Egg-less for Months

[Stickyleft]

This summer I started out with a generational flock, three 2 year old birds, 17 one year olds and some farm store special babies. I experienced some MASSIVE pedation issues this year - when I lost the first 4 birds I purchased some more babies, but then we we're hit by either a family of foxes or some coyotes. I had three hens left - one of each generation. Needless to say, egg production stopped. That was June.

More babies were purchased - AFTER some massive changes to the hen yard. I also inherited 14 Hens about a month and a half ago that were born about the same time as the remaining first baby (May).

Now - I can understand trauma causing a stop in egg production, but it has been 4 months now and NOBODY is laying. I've tried leaving eggs out - they stay put. I've intoduced some very handsome roosters to reve up those biological clocks. They have water, layer crumbles, plenty of sun (though it is starting to fade), and there has been no further issues since I erected Fort Knox.

This feels excessive - grandma is excused, she's getting on after all, but the 2 year old should be laying and the oldest baby is suspiciously well rounded - if not now, soon soon soon.

Any ideas? The two groups have settled in together, with the original hens well seated at the top of the pecking order.

 

[cavemanrich]

I don't really have any conclusive answers, although some speculations. It can be that all these things happened, and now the autumn molt may be a factor in stopped egg production. Not all molts are Hard Molts. (meaning massive feather loss)
My few chickens are on strike also. No egg from the last few holdouts that were still producing for about 2 weeks now. I suspect they are getting ready to molt for me. Some already are in full swing, but light molt.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Tempted to say but you have been here longer than many.here. Just not posting.

 

[Stickyleft]

Thanks! I have been raising chickens for more than half a decade. I'm not new here, just not much of what you would call a joiner. BYC's forums have been an excellent reference though, which is why I'm here now trying to get some creative opinions.

I have considered the molt, but it has been far too long.

I caught grandma in a nest box twice a few weeks ago. However margarine, the two-year-old, hasn't set foot in a nestbox since the last attack. I own my own business, and do a lot of my work from home. So I've had plenty of time to surprise her.

I'm growing concerned that watching everyone she's ever known be slaughtered has caused some kind of long-term or possibly permanent infertility. She's an Easter Egger and laid 3 to 5 eggs a week her first year. She had a big, wussy cochen roo she ran with named Baby. The two roo's ignore her the same way they ignore Grandma. It's like they KNOW she isn't fertile. Most of the inherited hens aren't sexually mature, but the oldest roo (both purchased from a breeder grown) is constantly testing the waters.

 

[aart]

Stress of attack, then adding new birds, can certainly supress laying.
EE's are not always stellar layers after the first year anyway,
I've found them to be either great or abysmally inconsistent.

Your younger birds are only about 5 months/20 weeks?
I'll assume you are in the northern hemisphere,
where the days are getting shorter faster and faster,
that can also prolong onset of lay.

I have 10 pullets about the same age, only 3-4 are laying.
Some of the others are getting redder but pelvic points are still tight.
All's we can do is.... wait

 

[Stickyleft]

We also eat our chickens, while she isn't a particularly heavy breed I have no real arguments left to keep her off the chopping block at this point. I've been raising chickens for a long time - I understand the cycles and causes of interruption that are a normal part of chicken behavior. I have NEVER come across complete, long-term (lifespan-wise) cessation of egg laying in a bird so young though. I was hoping someone could chime in with a similar experience and outcome.

She really is a gorgeous bird, I'd hopped to breed her this year - before the mess happened. The replacement hens are not nearly as attractive (outright unattractive, actually) and are from a much lower quality breeding stock. It was a hard loss for us, we lost some great dual purpose hens. She wasn't the star of the flock, but she is the last of them and I'd hopped to get a few babies out of her.

I don't WANT to cull her, but we don't have a pet flock - per say. They are working girls. Grandma has received an official pardon - she laid nearly an egg a day most of her life - but it's not a practice we care to keep up on.

 

[Trux]

I have a SL Blue Orp that just started laying, she was 8 1/2 months before she layed her first egg, had a white orp that was similar 32 weeks. I also have Rocks and Wy's that started at 18-20 weeks. Our egg production was very good till the summer heat hit us and it went from 9 to 12 eggs from 13 hens, to 4 to 8 from 13 hens. Now we are in molt so things are even more curtailed. I'm sure less daylight has something to do with it also

 

[aart]

We also eat our chickens, while she isn't a particularly heavy breed I have no real arguments left to keep her off the chopping block at this point.

Yep, me too....tweaking the list of old hens to stew soon.
Once you open her up, you might find the answer.