Have 20 Birds have have not laid in 3 months

[pepino305]

Hello, I have 20 Birds, 15 older ones, I think 2 years old and 5 are 6 months old and not of them are laying. I have done everything I know and I cannot get them to lay.
1. Changed out the nests
2. Wormed them
3. Increased feed
4. Added Roosting space.
5. giving the right kind of feed
6. not molting


They are free range chickens and I know they are not laying in the field. They don't appear to be stressed. The older chickens were given to me, when a predator took me out. The fact that the new chickens are laying by now is puzzling. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[Toddrick]

Three months is a long time! What is going on? Depending on the breed, I don't think six months is that long to wait for a pullet to lay based on what I've read, but the hens...weird. It would surely help to state the breed of the hens too though.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What breeds?

How sure are you about that two year old business?

A 6 month old may not lay now until January. Some older hens may never again lay enough eggs to make a good omelet.

14 hours of un-interrupted light will make any hen who is able to lay, lay on schedule.

 

[LanceTN]

What breed are the older birds? Are you sure they aren't barren?

 

[pepino305]

All, the breed is Austalorp and RIR, I think. How do i determine the age? They might have run their course.

 

[Toddrick]

All, the breed is Austalorp and RIR, I think.  How do i determine the age?  They might have run their course.  

What are the chances of all 15 stopping laying due to old age at the same time? Shouldn't they fade out slowly and at individual rates? The obvious question for OP would be, we're they laying regularly before, like every day, or had they always been sporadic? (They could have been fading out the whole time if sporadic, huh).

What else could it be? Something in the water, not enough sunlight? Illness? Honestly, I have no clue...but I sure would be interested to know what could cause such dramatic change.

 

[LanceTN]

Toddrick it's based in the chickens molt cycle. Every time a chicken molts it's egg production decreases and after a couple molts it stops.

So yeah birds of the same breed that are the same age can go barren together.