Hens quit Laying

[rosemarythyme]

Organic pricey veggies. Recommended by old timer for extra iron and other vitamins and minerals.

It's still a rather large amount for the number of birds. Your chicken feed has all the vitamins and minerals you need for healthy birds. As an occasional treat it's fine but large amounts of anything besides their feed is going to start throwing the balanced nutrition ratio of the feed off.

I doubt it's what's causing the lack of eggs (really think it's the heat) but something to think about. Maybe try cutting it out/greatly reducing the amount for a few weeks and see if there's any difference?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Background
13 hens (2 brown leghorn, 1 buff Orpington, 10 RIR) and 1 RIR roo all born January and laying in May — most eggs a day was 9, but avg was 6-8. Now zero eggs in a week. Two the week before. Eating and drinking ok. Pale combs on some.

One thing that struck me was going from an average of 7 eggs a day to none. Lots of things can cause them to reduce laying, often stress from extreme heat or cold, running out of water, change in pecking order, a predator scare, change in accommodations, change in lighting, many things. To me it's kind of unusual that it would stop all of them, you'd think a few would continue through it. But a few weeks ago somebody on the forum mentioned that kind of sudden drop in a similar number of eggs and then found it was caused by them hiding a nest. I never would have expected that. It could be any of many things or it could be a combination.

If they are in a tractor I don't see how it could be a hidden nest unless you can't inspect an area of the coop section. Do I read this right, you have 20 hens and pullets in a tractor? Just out or pure curiosity a photo of this set-up could be interesting. There are lots of different ways to do tractors.

Pale combs generally means they are not laying. That's understandable on your younger pullets, many just haven't started yet. I assume some of the others were laying and now have pale combs. Some things that might cause that are they molt or go broody. You'd probably know if any were broody. Sometimes stress can cause a molt or a minimolt even this time of year with chickens the age of yours. You said you are seeing some feathers but not a lot. One of my thoughts on that is that maybe a few of your younger pullets are having a late juvenile molt. Chicks outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Yours should have finished that by now but you can't rule anything out. But it could be a molt or minimolt caused by something else.

Stress like running out of water for a time period, changes to the pecking order, new facilities, a predator attack, many things can induce a molt. It's not always in the fall. A change in lighting could trigger a molt. Something as simple as moving your tractor into or away from an area lighted by a security light could trigger one.

One possibility is disease. Certain diseases can cause them to stop laying. Usually if they are acting healthy they are healthy. These diseases generally cause them to lay weird misshapen eggs before they stop totally. From what you describe it does not sound like a disease but I'll mention it.

I don't know what is going on with yours. It could be one thing, it could be a combination of many things. It's often not easy to figure out. And time is often the best solution.

Currently giving 1 lb chopped spinach a day.

I once discussed taking multivitamins with my doctor. He asked what I was short in. My bloodwork was fine, why did I think I might want to take multivitamins. Basically, if things aren't broken, don't fix it. I know many people on this forum take all kinds of strange, glorious things to improve their health but I don't. I don't take preventatives unless I have a reason to prevent something. I don't treat things if I don't have something specific to treat. If you have something specific to prevent or treat by all means manage that, you'd be silly not to. That's the way I manage my health and that's the way I manage my chickens.

You tractor your chickens. That means they forage for a certain amount of what they eat. If yours ate only chicken feed that feed would provide all the vitamins and minerals they need in the proper balance. You've lost the ability to micromanage everything they eat. Many of us are in the same situation and our chickens are very healthy. Many of us feed them treats like kitchen scraps, garden excess, grass trimmings, sunflower seeds, mealworms, and such. No micromanaging nutrients there and they still do fine. But the general recommendation is to not feed a lot of one specific treat, including regularly. That can unbalance their diet even more.

Do you have any specific reason to think they are short in iron? The way they eat they should not be. I don't think the spinach has anything to do with them not laying, a pound of spinach isn't that much for 20 chickens but I'd cut it back to once a week instead of daily if you feel you need to give it. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not a good thing. In people it is hard for most people to eat too much iron, but if you are susceptible to a certain condition that it can get serious. Moderation is generally good, overindulgence is often not.

