Girls stopped laying

[kirkster5]

O.K. I'm not ready to talk about my inlaws murderous dogs....but due to thier recent killing activities my girls(notice no mention of my now deceased/murderd rooster and his best girl) can no longer free range. Since the attacks and now captivity my remaining 3 girls have stopped laying and thier crowns are not the deep red color they were prior. Is this all because of the new living arrangement or could the fact that there are a lot fewer daylight hours as we head into fall be the cause. Oh they are 61/2 months old. I will be building them a larger run/enclosure as I feel so bad seeing them cooped up in the 8x7 pen they are in. They get only about 1 1/2 hours of free range time per day and they I can tell they miss being free range.

 

[chickbea]

Depending on how far north you are, they have likely stopped laying as much due to decreasing light.

 

[kirkster5]

i'm in Washington State. Same Latitude as Seattle. They all seem "normal" just no eggs for about 4 days and my RIR's were each laying pretty much everyday.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

My one laying hen has went from laying 5 eggs a week to 3 now because of the weather change here. We sure do miss those eggs! Sure hope your hens are ok. Do your inlaws know their dog does this? Maybe they can keep it chained for several hours a day so your hens can free range for 1/2 the day at least. Poor things! Mine would go into depression I think if they could not free range.

 

[kirkster5]

They wanted to think it was not thier dogs but when my wife witnessed the Roo getting killed right in front of her they were mortified. My Burley father in law broke down in tears when my wife told him the story. They feel horrible. We have worked out a deal where in the late afternoon they bring the dogs in for the night and our girls are getting a couple of hours to free range. Its better than nothing I guess but I plan on making them an enclosed/fortified run of about 50'x20' and hope this will help.