Chickens not laying

[Rudys Flock]

I have 7 chickens 6 hens They were great last fall and winter even into this spring we had lots of eggs. But we haven't had an egg since the first week of July. They did molt, but are beautiful. They seem to be healthy, they roam the yard, dig in the garden and do all the funny things chickens do except lay eggs. It is now October does anyone have any ideas?

 

[BorneHomestead]

when did they molt exactly?

 

[Sandstorm495]

Sometimes hens will stop laying for a short period of time. They don't do this often, but it does happen. There is no reason to be worried, they will start laying when they are ready.

 

[CraftyChicky]

I have had exactly the same experience. I was told by a friend with a degree in poultry management that their diet must not be optimal for egg laying. I thought...possible as I had Been GivinG them lots of garden scraps. They were free ranging for several hours every day, too. But I thought that would improve egg laying. Anyway, I got two new hens this spring and they are laying every day, but my original flock of 3 hens only give me one egg every 8-10 days! The original flock are only 1.5 years old. EEs. I have been keeping them in their chicken yard and limiting their 'snacks' for at least 6-8 weeks, but still no better production. I'm kind of disappointed and am wondering if they need to be culled.

 

[BorneHomestead]

I have had exactly the same experience. I was told by a friend with a degree in poultry management that their diet must not be optimal for egg laying. I thought...possible as I had Been GivinG them lots of garden scraps. They were free ranging for several hours every day, too. But I thought that would improve egg laying. Anyway, I got two new hens this spring and they are laying every day, but my original flock of 3 hens only give me one egg every 8-10 days! The original flock are only 1.5 years old. EEs. I have been keeping them in their chicken yard and limiting their 'snacks' for at least 6-8 weeks, but still no better production. I'm kind of disappointed and am wondering if they need to be culled.

around 16-18 months of age hens will go into an annual molt where they usually stop producing eggs in order to spend their energy into creating new feathers. you can provide them with additional protein (i.e, black oil sunflower seeds, beans, scrambled eggs, tuna and even cat food).

 

[CraftyChicky]

Thank you borne homestead for your reply to my post. You are probably exactly right. We have been seeing a lot of feathers, but not enough to have any exposed skin anywhere on the chickens. Guess that is why I didn't think about the possibility of molting. But, it has been going on for so long....goodness. I will be giving them more protein to help them out. Grit has an ad from Nutrena regarding a feed they make to aide during molt. I'll be looking for that, too.

 

[gummybear24]

We had one of our hens pass back in March. At first our other three held out and did not lay. They are laying again, but only 1 egg a day. Some days they do not lay any but at least doing every other day. I want to make sure I am feeding them the right foods. They eat layer feed. They do have some scratch to graze on. I give them lettuce in the morning and evening. They get scrambled eggs every 3 days. I did have some oyster shell but will have to get more later. They love vienna sausages so get that as a treat every now and then. Trying to figure out if it's their diet or something else. They are molting some. Noticed the feathers on the ground. Any advise will be helpful

 

[Wyandottes7]

Is it possible that they are hiding their eggs? This may explain why you aren't getting any eggs. Also, has anything stressful ocurred lately (predator attack, etc)? Stress can cause chickens to stop laying.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

Mine are starting to get back in the swing of things. My Light Brahmas though are molting again. So they haven't started back up. This has been a very weird year. Talked to a lot of breeders and they have been going through the same thing this year. All but 1 hen out of 30 are from this years hatch. Seems like there molting every other day. But they will start back. no worries.

Plus from raising layers for years now, between summer and fall ( when daylight hours lower) and between winter and spring (when daylight increases) they always slow way down or stop until the daylight hours even up. You have to remember that in the summer, at least mine, they would lay from 8am til almost 9pm. so you figure now it's getting dark at 7pm. so they just lost 2 hours of light. So the hens that layed later in the day are now all screwed up. You have to just let them get straightened out with the daylight hours.

If you start thinking it's feed and changing there feed you will screw them up even more. If they were laying all summer with the feed you had, it's not the feed!!! Sorry, but they are not going to say all of a sudden, I don't like this feed and I'm not laying any more. Right!! Trust me, it's the change of the daylight hours.

 

[Rudys Flock]

The chickens are about 20 months old now, they molted around the end of July and August, but they are all looking good now.

As far as diet we feed them layers pellets, some scratch and they seem to be addicted to sunflower seeds which we give as a snack or treat then they follow my husband around as long as he is in the yard. He always has sunflower seeds in his pockets.
I thought maybe they were getting too many.

We had a hen that wanted to brood last May, she sat on that one egg for 4 weeks
before we took it away from her. She still wouldn't leave the nest so we gave her 2 more eggs and she wouldn't have anything do with them she only wanted to sit on the empty nest. Every time we tried to get the eggs under her she would move to another nest.
We then bought 6 babies and put them under her after she settled for the night. She took right to them and was a very good mother. To sum up when she had the babies she wouldn't let any one else in the chicken house. That was when our egg production slowed way down.

They roam our back yard about 2 acres and we have searched everywhere for eggs, but have found none.

We lost 2 hens in the last 6 weeks, they looked fine then all of a sudden they got sluggish and within 2 or 3 days they died. Maybe they are sick