Hens quit laying

[Uberman]

I have six rhode island hen in a tractor. They are young, just started laying about 2 months ago, I was getting 4 to 6 usually right at 5 eggs a day. They then went to 2 eggs a day for several days. Then quit all together, except for two very(maybe half sized) small eggs, for the last almost 2 weeks. I had a batch of RI hens that had started eating egg before and wound up getting rid of them and getting these. I put an egg back in the nesting box to see if they ate it, they did not. Feed, chickens, places I move tractor around, water and all I can think of is the same as when they were laying. The one thing I can think of is it has been very dark and rainy for a while and wondered if the light, simular to winter light, could do this, however, the sun has been out for a couple days now. Any thoughts would be helpful. Oh one other piece to this puzzle, my neighbor has 4 chickens from the same batch that are still laying. Thanks Mike

 

[TexasVet]

Chickens will eat eggs when they're calcium deficient. If you had given them free access to oyster shell, that may have fixed the problem. If they aren't on layer feed, you need to switch to it.

As for not laying... could be the lack of light, or it's too hot, or they aren't getting enough food and water. Or maybe a snake is beating you to the eggs. If you go out there very early in the morning, you may catch the snake in the act. Be sure to take a shovel or gun when you when you check... I killed several rat snakes last year that were over 4 feet long, and they have nasty dispositions.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com, www.PivotalForce.com