Chickens not laying eggs- help!

[akirkley]

I have 13 chickens (2 are Roos). We added new chicks to the flock back in May, and the birds were laying earlier in the summer. My oldest birds are 4.5 years old. For the past 4 weeks we've maybe gotten 5 eggs. Is it the heat? Still stressed from the additions? Getting too old? Any ideas what I can do to help them start laying again? Even when they were laying back in the summer it wasn't a lot. Maybe 5 eggs a week. They had slowed down before we added the new birds.

 

[aart]

Your pullets hatched in May are probably not quite ready to lay yet.
Your older birds(18 months old or older) are probably getting ready to molt with the decreasing day lengths.
If you free range they could be laying out in the range area.

 

[akirkley]

Yes, my older birds have already started losing some feathers. Do their molts increase the older they get?

 

[aart]

Yes, my older birds have already started losing some feathers. Do their molts increase the older they get?

Most birds have a full molt annually starting their second fall.

 

[akirkley]

I meant the length of the molt. Ours have had consistently molts, but each one seems to last a little longer.

 

[aart]

I meant the length of the molt. Ours have had consistently molts, but each one seems to last a little longer.

Ahh..not sure. It would make sense that the older they get the slower they do everything as their metabolic process slows.

But I don't really know from first hand experience, I eat my hens at 3 and use supplemental lighting so haven't witnessed any 'normal' molt patterns.