Chicken stopped laying eggs at 6 months?

[Jiff]

My hen Vivian, born on March 18th, laid her first egg on August 6th. She laid almost daily up until September 28th, and hasn't laid since. Her "sister" Esmerelda (who is the same age) started laying on August 23rd and has been laying eggs consistently, pretty much every other day or a little more often, and hasn't stopped. Since Esmerelda hasn't stopped laying, I was wondering if it was normal for Vivian to stop, and when I can expect her to start again? I am just getting a little nervous and want to make sure there isn't anything wrong with her.

 

[BirdBrain]

Any chance she is laying in a hidden nest? My Dad has been finding eggs on his work bench inside a coiled up extension cord.

 

[Jiff]

No, she has laid in her box since she started, and even if she did try to hide them from me I would find them...there aren't any places to hide them in the coop, and their run outside is too small for me to not notice them. We unfortunately have way too many predators here for them to free range. I bet your Dad was really surprised to find an egg in his extension cord, that is cute!

 

[BirdBrain]

Is she molting early? If so try uping the protein she gets to help her out. I thnk I would add protein even if she isn't molting just to help her out.

Is she egg eating?

Is she behaving normally?

I guess if she is not behaving normally (sitting around, tail tucked, not eating well etc) I would be concerned about internal laying. One of the barred rocks we bought last spring started laying in late August and died last week due to internal laying. When Momma did a necropsy to try and figure out shy she died she found what looked like scrambled eggs all in her abdomen.

Another option might be that there is some sort of preditor getting a daily egg--rat or snake?

How is you lighting and day length? They should ideally have about 14 hours a day. You could set a timed light come on earlier In tbd morning.

I hope she starts back up laying soon.

 

[chookchick]

I have six chickens--at least two are molting, the rest laid this summer and I'm not sure what they are up to now. Probably just tired of the rainy wet weather like I am. But, they are not sqatting, so I know they are not in 'egg-laying' mode. If your hen is not squatting, and seems otherwise healthy, I would not worry too much.

 

[Jiff]

BirdBrain, thank you for all of the possible things to think about! They have never even pecked at an egg, aren't molting (although I thought that might be what was happening, but no feathers gone yet), and nothing can get in there to the eggs. Also, she is behaving well, although I have been watching her closely to monitor for any signs of sickness. You are probably right about the day length having something to do with it, because the end of September it started to get darker a littler earlier and now there are only probably 12 hours of daylight.

chookchick, I'm relieved to know that your hens are doing the same thing. Vivian is no longer squatting, so I guess she is just resting for a while. These are my first chickens so I don't know what to expect, and just didn't want anything to be wrong with her.