5 Hens and no laying???

[kenbrackins]

Hello All,

I have 3 silkies an Old English bantam, and a sebright. 3 of them had been laying almost daily for several months. A couple of months ago they were traumatized by a hawk killing one. Now they are not laying any eggs at all. Could that incident cause them not to lay? I give them laying mash every other day and scratch- table scraps daily. But nary an egg. I refuse to buy eggs at store but now getting close to resigning that policy. Any advice appreciated.

 

[spook]

I have sorta the same issues, also a hard moult and yes, terrorized by hawks roosting in the trees over the net top of the hen yard. If we're lucky, 1 egg a day out of 5 girls.
Soon they will start again, give them a while to deal with the stress.

 

[cmom]

So sorry for your loss.

I believe the hawk incident could have caused them to stop laying. I remember the first time a Red Tailed Hawk flew close over my birds, they headed straight for their covered run and coop. I was surprised because it was their first encounter with a hawk. I had been seeing the hawk on the fence posts. They hadn't started laying yet.

 

[debilorrah]

Any kind of trauma will stunt their laying. Do they free range?

 

[LoneCowboy]

You do no that to keep them laying they require 14 hours of light right? If you want them to lay in the fall/winter when the days are shorter than 14 hours you need to subliment their light.

I've had the extra light going on in my coops for a month now at least. I keep upping the time as the days get shorter. That might help you out.