Chickens not laying after death (from hawk)

CORedRocks

Hatching
Aug 15, 2020
5
3
8
Westminster, CO
Hi All,

We unfortunately had one of girls (a polish) die from a hawk. We normally leave our LGDs out with them when they are free roaming but the doggos were inside when the event happened (lesson learned, the hard way). We have five girls remaining (2 plymouth rock, 1x Rhode Island red, 1x Brahma and 1x Ameraucana) and haven't had a single egg since the event occurred (~2 weeks ago). We were averaging between 2 and 4 a day before the event (1 egg was for sure from the polish). I've also noticed a lot of feather loss since (but we also had 8 inches of snow last week). These are our first chickens (adopted all 6 together) and are a little uncertain if this is from the changing of seasons (less light) or stress from the hawk. Any advice?
 
I am so sorry for your loss.
When a flock is under stress, they will stop laying.
If you are seeing a lot of feathers, there is a good chance they are molting and they won't lay eggs during this time since all their energy goes to making new feathers.

I was wondering if it was molting brought on by the stress or the season changing?

From my googling it looks like molting is ~2months. Is that about right from your experience?
 
I was wondering if it was molting brought on by the stress or the season changing?

From my googling it looks like molting is ~2months. Is that about right from your experience?

The molt is a combination of both if they're over a year, and possibly stress if they're younger than that.

They may or may not resume laying after growing back their feathers, until daylight hours increase again.
 
Hi All,

We unfortunately had one of girls (a polish) die from a hawk. We normally leave our LGDs out with them when they are free roaming but the doggos were inside when the event happened (lesson learned, the hard way). We have five girls remaining (2 plymouth rock, 1x Rhode Island red, 1x Brahma and 1x Ameraucana) and haven't had a single egg since the event occurred (~2 weeks ago). We were averaging between 2 and 4 a day before the event (1 egg was for sure from the polish). I've also noticed a lot of feather loss since (but we also had 8 inches of snow last week). These are our first chickens (adopted all 6 together) and are a little uncertain if this is from the changing of seasons (less light) or stress from the hawk. Any advice?
I'm sorry for your loss 😥😥😥
 

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