Australorp pullet started laying then stopped

[FruFru]

I got two Australorp chicks in May. I have them in a secure coop so they're not getting out and hiding their eggs. One of them started crouching when I came by and I knew she would ne laying soon, she laid the next day. Now she's stopped crouching and stopped laying. She laid about 7 normal pullet eggs and has stopped. They haven't been eating the eggs either. The other chicken hasn't crouched yet and no eggs from her at all.

I've been raising chickens for 20 years and this is odd. I've had several different breeds and one or two chooks who had ovarian failure.

I chose Australorps because they are reliable and quiet and friendly - all around good birds. and normally my best layers. If this keeps up I'll have to cull them and start again.

Has anyone else seen this with their chickens this year? It's a first for me.

 

[azygous]

It might present some clues if you shared your location.

 

[FruFru]

I'm in Texas.

 

[nuthatched]

Pullets sometimes stop after a few eggs, they're still getting the process down. Lots of birds are starting late this year, mine just started last week and I got 3 eggs then she stopped.To cull would be wasteful, just be patient.:]

 

[FruFru]

I should mention the one that had started laying has stopped for two weeks now.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

I have had a similar situation and it's been a big puzzler. 1 laying hen who has never waivered, 3 pullets who are now 7mos old and during the heat of summer there was a week or two where I got 2 eggs a day and then it trickled back down to the 1 hen's output. (These are all Dominiques)

I've looked for other nest sites, wondered if squirrels were taking them, and even cooped them up. No clear answer other than, these pullets don't appear to be laying presently.

This past week there has started to be a trickle of pullet eggs in addition to the large eggs that the mature hen lays, so I hope my mystery is coming to a close with "they just do that sometimes" as the reason.

Weird times and I'll feel better when everyone is consistent!

 

[FruFru]

It is a mystery, it's not too hot it's not too cold, they aren't stressed. It's almost as though something shut down their hormones. In twenty years and hundreds of chickens I haven't seen this. I've had the anomalous failed ovaries, and one chicken that was egg bound, one instance of prolapse but these were rare. I've had chickens who lay everyday or three times a week but always consistent. I've never seen pullets start to lay and then just stop. They aren't sick, they're too young to be molting. This isn't my first rodeo and all I can say is this is weird and I haven't seen it before in 20 years. Maybe others have?

 

[upstater]

I have an Olive Egger that started laying about a month ago. She laid an egg every other day, sometimes 4/week. She hasn’t laid an egg in 2 weeks??? What is going on? She’s not sick, doesn’t free range, hatched Apr 21.!?? Should I do anything to promote egg laying? Never seen this before?

 

[Solanacae]

@FruFru Have you checked her crop recently? I’ve got a hen that has been a very irregular layer, and only in the past couple months did a realize she has had an ongoing crop problem. She’s 1.5 years old and has only laid 65 eggs in that time. I just thought she was a plump bird, as she is half Wyandotte. She doesn’t like to be handled so I didn’t do regular checks on her. She was so skinny under all those feathers! Such a prominent keel bone and hardly any muscle. I certainly learned a lesson that day. Looking back, both in memory and in pictures, this has probably been an issue off and on for close to a year.

Since I realized she was having problems, her crop has been impacted twice, with a bout of sour crop in between. She started molting after the second impacted crop episode, and I think that her not being as interested in food was to her benefit. I had been using a crop bra to help support her crop in hopes that it would regain some muscle tone. When she started molting, I stopped using it because it was breaking the pin feathers on her neck and causing them to bleed. Not eating as much food helped the muscle to heal, I think.

I watch her closely and occasionally do a crop check. She is even more wary of me after all of the handling she had when I was treating her, so I have been working to regain her trust by respecting her space as much as I can. The good news is that she seems to be on the mend, and I’m hopeful she will have a good egg laying year come spring.

I have an Olive Egger that started laying about a month ago. She laid an egg every other day, sometimes 4/week. She hasn’t laid an egg in 2 weeks??? What is going on? She’s not sick, doesn’t free range, hatched Apr 21.!?? Should I do anything to promote egg laying? Never seen this before?

Changes in daylight would be my guess as to why she’s stopped laying.

 

[FruFru]

My chickens hatched in May and are more like 30 weeks now, I've raised chickens for 20 years and I've never seen this. One chicken has never laid at all and the other laid about 9 eggs then stopped altogether. It's not the light, I live in the south, and they get enough light. Since it's just the two of them right now I can keep a close eye on what's going on. I've cancelled out everything I know of. The only thing that has changed in my back yard is a new cell tower went up this summer it's massive and it's close to the yard. That's the only odd denominator. Other than that I can only think it's something missing or added to the feed. I have no idea but they should both be laying by now.

Also two years ago I raised two chicks who I had in the same place in the yard and they laid lots of eggs. That was before the tower was up.

I'm just throwing out guesses.

I forgot to mention, I've checked their crops and they seem normal. That was one of the first things I did. Thanks for the suggestion