HELP! Chickens stopped laying...

[bonder]

We went on a week (ended up being 4 days) vacation, leaving a 20 year old family member in charge of our 2 year old flock of about 30 birds. Before we left, I filled an 8 gallon waterer and put out 50 lbs of feed. We came back early and discovered that chicken chores hadn't been done all week. They were completely out of food and water for who knows how many days. Eggs hadn't been collected all week so over 40 eggs went to waste. I wasn't happy to come back to that!

The flock is used to free ranging all day and being locked up in the coop at night. I don't think they were allowed to free range at all while we were gone.

We've been back for a week and the hens have pretty much stopped laying. We are getting 1 egg a day now.

Can I expect that the hens will get back to laying or has too much damage been done?

Any tips to try to get them back to healthy and laying again?

What I'd really like to do is lock up our family member with no food, water or entertainment for a week and see how he likes it!

Thanks for any advice for getting them healthy!

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: That gets my vote. Sounds like he's sorely lacking in character to let innocent animals starve. I'd forbid that one on my property ever again in his whole miserable life. One more "family member starves chickens" story that makes me want to spit nails!

They may get back to normal, but they've been stressed to the max.