Chicken PTSD??

[Remmy122]

Hello, New to the forum and I see there have been a few threads with similar questions but Im not sure I understand the answer.

About a month ago I lost one of my hens to a predator (either a raccoon or possum, I trapped both shortly afterwards). The other hens act normal now, aside from their laying.

They went from 4 eggs a day to 1 (also went from 4 hens to 3).

Is there something I can to get production back up or is it time for the cooking pot?

Thanks for any help!!

 

[azygous]

Stress definitely affects laying. They should recover from the attack in a couple weeks.

But if you're in the northern hemisphere, our poultry are beginning to crank up to fall molt. Laying drops off significantly from now until January.

 

[Remmy122]

I'm in NC and it's been about a month and a half.

I don't want to sound callous about, I enjoy my girls, but I got them for eggs. also if I wanted to replace them there are several people selling pullets now.

I guess what I'm wondering if there is any "therapy" I can provide to see if they'll recover.

 

[aart]

How old are they?

You can use supplemental lighting, starting about now, to keep the daylight hours at about 14 hour...that should keep them going over the winter. Worked on my 1 1/2 years olds last year.

Not sure how old of a hen it will work on, I think they slow down as they age despite providing lighting.

ETA: here's a good article that explains supplemental lighting.

 

[chickenhound]

Hi Remmy122. Welcome to BYC.

. Thanks for joining our flock. Sorry for your loss. I would guess that your hens are stressed over the recent loss of one of you hens. I agree with aart in post # 4 above. Supplemental lighting may just do the trick. Hens do slow down in production over time but try the lighting thing and let us know how it works out for you. Good luck.