we have 5 hens: a blue Orpington, a Dominique, a welsommer, and 2 Rhode Island reds. The Welsommer and Dominique have never laid and were hatched May 2. The blue Orpington used to lay every day and 9 weeks ago just stopped. A little molt but it's over. The Rhode Island reds came to us just over a month ago. Laid for 2 days and stopped! We haven't had any eggs in over 9 weeks. They all act fine. We feed them layer feed and scratch. Added more grit a week ago. Why won't they lay??
Welcome to BYC!
Knowing your location would be good,
putting it in your profile is easy, then it's always there.
I will assume that your are in the northern hemisphere,
shorter days slow laying.
Tell us about their housing, size of coop and run in feet by feet.
Pics will help even more.
Are all these birds the same age as the Wellie and Dom?
Those 2 may be a little young yet to lay, coming into lay in the fall can delay the onset of lay because of low light.
Gonna assume the Orp is older as she molted...she may not lay again until after the winter solstice when they daylight begins to increase again.
The RIR's are probably affected by the move as well as low light.
The 2 days of eggs were in process before the move, after that....moving stress.
How do the new birds get along with the existing ones?
What is the percentage of protein in your layer feed?
How long have you been feeding layer feed?
How much scratch do you give per day?
What do you mean by 'grit'....oyster shells....is it mixed into feed or in a separate dish??
Molting and growing birds need more protein than actively laying layers.
