Chickens not laying eggs

[dealfinder500]

Thanks for the help, guys. I think they are molting. I just think it's odd that most of them are molting at the same time. That's why I wasn't sure if there was something wrong.

 

[tjorg]

I'm experiencing the same thing but mine are younger. My 22 week old Orpington laid her first egg on 8/12 then another one on 8/14. She has not laid another since then. She is acting okay and doesn't seem egg bound. I bought some oyster shell today to add to their kibble but other than that, I'm not sure what to do. I have looked around the yard and have not noticed her hiding them anywhere. My Amber White is laying her daily egg just fine.

 

[nan4848]

I have 1 one yr old and 4 two yr. olds. Same thing. Three to four wks. no eggs. This week, back to normal. I thought at first they may be molting as 2 had lost several feathers, but that has stopped. Mine didn't molt till end of Sept. last year.

One thing I did do was start giving BOSS in the evening about a week ago. I have them on a organic feed with no corn or soy. I had read they don't get the amino acids from the soy and you need to sub in BOSS.

Now whether the BOSS had anything to do with the return to laying, I do not know, so don't attack me. Just saying that I had done that just prior to their return to normal laying. That has been the only change in feedings, schedule etc. No stress. Just weren't laying.

 

[City2RanchGirl]

Thank you all for the info in the above posts. We are experiencing a similar issue with our 11 hens. I want to go with the weather as the issue. My gals are about 10 Months and started laying in October but really got going in November. We changed their food about a month ago and production was steady. Since then we have had a couple of really solid cold snaps (here in Northern Colorado we had almost a week of negative temps and snow). They are roamers but with the snow at almost a foot around their coop and run they weren't too excited to go beyond their run over the last month. Last week we had another severe cold snap but were getting 3-4 eggs a day. This week on Monday we had 3 eggs, Tuesday 4 eggs - 2 were soft shells (hasn't happened since November when they first started laying). And yesterday, Wednesday - Zero. For now I'm thinking this reduced production is primarily due to the cold, this week we've had 40 - mid 50 degree weather so we'll keep watching. And to answer the usual questions - no problems with eating, water is sufficient, no fighting within the group, they've continued to get their treats (spoiled bunch that they are). the only major difference is a little less exercise time...