Chickens stopped laying after rossters left. Need a rooster to have hens lay eggs?

[SweetJoy7]

Hello! We have 25 hens. One of them is recovering from very bad mites. Some of them are 3 years of age. Others 2 and others 1. We had two roosters. They tore all of the feathers off our hens. We got rid of them. After the roosters left, our girls stopped laying eggs. This has been going for many months and we get 0 eggs a day. On very rare occasions we have gotten 1 egg. Someone told us that if we got a rooster again, the hens would start laying again. Is this true? Thank you!

 

[chicksurreal]

Hi!

No, your hens don't need a rooster to lay eggs.

It sounds like they might have been stressed by the roosters and the mites, that can affect egg laying.

Another thing to consider is the time of year it is, most chickens decrease or stop egg laying in the fall/winter due to less light and/or molting.

I'm not sure where you live, but if it's winter where you are, that might be a consideration.

My 17 month old SS Hamburg hens have just begun to lay again after a severe molt and of course, winter conditions. Only one or two of them have started giving me eggs again after several months. So, it can happen. Feed them extra protein, make sure they are happy and healthy and they should start to lay again.