Chickens stop laying???

[farmerbrowne]

Howdy,
I had one chicken go broody on me so I let her try to hatch a few eggs, but when the chicks needed help I brought them indoors to my "animal ICU". I wondered why hasnt she started to lay eggs? It has been over a month now that she hasnt been with any eggs or chicks. When would she start to lay again? also when this bird was stitting on the eggs, my other bird stopped laying at aprox the same time. Is it normal for the others to stop laying when one is sitting? and how can I get them to start laying again???
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a whole lot of reasons hens can stop laying, but this time of year in the northern hemisphere and with all of them stopping, it is practically always the molt. When the days get shorter they shed their feathers and grow new ones. They stop laying so they can use the nutrients to grow feathers instead of making eggs.

When will they start laying again? When the molt is over and they have finished growing their new feathers. This could be a couple of months or it could be 5 months. They molt at different rates. It’s also possible they will not start laying again until the days get noticeably longer even if they finish the molt.