Chickens not laying

[tctully63]

Hello everyone,
I have 35 chickens, 12 are ISA Browns which up until recently were laying quite well. They were housed with about 20 Easter Eggers that were older and coming to the end of their egg laying. In August we bought 50 chicks in a "deal" with TSC for .50 apiece. We gave the easter eggers to a farm where they could free roam for their last days. We introduced them to the ISA's with no problems. When these chickens started laying we were getting about 15 eggs a day average between all of them. It would go up a little, and sometimes drop to about 3 a day, then all of a sudden they all stopped laying. A few weeks ago we discovered we had 6 roosters in with the girls, I kept finding beat up hens that were killed, and then they finally started crowing. About 2 weeks ago I separated all the roosters to the other end of the run and fenced them in. My girls are still not laying. We feed them 17% protein layer pellets as we always have, they have water all the time, and the coop is insulated and stays about 40 degrees when it is below freezing outside. There is no signs of illness, and they don't appear to be molting. I am stumped.

 

[Gray Farms]

Likely due to stress. Now that the boys are gone the pecking order has changed.

 

[tctully63]

Likely due to stress. Now that the boys are gone the pecking order has changed.

The girls can see them through the fence, in fact one of the hussies figured out how to get in with them, I just left her in there. Do you think because they still see them they are still stressed? The roosters are leaving Saturday, we have a man here who takes them to different things like schools and 4H to teach and show them.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

The girls can see them through the fence, in fact one of the hussies figured out how to get in with them, I just left her in there. Do you think because they still see them they are still stressed? The roosters are leaving Saturday, we have a man here who takes them to different things like schools and 4H to teach and show them.

If the remaining hens say those roosters kill the other hens they will notice that they are near and be stressed. Not too sure about that because that’s with ducks, dunno about chickens.

 

[Gray Farms]

The girls can see them through the fence, in fact one of the hussies figured out how to get in with them, I just left her in there. Do you think because they still see them they are still stressed? The roosters are leaving Saturday, we have a man here who takes them to different things like schools and 4H to teach and show them.

I'd say so. Stress from being separated and can see/hear them. Also pecking order with in the flock has changed.

 

[Rlmp817]

Once the roos are gone give them a few weeks to reestablish the pecking order and they should be fine. Some birds are very sensitive about flock changes, so some may take a while to start laying again.

 

[aart]

In August we bought 50 chicks in a "deal" with TSC for .50 apiece.

What breed(s)?

A few weeks ago we discovered we had 6 roosters in with the girls, I kept finding beat up hens that were killed, and then they finally started crowing.

Hmmm...pretty odd that cockerels would kill pullets, are you positive there wasn't a predator?
How many dead birds did you find?
What kind of housing do you have for all these birds?
Dimensions and pics of coop and run would be helpful in assessing the situation.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.


Oh, and, Welcome to BYC!
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[moniquem]

The girls can see them through the fence, in fact one of the hussies figured out how to get in with them, I just left her in there.

I would say the ratio of one hen to 6 roos is not good, she will most likely end up pretty beat up.

 

[tctully63]

What breed(s)?

Hmmm...pretty odd that cockerels would kill pullets, are you positive there wasn't a predator?
How many dead birds did you find?
What kind of housing do you have for all these birds?
Dimensions and pics of coop and run would be helpful in assessing the situation.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.


Oh, and, Welcome to BYC!
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!
View attachment 1711262

Hi aart, the coop is 6 X 16, totally insulated, the run is 16 X 40 and completely fenced in, including the top. We dug down 2 feet and put tin all the way around then backfilled before building. Our ISA's(12) are about 18 months old, and I was incorrect, they ARE molting. We have 6 White Brama's, we had 8 but 2 were killed a few weeks ago, they were laying nice extra large dark brown eggs almost everyday. The chickens we got from TSC were pot luck(hence the COCKERELS), there were some speckled sussex, production red, Dark Bramas and some others. We had 50, we are down to about 29. We lost a total of about 20 birds this winter. There are no signs that any predator got in, it's pretty secure. Here are the pics of the coop:

 

[aart]

I have 35 chickens, 12 are ISA Browns which up until recently were laying quite well. They were housed with about 20 Easter Eggers that were older and coming to the end of their egg laying. In August we bought 50 chicks in a "deal" with TSC for .50 apiece. We gave the easter eggers to a farm where they could free roam for their last days. We introduced them to the ISA's with no problems

I counted 65 chickens here ^^^
Waaaaayyy too many birds for.....

the coop is 6 X 16

Is run covered and winter proofed?