chickens are playing follow the leader with egg production! :(

[chickengumbo]

Our hens are almost a year old. They've been laying faithfully since December. Big, beautiful eggs. For a while they were free to roam, but that invited a fox family, so into a covered run they went. All was still fine. About a month ago I thought they could use some more space, so I opened the run into the adjoining pen. No cover, still enclosed. They were good. Then my white one "Pigeon" (sorry, I don't know what kind they are) started flying out and returning at night. Then one of the reds joined her. At first, they would return to lay in the nesting boxes, then they stopped. I assumed they were laying somewhere in the yard. One night the red couldn't find her way back in and I found her huddled up against the hen house on the outside. I returned her, but she seemed really scared, poor thing. I closed the run so they couldn't escape again. The white returned to laying, but the red has not. I figured she was still shaken from her ordeal. I increased their water supply, too, in case the spring was getting too hot for them. Today, the second red stopped laying. I only got one white egg (So I know it came from "Pigeon").

I feel like I've ruled out every external issue... the second red wasn't tramatized, they have water and food, the hen house is clean and tidy... What could be going on??

Thanks in advance!

 

[earlybird10842]

Our hens are almost a year old. They've been laying faithfully since December. Big, beautiful eggs. For a while they were free to roam, but that invited a fox family, so into a covered run they went. All was still fine. About a month ago I thought they could use some more space, so I opened the run into the adjoining pen. No cover, still enclosed. They were good. Then my white one "Pigeon" (sorry, I don't know what kind they are) started flying out and returning at night. Then one of the reds joined her. At first, they would return to lay in the nesting boxes, then they stopped. I assumed they were laying somewhere in the yard. One night the red couldn't find her way back in and I found her huddled up against the hen house on the outside. I returned her, but she seemed really scared, poor thing. I closed the run so they couldn't escape again. The white returned to laying, but the red has not. I figured she was still shaken from her ordeal. I increased their water supply, too, in case the spring was getting too hot for them. Today, the second red stopped laying. I only got one white egg (So I know it came from "Pigeon").

I feel like I've ruled out every external issue... the second red wasn't tramatized, they have water and food, the hen house is clean and tidy... What could be going on??

Thanks in advance!

Oh, what goes on in chicken minds sometimes?! Give them some time. How long ago was this?