Hens not laying need advice

[chicksducks1]

I need some advice or ideas, my hens aren't laying or are barely laying. I am getting maybe 1 egg a day if I'm lucky, hens are about a year and a couple months old. At first, I thought it was because the hens found a spot to lay when they were out free ranging, so I have been keeping them in their coop/run to be able to retrain them about their nesting box and to keep a closer eye on them, that was probably about a week ago. I am not sure what's causing this since they don't seem to be molting. I give them access to food 24/7 along free choices of oyster shells. Sorry for such a long post I am just running out of ideas to get them to lay! Thanks!

 

[silkie1472]

The first thing that I would do is check them for lice. Some free ranged birds will get these bugs and usually require permethrin dust to get rid of them. This works for mites too if it's the case. Also, you hens may be slowing down right now. Being that spring is approaching, or should I say spring has approached, some chickens will stop laying for a while. My silkies did this earlier (about 2 weeks ago). Once the weather stabilized and stress levels had went down, all four of them began laying again. **stress could be another factor. Though you may not be for certain what is the cause, there are things you would not believe that could stress a chicken out. This includes birds flying over (lots of blackbirds), hawks flying overhead, and even certain vehicles driving down the road. Once one gen becomes stressed, almost every he becomes stressed. So what I would do is leave them in their coop until they are used to it, unless they are begging to get out, then just give them what they want.