposure to sunlight during the day, but it can't be sunlight because they are not laying any better at the summer solstice. I am really struggling to know what is happening because I think I should be getting more than 6 eggs a week with 11 hens!

 

[nuthatched]

How very wierd.
Have you checked for hidden nests or done vent checks?
What is their diet, exactly?
The 4-5 year old ladies have like hit henopause since the weather has been strange, they might not have had the hormones triggered yet or enough to continue.

 

[gtaus]

I am really struggling to know what is happening because I think I should be getting more than 6 eggs a week with 11 hens!

It might be helpful to put your geographic location on your member icon. For example, I live in northern Minnesota and my aging hens slow down to almost nothing for egg laying in the deep cold weather. Age really is a big factor in egg production. I have learned, at least in my experience, that my hens don't lay many eggs come their third winter. If I was only concerned about egg production, I would not carry over any "older hens" into their third winter.

FWIW, I have 9 hens. 4 of them are 4+ years old and hardly ever lay an egg, winter or summer. The 5 younger hens are now 2 years old and I get 2-3 eggs per day from them in the winter. I was getting 4-5 eggs last summer, but as the chickens age, I expect this summer the egg production will be lower.

I know lots of people claim that their 6 year old hens still give them eggs, and maybe they are for where they live. But I see little to no egg production after 2 years on my hens. Again, not worth carrying them over their third winter if egg production is your main concern.

I feel your pain if you are feeding 11 hens and only getting 6 eggs a week. Those are some expensive eggs.

 

[Tonyroo]

If you need consistent egg production research the breed that have a track record of laying.

Most people invested in eggs won't keep hens after 2 years. Even commercial egg producers do the same.

As far as getting eggs from old hens is hit or miss due to there genetic background.

 

[Max Forister]

How very wierd.
Have you checked for hidden nests or done vent checks?
What is their diet, exactly?
The 4-5 year old ladies have like hit henopause since the weather has been strange, they might not have had the hormones triggered yet or enough to continue.

I'll check their vents today, but they are fed 22% layer feed, eating around 3-5.5oz a day (is that too much for them to eat?), and are occasionally fed scratch grain and oyster shells. After some research I am almost sure it is a diet problem, either not enough protein or calcium.

 

[Max Forister]

If you need consistent egg production research the breed that have a track record of laying.

Most people invested in eggs won't keep hens after 2 years. Even commercial egg producers do the same.

As far as getting eggs from old hens is hit or miss due to there genetic background.

Ok thanks.

 

[nuthatched]

I'll check their vents today, but they are fed 22% layer feed, eating around 3-5.5oz a day (is that too much for them to eat?), and are occasionally fed scratch grain and oyster shells. After some research I am almost sure it is a diet problem, either not enough protein or calcium.

Their diet is perfectly fine, they only way they wouldn't lay from diet is if their diet was so lacking that it was all they could do to stay alive, such as an all scratch diet.

 

[Max Forister]

Their diet is perfectly fine, they only way they wouldn't lay from diet is if their diet was so lacking that it was all they could do to stay alive, such as an all scratch diet.

Hmm, are the chickens just duds or what should I do next?

 

[gtaus]

Hmm, are the chickens just duds or what should I do next?

Well, I thought you said you had a lot of older hens (2+ years old). I don't even count them as laying hens at that point. But you should be getting more eggs from the younger hens.

Are you sure that you are not losing eggs to an egg eater? In the 4+ years I have raised laying hens, I seem to go through times where a hen will start eating eggs. You might never notice it either because they will eat the shell as well. If you are lucky, you might catch the egg eater in the process, but the best I have ever done is seen a pecked and cracked egg that had not yet been fully eaten.

Since you are concerned about lack of egg production, I would suggest next time you get some chicks that you consider getting production breeds, like the ISA Brown for brown eggs or the California Whites for white eggs. That is based solely on my observation of which of my hens are the best egg layers.

A big advantage of getting the ISA Brown breed is that the chicks are different colors for the sexes. So, if you order ISA Brown hens, you are 100% sure to only get pullets.

I"m an old guy now, but if I was unhappy with my flock, I'd just replace them as fast as I could. They only cost you money feeding them and getting little to no eggs. And if you are frustrated with the flock, that's no good for you either. Raising laying hens has been a great positive experience for me. It might be a better option to start over with a new flock than to continue to be disappointed with your current one.

Having said that, I tell people I bought composting chickens and get eggs as a bonus. I do a lot of backyard gardening and use my chicken run compost to feed my raised garden beds. So, even if the hens are not laying a lot of eggs, they are still producing compost for me. The amount of compost I harvest from the chicken run composting system exceeds the value I get from my hens in eggs.

 

[BDutch]

There can be many reasons why hens don’t lay. Sometimes it’s stress or heath issues. Not too fat? Not much bullying?
How much coop and run space do your rooster and 12 hens have? Can they scratch in dirt? Can they take a sandbath? is your flock happy?

Another possibility could be that they just don’t lay in winter and if you have a red mite infestation they don’t lay much in summer either. Red mites can even kill your birds.

Check this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/why-are-my-hens-not-laying-click-here-for-answers.72462/

Please try to figure out what the problem is. Killing them is not a solution. Your next flock will probably have the same issues if the circumstances are still the same. I have 8 and 9 year old heritage breed bantams. They take a long break in winter and are broody sometimes. But otherwise they still lay about an egg every other day.