- Jun 27, 2013
- 41
- 2
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About two months ago, all of my first year hens quit laying eggs. I have two other small flocks of older hens, and they were still laying and had not yet molted. The first year hens are a mixed flock of Golden Comets, Buff Orpington, Australorp, and Barred Rock. They had really all just started to lay good for about a month. ( I think the Golden Comets were laying before the others. ) Then all of a sudden they all just stopped. I got one or two eggs in a week, and after that there has been nothing at all for months. I know some breeds don't lay once the days start getting short, but I doubt all four of those would stop, and the days were still somewhat long when it started. I DID give them treats like corn, and a bunch of fresh veggies from our garden that we couldn't eat. They got a few water melon rinds, multiple types of squash and tomatoes, but I cut them off and gave them nothing but layer feed, calcium, and grit, and still no eggs at all. They are also in chicken tractors that I move to fresh ground one and sometimes two times per day. I move them in the mornings, and sometimes at night when I am done with work. I know corn can make them too fat and slow production, but we are talking zero eggs at all. I thought at first they may have been eating them, but I was off work for a week and working on the outside of my house and watched them every day and they were not eating them either.
My older flocks laid for about an extra month. I have a breeding pair of Light Brahmas that are 4 years ? ( close to that ) old. She has always been my best and most consistent layer, laying almost every day, and year round. She even lays some during her molt. It was a pleasant surprise because I had read they only lay three to four eggs a week, but she lays seven days a week and only takes a day off every couple of weeks. They are in a large coop and run that I built on the back of my garage. It is actually big enough for four to six chickens, but I only have the two in there. They are actually more like pets. They don't have access to fresh grass because they're not in a tractor, but I give them fresh greens and veggies a lot. Info on her is that she went broody and tried to hatch some eggs. The eggs didn't hatch and she laid a few more after that, then completely quit about a month ago. She may be molting, or just getting too old to lay because she has been more sporadic these last few months.
I also have a small flock of White Leghorns. They were the last to quit laying. It is their second year so it could be a molt, but they have not laid for about a month. However, it looks like they are just now starting to molt, and they just started losing feathers about two weeks ago. My birds normally molt earlier, but this has been an odd year for weather.
About five months ago, both my female ducks quit laying eggs. I only have two female Pekin ducks, and two drakes, but they used to lay an egg every single day, ( each ) even during last winter. They will be two years old this spring. I'm no duck expert, but I read where one lady said ducks actually molt around the time they quit laying. However, almost every other article I found on ducks said they did not molt around that time. Yet they did lose some feathers like a first molt around the time they quit. They have not laid for five months now.
It happened at different times for each flock, but they have all completely quit laying over the months. We have had very strange weather this year, even for here in Kentucky. It has been up and down all year. The end of winter was like spring. Spring was like winter. A lot of our summer was like spring, in that it rained every day for weeks at a time, then we had multiple droughts this year. We even had some cold nights in summer, at times when we normally have 80 degree nights. The weather was so bad where we live that my garden did worse than any garden I have ever grown. I got less tomatoes than any previous year, less squash, and a lot of my vegetables actually looked like they were miniature versions of themselves. I think the cold nights stunted a lot of them, and it happened multiple times throughout the year. I know a little about gardening so I was able to fight with it and still have a somewhat decent crop of a lot of my vegetables, but I was wondering if weather this much out of the ordinary could have shut down the egg production completely?
Also, I talked to my neighbor a couple of weeks ago and he told me none of his chickens were laying eggs and he was asking me if I had any idea why that could be. I think he free ranges his birds though, and only gives them corn that his family grows. Still though, his have quit laying during the same period as mine, and he said they're not laying at all.
I have had predator problems, but I have always had that and my birds pretty much kept laying. The predators have actually been around a lot less this year. We live in Kentucky and there are years that we have coons and other predators visit pretty much every night. My coops are solid though, so I have never had a problem. I did lose my first bird ever this year, to a bobcat. When I thought they might be eating eggs I had two in a small temporary coop and was watching them. It was made with chicken wire instead of hardware cloth and sure enough a bobcat would show up... It reached through and killed one hen and wounded another. The hen it killed was from my light Brahma line. I hatched both of them to try to keep the line going. We went out and ran it off. I couldn't shoot it because I would have hit my birds. We nursed the wounded hen back to good health, but she was about half crazy for about a week. She is happy and healthy now, but of-course, no eggs still.
