Blue Andalusian hen not laying...

[Vanilla Gorilla]

So I have a one year old Blue Andalusian named Winter who has stopped laying eggs. The back story being, most of my flock went through their first real molt about a month or two ago. She didn't lose a ton of feathers, but she did molt. She just hasn't laid an egg since, which I thought was weird because all the others resumed laying as soon as their new feathers came in - including my Welsummer who suffered an especially hard molt. During this time, I had an outbreak of fowl pox go through the flock, but everyone seems to have recovered from this just fine.

Now her behavior seems to have changed as well. She's always been a flightly little thing, but now she just seems terrified of even the smallest movement toward her. When I let the flock out to free range after work for an hour or two, she will just sit in the run and hide.

I have observed her eating and drinking normally. Her poo looks normal. She seems like she's a normal weight. Her feathers all look fine. She moves around fine, no weird stances or postures. She walks, runs, jumps, flaps, flies normally - she doesn't appear to be in any pain. Her comb looks a little smaller than it was in the heat of the summer, and maybe a shade paler. I have physically gone into the run and wrestled her out into the yard, at which point she will stay with them and scratch around in the garden, and pick bugs out of the grass. I examined closely form mites and lice, and found nothing - but I still treated with permethrin to be sure...

What, if anything, could be the problem? Why no eggs? Is this just the normal egg laying shutdown for the winter? It seemed a little early to me for that. Any advice or opinions are much appreciated.

 

[chuckachucka]

Any chance she is broody?

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Any chance she is broody?

Good question! I should have mentioned that in the original post. I highly doubt it... I've been battling that all summer as well, and she hasn't taken part. She's not sitting on a nest either, I don't know what to make of it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm a bit surprised all your birds have molted and gone back to laying already. Mine are all in various stages of shutting down yet. I don't believe any are done molting yet. A few are still laying but I expect them to stop in the next month or two and molt as well.

Did you see any half naked birds with pin feathers coming in? Sometimes birds go through a semi-molt a month or two before the actual molt. Did your birds lose tail feathers and wing feathers? That's when you know it's a full molt.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I'm a bit surprised all your birds have molted and gone back to laying already. Mine are all in various stages of shutting down yet. I don't believe any are done molting yet. A few are still laying but I expect them to stop in the next month or two and molt as well.

Did you see any half naked birds with pin feathers coming in? Sometimes birds go through a semi-molt a month or two before the actual molt. Did your birds lose tail feathers and wing feathers? That's when you know it's a full molt.

Some of them were worse than others... Maybe like you say it was a semi-molt. This particular bird didn't look too bad, but she did lose a lot of wing feathers, and her tail disappeared for a while. I still can't figure out why no eggs. It's not that I miss the eggs especially, I just want to help the bird if there's something wrong with her.

I should also mention, they are all on a 20% later feed, so I feel like they're getting plenty of protein.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some of my hens don't lay through the winter. Perhaps she's gonna take a break. I know winter isn't exactly here yet, but some of mine are quite sporadic during the fall and winter.

I see she's out roaming too. She could have a hidden nest somewhere too if you free range.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Some of my hens don't lay through the winter. Perhaps she's gonna take a break. I know winter isn't exactly here yet, but some of mine are quite sporadic during the fall and winter.

I see she's out roaming too. She could have a hidden nest somewhere too if you free range.

Yep, she's acting completely normal, just no eggs. I was chalking it up to it just being the season, but I thought I'd check with the experts here. No hidden nest, they're confined for most of the day. I highly doubt she'd have time.

 

[aart]

I'm a bit surprised all your birds have molted and gone back to laying already.

Me Too!!

@Vanilla Gorilla ...
Are they ~18 months old?
Do you use supplemental lighting?

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Me Too!!

@Vanilla Gorilla ...
Are they ~18 months old?
Do you use supplemental lighting?

I have gone through broodiness like you wouldn't believe this summer. I feel like that might have triggered at least a mini molt in some of my birds and a more severe molt in others.

I don't supplement light. Most of my flock is about 18 months old. This particular bird is just over a year old.

 

[aart]

This particular bird is just over a year old.

Might have been a partial molt.