CHICKENS NOT LAYING!!!!!

[SAZUGT]

I recently cleaned out my coop and re-arranged nest boxes, also here in South East AZ we have been experiencing heavy monsoon rains over the last week. That said m,y ladies have gone from laying approximately 12-14 eggs a day to roughly 2-4 eggs per day.

I have not decreased feed and they don't seem to be laying anywhere else. Today I will be making more private and secure nest boxes and loading them with ceramic eggs, hopefully this helps. Does anyone else have any suggestions to fix this or explanations on why this dramatic drop would happen? I'm all ears! Thanks gang!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How old?

 

[SAZUGT]

How old?

Great variable I didn't include. All hens are in their first or second year of laying. All hens were checked in June for laying and any that were not laying within 72 hours were culled. So I know all the ones in the coop were laying at least an egg every 72 hours and it's been about one-two weeks that this reduced laying has been happening,

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The seasonal molt is beginning, I have seen my production drop drastically in the last week or two and birds are beginning to molt, so I'm sure that's part of what you are seeing. Keep their protein content of their feed up to help them through it quickly. Some better layers may not molt until November or even December so not all will quit but some probably have.

 

[SAZUGT]

As I was typing I began to think about that. My rooster looks scraggly, that should have been my first sign. When I get home I'm going to take a closer look at them... Generally though I've never seen them start this early in AZ, October is usually when we see it here.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had thought it was early too, but a look at my weather journal showed that mine started molting last year on July 28. Poor layers and roosters will molt first and the best will hold out until later in the season usually.