Anyone else's hens quit laying?

[gumpsgirl]

I am on day 4 now with no trace of an egg. I have 23 hens that should be laying. 9 have previously been laying and I'm just waiting to see eggs from the rest of them. Now the 9 that have been laying have quit laying. Is there anything I can do to get egg production going again?

 

[dani813]

My three older hens stopped laying about 3-4 weeks ago. They don't seem to want to start anytime soon either. Silly Chickens.

 

[MissPrissy]

It's that time of the year. I wouldn't worry about it. They are resting and gearing up for the big Egg Season 2009.

 

[BrahmaMama]

Yes.

It's gotten to the point that when I go out to do chores, we have a discussion, on whether we will be dining on scrambled eggs tomorrow, or chicken.

My husband is already griping about the cost of feed, versus the eggs they are laying. We went from 18-21, down to 1 or 2. Now we're up to 5 a day.

 

[Lothiriel]

Yup. One of my girls is molting right now, and all but one other have done with it, but they still aren't laying... Calico, my BR that hasn't molted yet, has given us 3 eggs lately. But that's not much, especially with 9 hens... but I understand that they need to rest - like MissPrissy said, getting ready for the big Egg Season 2009.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Thanks everyone! I was getting worried and you have all eased my worries. This is my first winter season with chickens and I'm not certain how things work with them quite yet.

Can I expect ANYMORE eggs this winter or are they done until spring?

 

[speckledhen]

I have 42 hens and pullets who have laid at least one egg. Of the 42 layers, I am getting about 12-20 eggs a day usually. The most ever on one day was 21 recently. I still have four more pullets at the point of lay, but still waiting on the first eggs from them.
Several of my hens are molting heavily, some are on the upswing and coming out of molt. Some seem to have finished the molt completely, but are still not laying again yet. They go from 23 weeks old up to 3 years old.

 

[gumpsgirl]

That's quite a drop in egg production for you to, Cyn. At least they are laying for you though. I don't know what to think about mine. I'm really shocked that my Golden Comets have quit laying. They have been egg laying machines ever since they started laying. I guess I'll just have to sit and be patient!

 

[al6517]

Wow talk about sudden, On sunday i got 36, mon-9 tues-2 today zip zip zip. 0000. It was like what the______. I hope they have a nice short rest. My customers are clammering for more Eggs because tis the season to bake goodies, and that means eggs and lots of them. I hope they will understand.

 

[firedawg_42]

How much light are they expoused to a day how cold has it been getting and if all else fails put a couple of golf balls in the nesting boxes
They should be getting about 16 hrs of some kind of light ie sun or light bulb also depends on how cold the coup is.