Hen not producing

[cnicholson]

Hi, I haven't had chickens since I was a kid and am running into a problem with my used to be very consistent layer. I don't know what's wrong or why she has stopped laying eggs. She seems to be having a problem with her moulting??? She has a few feathers on her wing that have had the casing on them for sometime, it seems irritated on the skin around it. Please advise.

 

[b.hromada]

and

from S. Florida. Perhaps your chicken IS moulting. Mine were doing the same a couple months back. Now they seem back up to production again. Someone here said to someone else, remember, they are animals, not machines, so they won't lay all the time. Thats when I said, okay, not to worry.

Just keep an eye on her, she should be fine.
Oh, maybe its just to darn hot for her, thats been a big problem with everyones girls lately too. Best of luck to you.

 

[hen-thusiast]

I just wanted to say

from UT. I'd say the heat, but I'm still new to chickens.

 

[threehorses]

Yes, it's true that birds won't necessarily lay when they're molting. if she's replacing feathers, give her a little extra protein (boiled mashed eggs are great for this) and be sure to give her oyster shell separately from her grit in case she needs more calcium than the laying pellets you are feeding provide.

If you feed a lot of grain, make it more like 95% of her diet the laying pellets, and less grain as grain will lower the calcium absorbtion of birds, as well as the protein, and make molting take longer and be less effective.