Artificial light needed?

[gratefulchick]

My girls (8 of them) are not laying at all, maybe one egg a day. They look and act great, no signs of health issues. I let them out to free range and they're active and look fine. I can't imagine that all of them would be eggbound. They go to bed before 5:00 p.m. and aren't up until around 9:00 a.m.

Four of them are only a year old, the others are around 4 years old. Should I set up a light timer to go off in the morning? I heard they're supposed to get 14 hours of light per day. After much reading that's the only thing I can think of that might be causing this. This is crazy. Thanks for your help.

 

[Oven Ready]

How many hours of light do you get in a day?

We're near the equator (13N I think) so we get about 11 hours light per day in the winter and 13 hours light per day in the summer, but it is intense sunlight.
Our chickens lay all year round. It's always hot though, so that might make a difference.

They could be laying outside in secret places (that they don't always remember).

 

[GAchick]

I agree about a secret nest.... I was wondering why my 7 girls had dropped down to 2-3 eggs a day.... Found a secret nest of about 20 eggs a few days ago.... Under a bush....

 

[teach1rusl]

Your four year olds I can see...as they won't lay nearly as often, but your one year olds are another story...
I would keep them confined to the run (or if you don't have a run, the coop) for two days to see if more eggs appear, because I'd be thinking that they may be laying elsewhere...
Also, they haven't molted recently have they??? Egg production will drop or stop during a molt, because all that protein is going toward feather regrowth...