I'm at a complete loss as to what is going on. I have all these birds, and zero eggs at all for months. The birds all seem completely healthy. No lice or pest, eating like normal, drinking like normal etc... They seem completely normal, and even happy. Just no eggs.
My older flocks laid for about an extra month. I have a breeding pair of Light Brahmas that are 4 years ? ( close to that ) old. She has always been my best and most consistent layer, laying almost every day, and year round. She even lays some during her molt. It was a pleasant surprise because I had read they only lay three to four eggs a week, but she lays seven days a week and only takes a day off every couple of weeks. They are in a large coop and run that I built on the back of my garage. It is actually big enough for four to six chickens, but I only have the two in there. They are actually more like pets. They don't have access to fresh grass because they're not in a tractor, but I give them fresh greens and veggies a lot. Info on her is that she went broody and tried to hatch some eggs. The eggs didn't hatch and she laid a few more after that, then completely quit about a month ago. She may be molting, or just getting too old to lay because she has been more sporadic these last few months.
I also have a small flock of White Leghorns. They were the last to quit laying. It is their second year so it could be a molt, but they have not laid for about a month. However, it looks like they are just now starting to molt, and they just started losing feathers about two weeks ago. My birds normally molt earlier, but this has been an odd year for weather.
About five months ago, both my female ducks quit laying eggs. I only have two female Pekin ducks, and two drakes, but they used to lay an egg every single day, ( each ) even during last winter. They will be two years old this spring. I'm no duck expert, but I read where one lady said ducks actually molt around the time they quit laying. However, almost every other article I found on ducks said they did not molt around that time. Yet they did lose some feathers like a first molt around the time they quit. They have not laid for five months now.
It happened at different times for each flock, but they have all completely quit laying over the months. We have had very strange weather this year, even for here in Kentucky. It has been up and down all year. The end of winter was like spring. Spring was like winter. A lot of our summer was like spring, in that it rained every day for weeks at a time, then we had multiple droughts this year. We even had some cold nights in summer, at times when we normally have 80 degree nights. The weather was so bad where we live that my garden did worse than any garden I have ever grown. I got less tomatoes than any previous year, less squash, and a lot of my vegetables actually looked like they were miniature versions of themselves. I think the cold nights stunted a lot of them, and it happened multiple times throughout the year. I know a little about gardening so I was able to fight with it and still have a somewhat decent crop of a lot of my vegetables, but I was wondering if weather this much out of the ordinary could have shut down the egg production completely?
Also, I talked to my neighbor a couple of weeks ago and he told me none of his chickens were laying eggs and he was asking me if I had any idea why that could be. I think he free ranges his birds though, and only gives them corn that his family grows. Still though, his have quit laying during the same period as mine, and he said they're not laying at all.
I have had predator problems, but I have always had that and my birds pretty much kept laying. The predators have actually been around a lot less this year. We live in Kentucky and there are years that we have coons and other predators visit pretty much every night. My coops are solid though, so I have never had a problem. I did lose my first bird ever this year, to a bobcat. When I thought they might be eating eggs I had two in a small temporary coop and was watching them. It was made with chicken wire instead of hardware cloth and sure enough a bobcat would show up... It reached through and killed one hen and wounded another. The hen it killed was from my light Brahma line. I hatched both of them to try to keep the line going. We went out and ran it off. I couldn't shoot it because I would have hit my birds. We nursed the wounded hen back to good health, but she was about half crazy for about a week. She is happy and healthy now, but of-course, no eggs still.
I'm at a complete loss as to what is going on. I have all these birds, and zero eggs at all for months. The birds all seem completely healthy. No lice or pest, eating like normal, drinking like normal etc... They seem completely normal, and even happy. Just no eggs.
