What is the typical time frame for egg-laying to be impacted by a stress event?
Immediate or delay by days?
I bought 4 hens. I brought them home and all four laid for a week perhaps a week and a half. Everything great.
I did some work (loud drilling/grinding) inside the run building a little rain shelter to provide some daytime / wind shelter (in addition to the coops). This was around day 10 or 11 after getting them and two hens stopped laying the same time so I assume this was the cause.
That was just over 2 weeks ago...still no eggs. In reading up on stressed chickens 1-2 weeks seems to be enough time for things to normalize.
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They are presumably 9 months old. They were kept in a big commercial size barn perhaps with lights on on the time but really not sure. Also not sure what they were eating before the move. We feed them tractor supply layer pellets https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...i-pellet-layer-chicken-feed-40-lb-3005205-205 along with making oyster shell and grit available. We also have provided about 3 meal worms each per evening for added protein along with a little bit of vegetable table scraps.
Just trying to understand if it is delayed response from the move to our house - perhaps the diet change, perhaps the possible switch from incandescent light all the time to a natural day light. We are in Eastern PA so sun up 6:30 am and sun down around 7:30.
We see no sign of broodiness or health issues. We have 2 coops (link below) but they all usually crowd into the one. We let them choose and then let them stay there.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/New-Age-Pet-ECOFLEX-Fontana-Chicken-Barn-in-Tan-ECHK103-B/204167845.
The run ( 25 ft by 18 ft), I believe is fox proof being 6ft high and an L shaped burred fence at the bottom so predators (or atleast foxes) are not entering the chicken zone.
We have 2 Rhode Reds and 2 Barred Rocks. One of each stopped laying. They are the larger RR and the larger Barred. These are both top of the pecking order. The fact they are larger makes me question whether they are all really 9 months or perhaps I was sold some old hens. Then I think even if they are old they should still be producing some eggs just less often so am still thinking they are stressed out. I would be interested in input. If nothing else, if I understand the timeline from stress event to egg laying impact I will for sure the driver.
Immediate or delay by days?
I bought 4 hens. I brought them home and all four laid for a week perhaps a week and a half. Everything great.
I did some work (loud drilling/grinding) inside the run building a little rain shelter to provide some daytime / wind shelter (in addition to the coops). This was around day 10 or 11 after getting them and two hens stopped laying the same time so I assume this was the cause.
That was just over 2 weeks ago...still no eggs. In reading up on stressed chickens 1-2 weeks seems to be enough time for things to normalize.
------
They are presumably 9 months old. They were kept in a big commercial size barn perhaps with lights on on the time but really not sure. Also not sure what they were eating before the move. We feed them tractor supply layer pellets https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...i-pellet-layer-chicken-feed-40-lb-3005205-205 along with making oyster shell and grit available. We also have provided about 3 meal worms each per evening for added protein along with a little bit of vegetable table scraps.
Just trying to understand if it is delayed response from the move to our house - perhaps the diet change, perhaps the possible switch from incandescent light all the time to a natural day light. We are in Eastern PA so sun up 6:30 am and sun down around 7:30.
We see no sign of broodiness or health issues. We have 2 coops (link below) but they all usually crowd into the one. We let them choose and then let them stay there.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/New-Age-Pet-ECOFLEX-Fontana-Chicken-Barn-in-Tan-ECHK103-B/204167845.
The run ( 25 ft by 18 ft), I believe is fox proof being 6ft high and an L shaped burred fence at the bottom so predators (or atleast foxes) are not entering the chicken zone.
We have 2 Rhode Reds and 2 Barred Rocks. One of each stopped laying. They are the larger RR and the larger Barred. These are both top of the pecking order. The fact they are larger makes me question whether they are all really 9 months or perhaps I was sold some old hens. Then I think even if they are old they should still be producing some eggs just less often so am still thinking they are stressed out. I would be interested in input. If nothing else, if I understand the timeline from stress event to egg laying impact I will for sure the driver.
