HELP!!!! My hens quit laying 2 months ago

[BethLouMcCormick]

You gradually decrease the amount of light to trick their pituitary gland that fall is coming. Molting can last anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months, depending on the bird.

how long after they stop moulting will they lay again normally ??

 

[junebuggena]

how long after they stop moulting will they lay again normally ??

Depends on how long it takes for them to finish growing in their feathers completely. Some hens only take a few weeks to finish and get back to laying. Others take months. And there is no way to predict exactly how long it will be.

 

[feedman77]

how long after they stop moulting will they lay again normally ??

It seems when mine go into molt they are done til the next spring. But my hens are older 2 to 4 years old. I have a few pullets I hope lay over winter.

 

[BethLouMcCormick]

Depends on how long it takes for them to finish growing in their feathers completely. Some hens only take a few weeks to finish and get back to laying. Others take months. And there is no way to predict exactly how long it will be.

okay for someone whos added a new hen to a flock how long can they stop laying for this reason generally sorry for all the questions and thank you for your reply's

 

[junebuggena]

okay for someone whos added a new hen to a flock how long can they stop laying for this reason generally sorry for all the questions and thank you for your reply's

Generally, it takes about 2 to 4 weeks after a new pecking order is established before they will start laying again. Again, this is highly subjective depending on the individual birds.

 

[Fairview01]

Please understand that frequently I do not hear or march to the same drum beat as many on the forum.

We have approx 100 hens, Rhode Island Reds, Production reds, and some white leghorn. We started with 30 and then added about 70 more to our flock back in March, ages between 8 months and 18 months, they were laying up to 50 eggs a day during spring but end of June they all quit laying, I mean zero eggs since then.
We feed them layer crumbles and scratch on a daily basis, also occasional veggies. We give them layer boost, and vitamins and electrolytes. They get plenty of fresh water every day. We have 4 10x10 coops where they sleep.....

With 100 laying hens and almost 30 dozen an eggs a week I no longer consider you to be a back yarder nor are you a commercial operation yet but I don't think you are feeding that many hens to just give away nearly 120 dozen eggs a month for free. A hen that is 18 months or older has reached it's prime relative to egg laying. Production will decline beginning around 2 years. The older hens are now 2 years old. The younger ones you just added are past the pullet stage laying smaller eggs. If being fed correctly they will be hitting their prime and should be giving you five eggs every six days. 26hrs/egg. This has nothing to do with you current situation but I'm calling too light the need for sustainability in your flock. A humane exit plan for the older hens that are not producing up to par and a plan to bring new pullets into laying as the others are retired. Now on to some questions.

just wondering how can you force moult them?

T

You can force molt by controlling the amount of light they are exposed to.

There are 2 types force molts - hard and soft. IIRC pullets were soft molted to kick them out of the smaller egg stage and into laying larger more profitable and marketable eggs by forcing teh reproductive system to full maturity during the molt. A hard molt was for mature laying hens to restart them, usually earlier than normal to lay eggs. A forced molt is the result of stress. Less light causes stress on the pituitary gland. During the 19th century commercial operations discovered that by creating a nutritional stress, read as witholding food was easier than trying to modifying the light and could be done in the same battery with the active layers. Commercial producers now could divide one large battery of layers into 3 stages of laying without asking employees to work in the dark. Simply, they were starving the chickens. Pretty cruel.

Good luck

 

[Elsi]

I always keep Laying Mash available for my Layers along with oyster shell it seems to have fixed any problems of mine stopping even through the winter .. of course i start adding light in the evenings to make the days longer for them when the days start shortening ! Good Luck !

Thank you! I will add the Oyster Shell, see if that helps.

 

[Elsi]

Please understand that frequently I do not hear or march to the same drum beat as many on the forum.



With 100 laying hens and almost 30 dozen an eggs a week I no longer consider you to be a back yarder nor are you a commercial operation yet but I don't think you are feeding that many hens to just give away nearly 120 dozen eggs a month for free. A hen that is 18 months or older has reached it's prime relative to egg laying. Production will decline beginning around 2 years. The older hens are now 2 years old. The younger ones you just added are past the pullet stage laying smaller eggs. If being fed correctly they will be hitting their prime and should be giving you five eggs every six days. 26hrs/egg. This has nothing to do with you current situation but I'm calling too light the need for sustainability in your flock. A humane exit plan for the older hens that are not producing up to par and a plan to bring new pullets into laying as the others are retired. Now on to some questions.

T



There are 2 types force molts - hard and soft. IIRC pullets were soft molted to kick them out of the smaller egg stage and into laying larger more profitable and marketable eggs by forcing teh reproductive system to full maturity during the molt. A hard molt was for mature laying hens to restart them, usually earlier than normal to lay eggs. A forced molt is the result of stress. Less light causes stress on the pituitary gland. During the 19th century commercial operations discovered that by creating a nutritional stress, read as witholding food was easier than trying to modifying the light and could be done in the same battery with the active layers. Commercial producers now could divide one large battery of layers into 3 stages of laying without asking employees to work in the dark. Simply, they were starving the chickens. Pretty cruel.

Good luck

Our family egg consumption would blow you away, but all irrelevant info aside, I should still be getting a few eggs from our flock and there hasn't been a single egg laid in 2 months, that's my concern. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Elsi]

I use a feed that is formulated for free range birds. It has a 21% protein. I use this to make sure they get enough protein because they eat very little feed and lots of fallen fruit, bugs, weeds etc.

Can you share what feed you use? Thank you.

 

[Elsi]

Did you force molt the hens? To have 100 hens simultaneously molt is unusual imo.

No