4 Eggless Silkies :(

[ILUVCHKENS]

My 4 Silkies haven't laid eggs in several days, I would venture to say it has been almost a month!
Towards the beginning of April we noticed something had been digging its way underground and into the coop. When we noticed this we then realized that we had been getting less eggs and but two and two together and figured something was sneaking in and eating the eggs. I first thought snake because of the way the holes were shaped and the fact that there were no broken shells left behind in the morning. After further investigation I found several tunnels so now i think it was moles and that they were mostly getting in to eat the feed. By this point the laying had trickled down to none.

During this time several changes were made to the coop and the hens were really broody. They didn't come out of the coop unless we moved them and most times would just run back in. My hens only always sleep in their nest and never even get on their roost so we would take both nest out of the coop take the hens out just to make sure they didn't sit in their all day. Eventually we even ended up changing their food. We got a layer feed that is really high in protein hoping that would make them lay. After even just the first couple days the hens were noticeably happier. I had read that if you change their feed that it can make them not lay for 9 to 14 days and the 14 day mark was this past Thursday night April 25th.

The only other change I have seen is that Sasquatch my white silkie started to lose some feathers from her neck/throat area and there was a layer of them on the shelf in the coop. I thought maybe she was going to start molting but she has not noticeably lost any more feathers just a few here and there.


This is super long but I wanted to give all the information I had. ANY help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

ILUVCHKENS



Here they are getting ready for bed!

 

[shmccarthy]

Something might be stressing them out.
Do they seem sick at all?
The digging under the coop may be stressing them out. Are you sure something isn't eating the eggs in the middle of the night? There are a lot of small animals that can slip through small holes and eat eggs.
How often were you previously getting eggs? I've read that silkies don't lay daily. I had a raccoon get on top of my run and my Easter Eggers were so freaked out they stopped laying for a few days, when they usually lay everyday.
Birds lose feathers when they become stressed, I think that might be a factor in this.
And you saying that they don't want to leave the coop makes me think something is scaring them and they're going back to where they feel safe, unless they're still broody.