Americana chicken stop laying eggs after one year. She has not laid an egg in over a year.

[Sabresfan1]

I have six hens that are two years old. I have one Americanoa that was my best egg layer for the first year. She has not laid an egg in a year. She is perfectly healthy and kind of the bully of the flock. I was told by an old timer that if you have only hens, one of them will take over the role of the rooster and stop laying eggs. Does anybody know anything about this? I know she does not lay eggs anymore because she was the only girl that laid blue eggs.

 

[nuthatched]

Old timer was telling old tales.
Hens can stop laying and look and act like roosters but it's because an hormone/reproductive issues such as infection or cancer.
What is her diet?

 

[Sabresfan1]

The girls are well fed. They free range most days and are fed layer pellets from a local feed mill. I also toss them mealworms and black oil sunflower seeds once a day. Everything was great with her for the first year and she was my best egg layer, nowI have not got a single egg from her in a year. She is completely happy as far as I can tell And is still the bully of the flock.

 

[nuthatched]

The girls are well fed. They free range most days and are fed layer pellets from a local feed mill. I also toss them mealworms and black oil sunflower seeds once a day. Everything was great with her for the first year and she was my best egg layer, nowI have not got a single egg from her in a year. She is completely happy as far as I can tell And is still the bully of the flock.

You're going to want to cut back on the treats for their long run health but I don't think that's the issue. Ees tend to be finicky layers an Peter out sometimes

 

[SilverBirds]

If they're free ranging does she have hidden nests somewhere?

 

[Sabresfan1]

If they're free ranging does she have hidden nests somewhere?

My best guess is no. We live in the north eastern United States, and even when I do not let them out because of the snow, all of the other chickens are laying eggs except for her.

 

[Sabresfan1]

My best guess is no. We live in the north eastern United States, and even when I do not let them out because of the snow, all of the other chickens are laying eggs except for her.

Sometimes they are inside of the coop or inside of the enclosed run, which is 500 square-foot, that could be for up to a week or two when the weather hits the fan, and she still does not lay an egg for the past year

 

[tlcmurphy]

The girls are well fed. They free range most days and are fed layer pellets from a local feed mill. I also toss them mealworms and black oil sunflower seeds once a day. Everything was great with her for the first year and she was my best egg layer, nowI have not got a single egg from her in a year. She is completely happy as far as I can tell And is still the bully of the flock.

I have only 3 girls. My biggest, bossiest girl laid first at 5 months old and laid almost everyday for 10 months. Nothing since then and she’s almost 3 now and healthy. I expected to lose her long ago to reproductive drive cancer, but all I’ve lost is the eggs.

 

[Sabresfan1]

I have only 3 girls. My biggest, bossiest girl laid first at 5 months old and laid almost everyday for 10 months. Nothing since then and she’s almost 3 now and healthy. I expected to lose her long ago to reproductive drive cancer, but all I’ve lost is the eggs.

That’s exactly what I thought but a year later she seems in perfect health with no eggs. Maybe that’s just the way it goes sometimes.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have a hen that stopped laying but looked otherwise healthy. It took a couple of years for her to start showing other signs, like labored breathing when on the roost (though she breathes normally during the day). I took her to the vet and an x-ray showed that she was living with egg yolk peritonitis, which was making breathing difficult because the mass inside is pushing on her organs. Vet said that sometimes it can cause them to stop laying altogether, other times they can continue laying but internally, or they can even continue laying normally, each case is different. If they keep laying internally, or if they develop an infection, it will get worse quickly and they'll die, but if they stop laying altogether and don't develop an infection, they can live with it for quite some time and have an okay quality of life. My hen went through a round of antibiotics just to make sure there's no infection, and at this point she's living out however long she has left.