A really long break from egglaying?

[acct21]

We have a mixed flock -- all hens. The oldest (by just a few weeks) is a gorgeous brown-red Ameraucana. She will be 40 weeks at the end of this week. Back in early May -- when she was probably only around 24 weeks old, she started laying tiny blue eggs for us. We ended up with 4 eggs in the first five days. That same week, our (unexpected) roo started getting just a bit too aggressive with one of the other hens -- and since fertilized eggs were not exactly in our plan (and the constant crowing not in our kids' sleeping plans), we relocated him to a farm nearby.

That day was the last day she laid for us. We've since had 7 other hens in the flock mature and start laying, but our Ameraucana just hops around the yard and stays completely away from the coop until dusk. A couple of times she has sounded the "look what I did!" call, but even looking under all the bushes we have never seen another blue egg. The final confirmation was when we had to keep the girls in the run for three days during the recent hurricane. We'd still get 5-6 eggs per day, but no blue egg.

I know from research here on the site that they can take long breaks, but is it possible she won't ever lay again? She gets free access to 18% layer pellets, lots of fruit/vegetable snacks, a handful of scratch here and there, and finely crushed eggshell. She mainly free ranges most of the day.

 

[junebuggena]

I had one Easter Egger that laid every day for 2 months and then took 3 months off. It can happen, and is fairly common with Easter Eggers. Ameraucana can be poor layers.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Maybe she misses her boyfriend.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Glad you survived the hurricane.

I'm guessing that you are actually describing an Easter Egger? Those girls have been the MOST inconsistent layers I have. Never know what to expect from them and they are the MOST prone to hiding their nest in my flock as well. They are often lower in the pecking order which can also have an effect.

We are entering fall (at least here), and our daylight hours are severely diminished already. So that could be having an impact. I would suspect she WILL lay again.

My experience is like what Junebuggena describes.

 

[acct21]

I suppose she could be an EE -- but she has slate blue legs and laid solid blue eggs that didn't have as much as a hint of green to them. She had a sister that was killed in the spring that had such big cheek puffs you couldn't see her eyes from the front -- just a beak sticking out!

She stopped laying as we were entering the summer in Texas, so we had 14-hour days the last three months (and are southern enough that even in the winter we have 10+ hours of daylight).

She's the co-leader of the flock. The dominant bird is a massive Wyandotte, but when food is involved, the Ameraucana is the only bird she can't/won't run off.

We always suspected she could be hiding a nest, but there just aren't that many possible spots, and the three days we had her locked up there was no place to hide the eggs.

I guess we'll just keep our fingers crossed. We miss the blue eggs!

 

[aart]

Post a pic of bird to determine if Am or EE.
EE can lay blue eggs.
I've had some EE be great layers, and some be very inconsistent layers.

Might take more than 3 days of confinement,
especially if they are not used to being confined.
Another way to tell is a 'butt' check'.
Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.
(Spacing is relative with chickens size and humans finger size.)

 

[acct21]

Welp — went out today and had an XXL blue egg in the nesting box. Officially the first egg she’s laid since the last week of May in 2017.

A gap of almost 9 months!

 

[Suzi18]

That's great....maybe she was just in a funk

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Clearly your hen is stalking you here on byc, saw your post and realized she'd better get to laying lest you deecide you don't like freeloaders. ....

 

[JerryR708]

My Easter Egger, now 2 years old, took a holiday from laying for a few months while my other hens kept laying. She just now started back up again. I was getting worried because customers love the blue eggs.