a few newbie questions about laying

[ashyndin]

My chickens have been doing great, they are all coming of age very well and i was getting around 9 eggs a day. monday i got 2, tuesday i got 1 and then none for the rest of the week. monday i ran out of layer pellets, i had a little bit that was mixed into my scratch, could the lack of pellets cause the pause in laying? also, my neighbor told me that he has seen some coyotes on my property near the coupe but i am missing no chickens and there has been no break ins. could the presence of the coyote be stressing the girls out and making them not lay. I went yesterday and got a big bag of layer pellets so i guess i could see soon if that helps, any ideas will be helpful.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The coyotes shouldn't stress them unless they were actually harassing them. Just being in the area won't do it.
Everything is a chicken predator and they're around all the time whether you see them or not.
2 days would be pretty quick for laying to cease without feed.
I had a neighbor that wanted to buy some hens from me. He said they all quit laying. He said they were a year old.
I said, 'what are you feeding them?'
He said, 'corn'.
I said, 'ok, what else?'
He said, 'just corn'.
I said, 'you're starving them. Get some chicken feed and they may return to laying in time.'

 

[BorneHomestead]

How old are you chickens? As for the coyote presence, yes it can cause stress in the flock and lower egg production, they could also be laying their eggs somewhere else. Also depending on the age of your chickens they could be going through an annual molt, they usually do this around 16-18 months of age.

 

[ashyndin]

ok thanks. we had a cold snap through the nights too so their system may just be thrown off. my worst fear is that i have an egg thief, i am not finding any shells anywhere around the place but that would explain it i guess.

 

[ashyndin]

they are getting close that age.