This has nothing to do with why your chickens are not laying, it's my opinions on managing health. I understand many people have totally different opinions.

 

[Missceegee]

T

One thing that struck me was going from an average of 7 eggs a day to none. Lots of things can cause them to reduce laying, often stress from extreme heat or cold, running out of water, change in pecking order, a predator scare, change in accommodations, change in lighting, many things. To me it's kind of unusual that it would stop all of them, you'd think a few would continue through it. But a few weeks ago somebody on the forum mentioned that kind of sudden drop in a similar number of eggs and then found it was caused by them hiding a nest. I never would have expected that. It could be any of many things or it could be a combination.

If they are in a tractor I don't see how it could be a hidden nest unless you can't inspect an area of the coop section. Do I read this right, you have 20 hens and pullets in a tractor? Just out or pure curiosity a photo of this set-up could be interesting. There are lots of different ways to do tractors.

Pale combs generally means they are not laying. That's understandable on your younger pullets, many just haven't started yet. I assume some of the others were laying and now have pale combs. Some things that might cause that are they molt or go broody. You'd probably know if any were broody. Sometimes stress can cause a molt or a minimolt even this time of year with chickens the age of yours. You said you are seeing some feathers but not a lot. One of my thoughts on that is that maybe a few of your younger pullets are having a late juvenile molt. Chicks outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Yours should have finished that by now but you can't rule anything out. But it could be a molt or minimolt caused by something else.

Stress like running out of water for a time period, changes to the pecking order, new facilities, a predator attack, many things can induce a molt. It's not always in the fall. A change in lighting could trigger a molt. Something as simple as moving your tractor into or away from an area lighted by a security light could trigger one.

One possibility is disease. Certain diseases can cause them to stop laying. Usually if they are acting healthy they are healthy. These diseases generally cause them to lay weird misshapen eggs before they stop totally. From what you describe it does not sound like a disease but I'll mention it.

I don't know what is going on with yours. It could be one thing, it could be a combination of many things. It's often not easy to figure out. And time is often the best solution.


I once discussed taking multivitamins with my doctor. He asked what I was short in. My bloodwork was fine, why did I think I might want to take multivitamins. Basically, if things aren't broken, don't fix it. I know many people on this forum take all kinds of strange, glorious things to improve their health but I don't. I don't take preventatives unless I have a reason to prevent something. I don't treat things if I don't have something specific to treat. If you have something specific to prevent or treat by all means manage that, you'd be silly not to. That's the way I manage my health and that's the way I manage my chickens.

You tractor your chickens. That means they forage for a certain amount of what they eat. If yours ate only chicken feed that feed would provide all the vitamins and minerals they need in the proper balance. You've lost the ability to micromanage everything they eat. Many of us are in the same situation and our chickens are very healthy. Many of us feed them treats like kitchen scraps, garden excess, grass trimmings, sunflower seeds, mealworms, and such. No micromanaging nutrients there and they still do fine. But the general recommendation is to not feed a lot of one specific treat, including regularly. That can unbalance their diet even more.

Do you have any specific reason to think they are short in iron? The way they eat they should not be. I don't think the spinach has anything to do with them not laying, a pound of spinach isn't that much for 20 chickens but I'd cut it back to once a week instead of daily if you feel you need to give it. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not a good thing. In people it is hard for most people to eat too much iron, but if you are susceptible to a certain condition that it can get serious. Moderation is generally good, overindulgence is often not.

This has nothing to do with why your chickens are not laying, it's my opinions on managing health. I understand many people have totally different opinions.

Thank you for all of this good info. I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[Missceegee]

New development. I think they may have dry pox. Attached are some pictures. Input welcome.these spots shows up over last couple of days. They act healthy but lay no eggs. Thoughts?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not an expert on fowl pox but some of those look like pecking/scrape injuries (1, 2 and last photo), others do look like photos I've seen of pox marks.