8 months - no eggs!

[RoxieRoo11]

We've been raising chickens for almost three years and we have had continuous eggs in that time. We get routinely get rid of some of our chickens and then we acquire more chickens just to keep the flock going. We've never had a problem. We have not had one egg in 8 months! We have introduced hatched chicks during this time and they've never laid an egg. We don't see any signs of eggs disappearing. We don't see any Predators getting into the coop. We have no clue what's going on. Does anyone have advice? We have sold all but 4 hens and would like to acquire any more this spring but we need to know how to fix this.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What breeds? How old are the remaining birds? Most lay quite well during their first year than drop off dramatically in the second and third year.

 

[RoxieRoo11]

2 Light Sussex that are about 2 1/2, 1 Gray Orp that's 8 months and a Black Langham that's not quite 2. The original flock had 8 Americaunas that were young along with young Black Langshans.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not a lot of higher production breeds in your flock, could be as simple as adding better breeds that lay more.

Light breeds like leghorns, Ancona, and andalusian lay pretty good. Sex links lay very well but often quit after a couple of seasons. My Orpingtons lay decently but mine are regular buff Orpingtons from a hatchery. Sources of your birds and breeding behind them can affect l saying too.

 

[RoxieRoo11]

Thank you. We are going to add better layers this time around. I do think its.strange that all the hens (we had 30) stopped laying at the same time though.

 

[Talithahorse]

What time of year did they stop laying. Older birds in particular will stop laying when the hours of daylight shorten and then return again in the spring. It could be as simple as adding some extra light or waiting for longer days. Also, chickens can be very very sneaky in where they hide their nest. Check all the nooks and crannies. Ours actually flew the coop and began laying in the barn aisle. I didn't even know they were leaving the coop one at a time until I caught one coming out of the hidden next. It had 26 eggs in it.


I had been threatening that if they didn't cough up the eggs they were going in the pot instead..... they coughed up the eggs.

 

[RoxieRoo11]

What time of year did they stop laying.  Older birds in particular will stop laying when the hours of daylight shorten and then return again in the spring.   It could be as simple as adding some extra light or waiting for longer days.    Also, chickens can be very very sneaky in where they hide their nest.   Check all the nooks and crannies.    Ours actually flew the coop and began laying in the barn aisle.  I didn't even know they were leaving the coop one at a time  until I caught one coming out of the hidden next.  It had 26 eggs in it.   


I had been threatening that if they didn't cough up the eggs they were going in the pot instead.....  they coughed up the eggs.

 

[RoxieRoo11]

They stopped laying in June or July so I can't blame shorter days. Also it wasn't just the older hens, the young ones never started laying. When we realized there were no eggs we kept the flock in the coop in case they were hiding them. No such luck

 

[Talithahorse]

You might try increasing their protein intake. I had a breeder tell me that the reason my heritage birds might not be laying was due to need for more protein. Did you change feeds? It might be worth a try anyway. I did try it with my heritage birds but to no avail. I finally gave up and moved onto other birds.

 

[RoxieRoo11]

We were feeding them the feed with the highest amount of protein plus we were supplementing. We had 8 different breeds, you would think one of them would be laying.