Ameraucana not laying.

[Little House Grandma]

I've posted about this chicken before. It's my Ameraucana. She hasn't laid an egg since July 2nd. She first started laying eggs around March of this year, and then pretty consistently kept laying until July 2nd, though not every day, usually every other day, and sometimes she would skip a couple of days. Then, the beginning of July, the weather turned horribly hot here in St Louis, well up into the 90s pretty much every day. So I wasn't that surprised that she stopped laying then. Then, just about the time that hot weather broke, she started molting, so, no surprise there, either.
But now, she seems to have stopped molting. Her feathers have grown in beautifully! But still, she's not laying. I keep expecting to see an egg everyday, but nothing.
I'm a little worried she might be egg bound. She is acting fine, except that the last two days, there has not been any poop in the nesting box where she sleeps, as there usually is. And for a couple of days before that, her poops were very light.
And, day before yesterday, she spent a lot of time up in the coop in her nesting box, which she never does. I let them free range when I'm home to keep an eye on them, and I kept finding her up there. Finally coaxed her out with some corn on the cob, and she stayed out, then, and hung out with her two "sisters." But, I just thought it was strange.
How can I tell if she is egg bound?

 

[PioneerChicks]

How old is she? Do you feel any lumps around her abdomen? If she poops, can we get a picture of it?

 

[aart]

When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[willchickeneat]

Pretty normal. If it gets too hot, they may stop laying. If it gets too cold, they'll stop laying. They'll stop laying for weirdest reasons. My Ameraucana don't lay well in the Summer - California. They lay best in late winter - Spring. As a reminder, true Ameraucanas are dual purpose medium size birds that lay between 150-200/year. They are not egg laying machines. Easter eggers are bred with production type birds and they can lay up to 250ish/year.

 

[coyle311]

I'm curious if the original poster's chicken ever resumed normal laying. I have a similar situation. We have two Ameraucanas and three Isas. The Isas lay nearly every day, the Ameraucanas lay about 2-4 eggs per week. All of the chickens are now about 17 months old. About three months ago, one Ameraucana stopped laying altogether, no eggs in several months. The other 4 hens continue to lay as normal, and the non-laying chicken eats/drinks/acts no different than before. I too am near St Louis, and we had a very mild summer so far. She stopped laying long before we hit the mid-high 80s.