Entire flock abruptly stopped laying for no apparent reason, any ideas why?

[JenellYB]

Any new "fracking" going on around you, nearby, lately, in this time period? I have heard of hens suddenly stopping laying after an earth quake. And I remember people around hear claiming their hens did some years ago when they were doing some seismic testing, underground explosions, developing an oilfield, though they never got anyone that mattered to take them seriously. Given your region of the country, just a thought..

 

[dustyhans]

We had a few weeks without eggs, too, a few months ago. Ours are in a coop about 12x12 with an exit out to a 15x15 wired pen.
In the fall, they stopped laying. We assumed it was the change of weather at first, but after a few weeks of getting 1 to 2 eggs a day I decided to open the gate and let them roam the yard around the house. The very next day we got 7 eggs - the following couple days brought them up to laying the normal 11 to 12 eggs. (We danced - it was terrible going so long w/o fresh eggs, once you've had them.)
Beats me... I don't know if they just needed some extra exercise or what, but they're still laying good and we've had a couple good snow storms that I thought would effect them.
Hope your girls get their laying mood back soon. Good luck.

 

[JenellYB]

dustyhans, I've experienced that, too....hens that have either slowed down laying, or you wonder if they are ever going to get started laying, whether as pullets or after winter or a molt....let them have even one day, better a few days, out to forage on fresh ground, sometimes will seem to "nudge" them to get going.

 

[Henraiser]

Day 15 and still no eggs. This is very frustrating and odd behavior. The still show no signs of molting. I have noticed that they seem to be totally ignoring the nesting boxes and not even going inside them.

Yesterday, I put new (hardwood) shavings in the boxes and put in a few store bought eggs to see if it might help them get the idea of what they are supposed to be doing.

If I still have no eggs next weekend, I may be having chicken and dumplings for Sunday lunch!

 

[Bullitt]

It is strange that a mixed flock of hens in their first winter would go so long without laying eggs.

Have you tried letting them out to forage a little?

have you tried adding supplemental light in the coop? They say that laying hens should have 14 hours of light per day.

 

[aoxa]

This makes no sense to me.. How do all of them stop laying on the exact same day? It must be a predator scare.. It's really the only logical explanation. One day off is one thing, but 15 is really weird. I normally get 7 eggs a day (sometimes 6) but today I only got two.. That was strange for me, but this takes the cake, that's for sure!

I thought egg eating, but that would leave signs somewhere.. You could always hook up a game-cam if you can afford it. Or you could spend Sunday (tomorrow) with them every 30 minutes or so and see if there is any signs of laying somewhere different. Hidden nests are a possibility, but if you don't have any place for them to hide the eggs, I'm stumped.

It's really cold here at nights (Canada - has been down to -30 this year) and my barred rocks as well as my production red has not stopped laying at all (it's their first year as well). They take wildlife in stride, as I have 3 cats and two dogs that come into their coop on a daily basis. They deal witch change better than some chickens. Some chickens can not handle change and can even drop dead from the stress of it all. Is there anything that can be stressing them out?

 

[Henraiser]

Still no eggs today.

Aoxa, this makes no sense to me either. I could explain away a gradual decrease or if I had only a few eggs each day, but this whole situation is quite a mystery. Abundant eggs every day and then going to zero eggs in one night.

I do not think egg eating is my flock's problem. This past Friday, I put some store-bought decoy eggs in the nest to see if it might prompt laying. So far it has not. Those eggs have not been touched, so I do not think egg eating is the problem. Plus, after fifteen days, I think there would have been at least some visible evidence of egg-eating. There is absolutely ZERO chance of a hidden nest. There is simply no possible place for one to be unless they are digging a hole, laying the eggs, and covering them all back up (lol).

I do not know if this is good, bad, or indifferent, but I confined them to the hen house today. I shut them all up inside the house around lunch today. I am going to leave them in the house a day or two and see what affect that has. I cannot let them out of the pen to forage for fear I may not get them all back. I let one out about a month ago and she would not go back in the pen that night. As the others were beginning to roost, I left the gate open and gave her space. She did not get in and instead went into the edge of the woods. At dark, I closed the gate, and I have not seen her again. I assume she ended up in the belly of a predator.

The hen house has no windows and only has light that leaks in around the rafters and through cracks between the boards. I checked on them about two hours before dark today, and most of them were on the perches where they normally roost. Four or five of them were scurrying about on the ground in the house. (The house is very well-ventilated.)

My hope is that after a couple of days in the hen house, they may see a return to the yard area as a change of pace back to foraging. This may be the exactly wrong thing to do, but I am tired of their strike, and I am ready to break the strike!

 

[yankee123]

hello, we have gotten our egg production back up to 4 a day. We went and bought a bag of crushed clamshells and threw them on the ground outside the coop and let the girls out, they seemed to really enjoy the clamshells. It took a couple days but they did get back to paying me rent on the coop and are now working on paying board! lol try the clamshells and wait a couple days just be sure they are getting plenty of light and excersize.

 

[aoxa]

Have you changed their food at all? :/

This one is weird.. Maybe they are all conspiring against you

 

[Henraiser]

No Aoxa, I have not changed the feed at all--not even the brand, but maybe I should. They eat only layer pellets other than the occasional lettuce, cabbage, turnips or other greenery. It had been at least three weeks before the stoppage since they had been fed anything other than the layer pellets. I gave them some turnips over the weekend.

I have spent hours and hours going over it n my mind and have thought of absolutely nothing that changed from the time they were laying until the abrupt stop. I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the experience. My main concern now is that whatever issue caused the stoppage may still be there and could indefinitely keep them from resuming normal laying. If they would just start back, I would not worry too much, but as it is, I am concerned they will not restart unless I figure out what has caused their attitude.

(On the topic of keeping them shut up in the hen house, I was unable to continue that. My six year old daughter hounded me until I relented and let them out of the house. They stayed shut up about 24 hours. Shutting them up was an act of desperation, and I doubt it would have helped anyhow.)

I apologize to the readers of this thread for continuing to bump it, but I keep hoping someone will read it and have some insight. If the information is pertinent, day lengths are running about 11 1/2 hours in Mississippi right now.