Dog attack and stress

[BZJW]

Hello, new to the forum. I wasn’t sure which forum to post on. I would appreciate some help and advice. We have three age groups of hens/pullets. The one group of 8 hens are about 15 months old, and another group of 2 hens started laying around three months ago. A month ago a dog got into the chicken run and attacked the hens. The dog killed one of the older hens and seemed to pull a small amount of feathers off of a few others, one being a younger hen that started laying three months ago. All hens stopped laying three days after the attack. The older group of hens seemed to be molting and also winter has set in the same time as the attack. It has been a month and the two younger hens have still not laid. Is this winter related or dog related? Anything I can do?

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

Hello, new to the forum. I wasn’t sure which forum to post on. I would appreciate some help and advice. We have three age groups of hens/pullets. The one group of 8 hens are about 15 months old, and another group of 2 hens started laying around three months ago. A month ago a dog got into the chicken run and attacked the hens. The dog killed one of the older hens and seemed to pull a small amount of feathers off of a few others, one being a younger hen that started laying three months ago. All hens stopped laying three days after the attack. The older group of hens seemed to be molting and also winter has set in the same time as the attack. It has been a month and the two younger hens have still not laid. Is this winter related or dog related? Anything I can do?

I feel I had my guess it would be from the time of year. I had a skunk kill 8 of mine from my layer flock the rest of the flock continued laying even the day after the attack.

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

Hello, new to the forum. I wasn’t sure which forum to post on. I would appreciate some help and advice. We have three age groups of hens/pullets. The one group of 8 hens are about 15 months old, and another group of 2 hens started laying around three months ago. A month ago a dog got into the chicken run and attacked the hens. The dog killed one of the older hens and seemed to pull a small amount of feathers off of a few others, one being a younger hen that started laying three months ago. All hens stopped laying three days after the attack. The older group of hens seemed to be molting and also winter has set in the same time as the attack. It has been a month and the two younger hens have still not laid. Is this winter related or dog related? Anything I can do?

Also welcome to BYC

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC!!!
I would say it's probably more related to time of year.... however, some chickens really do react to stress quite strongly. So it could very well be a combination of molting, shorter days, and the dog.
Hopefully you'll start getting eggs again as the days begin to get longer and your flock has no more issues with the dog.

 

[ariri30]

I agreed to it’s probably a combination of all three. My pullets got attacked in the middle of the night for what I suspect was a coon and killed two. That was back in September and the two surviving pullets stopped laying until November. Because at the beginning of October they started to molt. So for me it was a combination of the attack molt and time of year

 

[BZJW]

I feel I had my guess it would be from the time of year. I had a skunk kill 8 of mine from my layer flock the rest of the flock continued laying even the day after the attack.

Sorry to hear that. Is it normal for hens that just started laying three months before winter, quit laying? Buff orphington and buff orphington/Rhode Island cross hens.

 

[BZJW]

Also welcome to BYC

Thanks!

 

[BZJW]

I agreed to it’s probably a combination of all three. My pullets got attacked in the middle of the night for what I suspect was a coon and killed two. That was back in September and the two surviving pullets stopped laying until November. Because at the beginning of October they started to molt. So for me it was a combination of the attack molt and time of year

That would make sense. It was a shame because they were both laying everyday, even though both of their eggs were on the smaller side.

 

[aart]

Could be a combo of stress form attack and short day light hours.

How old in months are these:
"another group of 2 hens started laying around three months ago."
What about the 3rd group?

Oh, and....Welcome to BYC! @BZJW
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!

 

[MountainWoman73]

Could be a bit of both, but mostly the molting and time of year. All of mine molted at once and from October through November this year I was getting 1 or 0 eggs per day from 11 hens. In December they started back up, with the help of a light, and I am currently getting 8 or 9 a day!