9 mo best layer stopped laying - help!

[Bigtom Turkey]

I am thinking she is hiding them over the fence, and be prepared to really look. I had a hen fly up to a 12 foot hay loft to lay, three years later we found her nest of about 30 eggs!!

 

[NatJ]

You can check her vent to see if she's laying.
A layer's vent looks rather large, moist, and stretchy, as if an egg could come out of it.
A non-layer has a much smaller vent, that looks dry and puckered.
Check your other ones first (that you know are laying), then the one you're not sure about.

If the Golden Comet has a vent that looks just like the others, you need to go egg-hunting.
If her vent is small and puckered, she's not laying, and you can skip the egg hunt

There are also two ends of bones that you can feel near the vent. They are close together in a non-layer, farther apart in a laying hen. Again, I remember the differences by whether it seems that an egg could come out (layer) or if the egg wouldn't fit (not-layer.)

This article has a longer description and some images:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So @Wyorp Rock seeing little brown feathers coming from the pins attached on her body.. that is the molt sign?? I haven't really seen them until today, but know she is uncomfortable to be touched the past few weeks, as I have tried looking for lice/mites back when she first stopped.

@Gabtods sorry for hijacking your thread

Yes, pin feathers coming in is usually a sign of molt or new growth. It's painful for molting birds to be handled, so I generally leave them alone unless I have to treat them for some reason.

 

[Gabtods]

@Beard4 , we're all searching for answers I'm going to go check her over again, but finders crossed she's just taking a break, and can resume egg production soon - this lady was working like a machine for 4 months! An egg nearly daily! So at first I was somewhat relieved ( for her sake) she was taking a break haha, but a month seems like much longer than i would have anticipated....
Hope your girl is just molting and will be back to laying again soon!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Egg bound?

She’d be dead already if she was egg bound.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

She could be molting or even having a partial(neck) molt. Mine are about 11 months and are going through a molt. 1 started back in December when she was 9 months.

 

[Gabtods]

Also, just checked her over, and no mites or lice, and it turns out she is molting! We haven't seen many feathers from her drop, but she has lots of new pin feathers coming in! I thought she was too young to molt, but guess not! Now let's hope her eggs return again soon
Thanks everyone!

 

[Beard4]

@Beard4 , we're all searching for answers I'm going to go check her over again, but finders crossed she's just taking a break, and can resume egg production soon - this lady was working like a machine for 4 months! An egg nearly daily! So at first I was somewhat relieved ( for her sake) she was taking a break haha, but a month seems like much longer than i would have anticipated....
Hope your girl is just molting and will be back to laying again soon!

Thanks everyone!

@Gabtods Sounds like our girls were similar, eggs every day, and a month not laying! I was relieved also once I figured out she wasn't egg-bound
in the beginning. And I hope yours and mine both will start laying soon (I wouldn't mind at a slower pace though, she was an egg machine!!)

 

[aart]

We haven't seen many feathers from her drop, but she has lots of new pin feathers coming in! I thought she was too young to molt, but guess not! Now let's hope her eggs return again soon

Chickens molt and grow a new set of feathers 2-3 times before around 6 months of age, those are called the juvenile molts.
Some pullets will have a partial molt their first fall/winter.
Most birds will have their first full adult molt their second fall/winter.

 

[Ascholten]

If she truly was egg bound, she'd have been long dead.
Probably molting, yes they go in a seasonal pattern for molt but yearlings well, just like when they first start laying, it's all new to them and they may not be exactly in cycle on the molt. Another thing I have seen, and I can NOT verify this as a valid sign but if they are laying and you pick them up and pull the tail a bit to see the vent, they may start winking, if they are not egg laying, they don't do that. This is what I have observed in mine over the past year or so. Once a week I try to grab them and give them each a good 2 or 3 minute once over to look for things that might be wrong / out of the ordinary. Plus giving them a good petting, ruffle ing, talk nice to them tell them how pretty they are.. I feel, is a good bonding exercise too. I know the cockatoo goes out of his way for that kind of attention, the chickens seem to like it too. (but god help you if the rottentoo sees you giving THEM the attention and not HIM).

If they are laying, or appear to be, then they might be hiding the eggs, yes you looked but I have seen some actually buried under leaves before, not sure if they actually BURIED them, or they just got covered up in a dust bath or scratching or what but they do hide nests in hard to find locations sometimes.

Another thing you can do, if possible, keep her in the coop or a separate cage for a few days and NOT let her out to free range. If she is laying, chances are there's an egg in process in there and you will see it pop out in a day or two, if she's not, then no egg verified.

Yes it can be frustrating, not just because of the loss of a production, but because you worry there is something wrong with her possibly, just stick with it and remember, wimmin get moody, and no matter how you try to ask them, "Whats wrong honey". ... cold shoulder. Nothing....... it's the nature of the beast.

Aaron